U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar said Thursday she is running for governor of Minnesota, promising to take on Donald Trump while unifying a state that has endured a series of challenges even before the federal government’s immigration crackdown.
Klobuchar’s decision gives Democrats a high-profile candidate and proven statewide winner as their party tries to hold onto the office occupied by Gov. Tim Walz.
Klobuchar cited Trump’s immigration crackdown in Minnesota, federal officers killing two Minnesotans who protested, the assassination of a state legislative leader and a school shooting that killed multiple children — all within the last year. She avoided direct mention of ongoing fraud investigations into the child care programs that Trump has made a political cudgel.
If the comments in this thread and what I’ve heard from others in MN are any indication, good fucking luck Klobuchar.
Who can we platform to challenge her? I’m open to any suggestions.
Ilhan Omar.
Not only is she right (and votes what she says) about just about every single policy issue, she’s also proven without a doubt that she’s every bit the fighter Centrist bloviators pretend to be, what with enduring the constant scapegoating from both Republicans and her own party as well as hardly breaking her stride after being attacked by a MAGA cultist
And before you go “but she’s too divisive! No Republicans or swing voters would vote for her!”, the vast majority of them wouldn’t vote for Klobuchar either, and she (Omar) would bring out the base several times better.
The only way the Dems win is if they move left.
This is demonstrably false, given Klobuchar’s outstate vote totals. For all her issues, she has been reliably able to get voters to vote for her that wouldn’t vote for a Democrat otherwise.
Fun fact: there’s not a lot of those available for House raises, so that’s a worthless datapoint wrt comparing her and Omar.
More reliably than Omar has been getting votes from people who would never vote for a zionist? Or that would never vote for someone who approves ICE funding? I highly doubt it.
Vote percentage comparisons are valid between local and statewide races.
That’s your prerogative, but unfortunately, I don’t believe there’s more of us on the left than there are centrist/moderate/whatever voters that aren’t turned off by those positions. MN is a blue state, but it’s a very Midwest-style of democrat. The Farm-Labor part of the coalition has been shrinking in the past 20 years or so, as races have become more nationalized even on the local level.
Klobuchar vote percentage in November 2024 election: 56.2%
Omar vote percentage in November 2024 election: 75.3%
You were saying?
That’s just you being wrong 🤷
The “moderate swing voter” that the DNC leadership and the billionaire-owned media pretend to be the end-all be-all for Democrats has been a critically endangered species for decades while the politically disenfranchised Left takes up at least a third of eligible voters nationwide and even more in states with strong union traditions like Minnesota.
If you mean Union Strong, then yes.
If you mean “there being rural folks means that they’re automatically more conservative than other democrat strongholds”, then nope. Wrong again.
You sure about that? Because people like Omar, Walz, Franken, and Norm Coleman all seem (with the exception of parts of Walz’ platform) to be MUCH more progressive than the majority of Democrats from Neoliberal bastions like New York, California, and Chicago…
Yet Omar won her election by a HUGE margin last time, Klobuchar much less so. Partially BECAUSE of her national profile as a darling of the Left.
I agree that the swing voter demo is largely a myth of the ruling class, but there are a fair amount of moderate voters, but they mainly identify with one of the two major parties.
Franken only won by like 300ish votes, IIRC, during the recount. Coleman became a Republican, so yes, he was definitely more moderate. Or at least more willing to forfeit his principals for continued power. And the last time he ran as a Dem was 1996. Omar is very progressive, not even a question. But she represents one of the bluest portions of an already blue state. Even our first-ring districts are closer to purple - the 2nd district is only D+3; the 3rd is propped up by Bloomington, else it would be more competitive.
And yes, the Farm Labor part has been shrinking. Outstate areas haven’t necessarily become more conservative, but the aforementioned Fox-ification has turned a lot of rural voters against those who would better represent and promote their needs. Propaganda is a hell of a drug - and de-propagandizing them will take a long time, unfortunately. We definitely have our work cut out for ourselves.
Yes, this is true. Her increased exposure, especially after the formation of the Squad, has propelled her higher than would reasonably be expected otherwise. Our next most progressive Representative is likely unknown to most people that aren’t political nerds or live in her district, even though they’ve voted in tandem for much of their time in the House.
Sure, but you don’t seem to be proposing any change or thinking about how they could do better. You just kinda repeat media talking points and the same outlook that establishment dems keep using to eek out a win in a suppressed voting block that doesn’t turn out for milk toast candidates. Minnesota is currently activated and organized, if there were to be a change it would have to harness this momentum and move forward now.
Believe me, I know MN is activated now. I’m not that far away from the shitstorm in Minneapolis.
Also, stating data is not “repeating media talking points”. I’d love for a progressive to be able to win a state-wide race. The current problem is that none have shown much (or any) interest in throwing their hat into the Governor’s race currently.
Additionally, there’s no real “suppressed voting block” in MN; we have some of the highest voter turnout/engagement in the nation - a fact we’re very proud of and something we work at to keep it as high as it is.
The current Governor’s race has less than 10 months to go, so we’ll need someone already engaged in politics - even at the local level would hopefully be good enough, but it would be a tough slog. The main sticking issue for the general will be name recognition; we have good voter engagement (as mentioned previously).
It definitely helps that the likely Republican opposition will be lead by the batshit crazy Mike Lindell, so that would lower the potential issues a lesser-known candidate would face - everyone’s already made up their mind on him.
Sorry for the frustration in my voice but I’m kinda getting sick and tired of the ratchet effect happening in America. I hope something coalesces around a further left candidate than Klobachar, I know Ilhan Omar has some current talk around her, if she’d even run is another question. I know that for the US Minnesota does turn out the vote more than elsewhere nationally but there’s still a quarter of the population on average who don’t vote.
All that being said, good luck to you and yours. A lot of what I’m hearing, and the people I’m organizing with are reinforcing the idea that we need more leftists in local politics. It’s only gonna change from the ground up.
Nah man, I hear ya. Ratchet effect and the Overton Window are a real thing. And it’s been extremely damaging to the working class here in the States.
And yeah, we really need to get our farm league (so to speak) ramped up, and quick. The Rs are shit, but they understood that to take control of the system, you need people at all levels, working towards your goals. Us on the left seem to forget that it, it seems. We focus so much on the higher-profile races and don’t put forward enough city council, school board, state House races, etc., which is where a lot of the stuff that affects people in their every day lives is decided - tax rates/breaks, incentives, school funding, and the like.
I don’t think it’s a lack of interest or understanding that change comes from the bottom. I think it’s more insidious than that. A lot of people on the left cannot afford to run for office in their city, nor get the time off of work to campaign.
There is also a lack of third spaces where people can talk to each other face to face. So few people can disagree or come to consensus now without it feeling like a personal attack. There’s a really good book I read “High Conflict: Why We Get Trapped and How We Get Out” by Amanda Ripley
It’s not about being complicit, nor is it about giving Nazis space in the general culture. However it is about talking to people you don’t agree with and listening to what they have to say and finding common ground. Numbers are our strength and solidarity is our greatest weapon.
Primaries are coming up in a couple weeks. We need to primary her
Sure, who do you see as a good candidate to get some momentum behind to do that?
Ilhan Omar.
See my comment above for a quick and dirty couple of reasons why its nowhere near as far fetched as the billionaire-owned media would claim.
I’d love to see that, especially after that community meeting that got disrupted
She’s outperformed other Democrats in the years she’s run, so not sure if relying on this platform is a good representation of our state.
As for other challengers, I’m not sure. Not a lot of other higher-profile DLFers that haven’t already thrown their hat into other races.
ALL other Democrats or just the ones she’s been up against?
Because she’s never been up against Ilhan Omar, let alone at the perfect time for a progressive firebrand to run, what with fascist murderers running riot on the streets of Minneapolis using money Klobuchar voted to give them.
She’s gotten a higher vote total than other Democrats that have been up for election in the years that she’s run in. Her margins have been noticeably higher.
That said, I would love a much more DFL (rather than just Democrat) candidate that could post good state-wide numbers. The challenge is in finding them.
I’d vote for Omar in a second, but the Fox News-ification of outstate MN will make it challenging to say the least, unfortunately. It would really take a dedicated messaging team to even start to undue the propaganda against her.
What about vote percentages? Biden had a higher vote total in 2020 than Hillary did in 2016, but a lower percentage.
Winning a district of 718k by more total votes than anyone successfully running in a statewide Minnesota election is literally impossible, but Omar won reelection with over 75% of the vote in 2024.
Than 75%+? I highly doubt it.
Same. Such as Ilhan Omar.
points at Ilhan Omar There’s one!
They do that every time she runs. Still got 75.3% of the vote a little over a year ago.
Not really. As evidenced by her landslide 2024 win, what she’s already doing is already plenty to make her extremely popular even as every politician and pundit to the right of Ro Khanna slander and libel her at every opportunity.
I’m not basing anything solely on this thread. Do you know or can you think of any politician that could be platformed to primary her, or for a challenge run for Gov?
Like I said, there’s no candidates that would likely be able to win statewide that haven’t already said they were running for other positions. Our current Lt. Governor is running for Tina Smith’s Senate seat (she’s retiring at the end of the term).
That may change in the future, but none currently.
Sounds like we need local folks to start running.