Amy Klobuchar

(born 1960)

“There is a difference between being bold and being rash.”

Years in political office: 1999–present

Position: US senator from Minnesota, 2007–present; county attorney of Hennepin County, Minnesota, 1999–2007

Party affiliation: Democrat

Hometown: Plymouth, Minnesota

Top causes: mental health issues, climate change, and lowering prescription drug prices

Life Story

Amy Klobuchar grew up in the suburbs of Minneapolis-St. Paul. She is the Swiss Slovenian granddaughter of an iron miner. Her mother was a schoolteacher, and her father was a renowned columnist at the Minneapolis Star Tribune newspaper. Her dad was also an alcoholic. “When you’re only seventeen years old, and you’re going up with your dad to visit your grandma for Christmas, and you see him drinking out of the trunk, and you have to say, ‘No, I’m taking the keys away’—yeah, that doesn’t happen to most kids that age,” she remembers. After numerous DUI charges, her dad had to write an apology to his readers at the newspaper but eventually overcame his addiction and repaired his relationship with Klobuchar.

Despite these challenges at home, the future senator triumphed in academics. She was her high school’s valedictorian and graduated magna cum laude from Yale University before getting her law degree at the University of Chicago. While still at Yale, she interned for the then vice president Walter Mondale, and after graduation, she worked at a large Minneapolis law firm.

At the age of thirty-eight, she was elected county attorney in Hennepin County, Minnesota’s most populous county that includes the city of Minneapolis, becoming the first woman to hold the post. She served from 1999 to 2007, during which Minneapolis was known as Murderapolis for its high rates of violent crime. In this role, Klobuchar pushed to require police to videotape all interrogations so as to help prevent the abuse of suspects, pursued white-collar criminals, and raised penalties for multiple drunk-driving offenders. Klobuchar prosecuted juveniles in many instances and came under fire for not bringing charges against two dozen cases in which police killed civilians—largely Black and Native American individuals—under her watch. Critics pointed out that two-thirds of the Hennepin County residents sent to state prison during her terms were African American and worried that she was putting her concerns for law enforcement officials above those for communities of color. But her tough-on-crime reputation, established during this time, helped her cause when she ran to fill a retiring US senator’s seat in 2006. Klobuchar won and has held onto the position ever since.

Klobuchar met her husband, John Bessler, a University of Baltimore law professor, in a pool hall. Many consider him an expert on the issues surrounding the death penalty. Klobuchar is proud that he became active in the Senate spouses’ club upon their arrival to Washington—one of the only husbands to do so. Their daughter, Abigail, was born with a health condition that made her unable to swallow and spent the first few years of her life in and out of the hospital. Like her mom, Abigail Bessler wound up graduating from Yale. She works for a member of the New York City Council.

Years later as a US senator, Klobuchar’s family history would play a role in national politics. While questioning Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, Klobuchar asked if he’d ever blacked out while intoxicated. Kavanaugh turned the question back on her. “I have no drinking problem,” she evenly replied. Kavanaugh would later apologize to her. But the moment went viral and was even parodied on Saturday Night Live. To some, Klobuchar looked like a woman who could maintain her composure under pressure. Many think the moment inspired her future political moves.

What’s on Her Agenda

In the Senate, Klobuchar focuses on practical bipartisan issues like bolstering protections for consumers and curbing prescription drug costs. She demonstrated her ability to efficiently pass legislation when a Minneapolis bridge collapsed in 2007, killing 13 people and injuring 145. She helped to quickly push through a federal funding package, and the bridge’s reconstruction was completed on a relatively short timeline. And during the 2016 Senate session, she either sponsored or cosponsored twenty-seven bills that were eventually signed into law—more than any of her peers.

Among Klobuchar’s other legislative victories were a ban on lead in children’s toys and stricter laws on swimming pool safety. In recent years, she has demanded that social media networks be subject to the same transparency laws that govern television channels and radio stations. She also took on voting rights protection, introducing several bills in the area. One of these proposals would let people register to vote on Election Day, another would institute voter education programs in high schools, and still another would require states to register individuals automatically as voters when they turn eighteen.

In 2019 Klobuchar announced her candidacy for the White House in front of the same Mississippi River bridge whose reconstruction she had helped assure. The bridge served as a metaphor for Klobuchar’s powers of diplomacy. “We are all tired of the shutdowns and the showdowns, the gridlock and the grandstanding,” she said, referencing Trump’s government shutdown of early 2019. “Our nation must be governed not from chaos but from opportunity. Not by wallowing over what’s wrong, but by marching inexorably toward what’s right.”

Running against some more progressive candidates in the Democratic primaries, Klobuchar staked her campaign on her reputation as a friendly midwesterner and on her belief that the US needs a unifying, centrist candidate that could woo swing voters. “I am your neighbor,” she said at a February campaign event in Des Moines. “I think you all know we had some difficulty in some of the states in the heartland in 2016. But I’m someone who’s been able to win in difficult counties.”

Supporters’ excitement over Klobuchar’s announcement was dampened when multiple anonymous former staffers came forward with claims that she was a cruel boss prone to delivering needlessly harsh admonitions, once even hurling a binder at an employee. Some of her supporters chalked the accusations up to sexism. But the stories troubled many, particularly given Klobuchar’s reputation for being a levelheaded legislator. The anecdotes may have explained why her office had the highest staff turnover rate in the Senate from 2001 to 2016, even as she decisively won several elections.

Klobuchar’s office did not deny any of the specific claims, and she quickly apologized for her aggressive demeanor. “I know I can be tough,” she said. “I know I can push people too hard, and I also know I can do better—and I will.” However, after failing to secure much support in the early 2020 Democratic primaries, she dropped out of the race and endorsed former vice president Joe Biden.

Awesome Achievements

Quotables

“We need someone in the White House [who’s] a hero for their time.”

“If the past is an indication, when women are given a job to do in Congress, they get it done.”

“Courage is whether or not you’re willing to stand next to someone you don’t always agree with for the betterment of this country.”