Monday, March 02, 2020

Klobuchar, who touted her track record among rural voters as Minnesota senator, withdraws from presidential race

Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who said her track record with rural voters in Minnesota showed she was the sort of presidential nominee Democrats need, withdrew from the race today.

"Klobuchar’s exit came after she finished in sixth place in Saturday’s South Carolina primary, winning only 3.1% of the vote, and no delegates. Her departure came less than a day after former South Bend, Ind., mayor Pete Buttigieg ended his campaign," Amy B. Wang of The Washington Post notes. "Klobuchar finished in third place in the New Hampshire primary, but then a disappointing sixth place in the Nevada caucuses."

From the start, Wang notes, "Klobuchar leaned hard into her Midwestern identity. She repeatedly sold herself as someone who could win over rural and suburban voters in swing states like Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, where Donald Trump narrowly eked out victories in 2016." Klobuchar
said at a Washington Post Live event last summer, “I have won the congressional districts where Donald Trump won by more than 20 points. And I have not done it by selling out. I’ve done it by going to where people are, by being honest with them.”

No comments: