In January 2025, U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar stood between President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance at the head table, as part of a ceremonial luncheon where congressional leaders welcomed the new president into office.
Her role as chair of the congressional committee tasked with hosting the inaugural events put her front and center as Trump kicked off his second term in office.
And it could put her on a more-collegial footing with the Trump administration than Gov. Tim Walz, the former vice presidential candidate, has experienced during the closing months of his term.
Klobuchar is running to succeed Walz, the second-term DFLer, and become Minnesota’s 42nd governor. Walz hung up a reelection bid early this year after extensive reports of fraud in state government programs.
The state’s still-unfolding fraud scandal has made Minnesota a frequent punching bag for the president. His administration has held up Medicaid dollars and used the fraud problem as a pretext to surge thousands of immigration agents here over the winter.
More than a year and a half removed from the 2024 election, Trump frequently targets Walz with his verbal jabs. Walz isn’t shy about lobbing some back.
Klobuchar said while she and Walz share a political party, she would offer a reboot.
“You expect leaders to deliver results, not excuses, and you are rightfully tired of this partisan theater and the punchlines,” Klobuchar told supporters at a primary night event in Minnetonka last week. “I will deliver those results. I've done it as senator, and I will do it as your governor.”
A pitch to ‘transform this state’
Onstage at Farmfest alongside three Republicans vying for governor, Klobuchar told the crowd about the slate of policy changes she had teed up for Minnesota:
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A plan to tackle fraud.
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A promise to launch an audit of the state government on her first day.
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A money-back guarantee on tardy permit decisions.
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Ideas to reshape healthcare, housing and economic development — borrowing from bills pushed by both Democrats and Republicans in Minnesota and beyond.
“Because as governor, I don't like the status quo,” Klobuchar said. “I want to transform this state.”
Former state House Majority Leader Ryan Winkler, who has supported Klobuchar’s campaign, said Klobuchar would bring a shift in style to the governor’s office.
“She's very focused on measurable results and outcomes and feels responsibility for delivering them,” Winkler said. “Gov. Walz helped pass a lot of great legislation. He dealt with a lot of crises when he was governor, but Minnesota has been slipping in a number of areas, and I don't think Gov. Klobuchar is going to let that go.”
Klobuchar has touted her accomplishments in working across the aisle in Congress, including funding to rebuild after the I-35W bridge collapse, leading antitrust tech legislation that set up new guardrails for digital markets and rewriting maritime rules to bring down supply costs.
“The fact that I have been No. 1 for bipartisan bills in the U.S. Senate, No. 3 for getting bills signed into law means something,” Klobuchar said.
Klobuchar said her approach to navigating a relationship with the Trump administration — if it continued to threaten federal funds to Minnesota or otherwise put the state at risk — would look different from Walz’s approach.
She pointed to a recent instance when federal energy grants were on hold.
“I thought, ‘How do we get this done?’ The energy is also going to North Dakota and South Dakota, so I called Sen. (John) Hoeven and (Kevin) Cramer, let them take the lead, and we got the grants back,” Klobuchar said. “I think that there are ways you can do this. And this is not just about Walz. This is about just my own skills in trying to get this done. That I think is going to be helpful.”
When it comes to issues where she fundamentally disagrees with the Trump administration — like the war in Iran, restricting safety net programs or levying tariffs — Klobuchar pointed to her record voting against the policy changes. She said she’d work with the attorney general here to fight federal changes that adversely affect Minnesotans.
Broadly, Klobuchar said her approach is “standing up to Donald Trump when necessary and working with their administration when there's common ground.”
Several Democratic voters said that’s part of why they were backing Klobuchar in last week’s primary election. For others frustrated with the Democratic Party overall, that approach wasn’t forceful enough in pushing back on the Trump administration.
Klobuchar won the party’s nomination with resounding support.
Republicans: Change can only come by ending DFL hold on office
Republicans argue that because of the letters behind her name — DFL — the change she’s offering isn’t enough. Democrats, they point out, have held the office for 16 years.
“She would be no different than the administration that has currently led our state into the dysfunction that it is now,” said Lisa Demuth, Minnesota House speaker and Klobuchar’s opponent in the race.
Upon her Republican primary victory last week, Demuth declared herself as the fresh start.
“It is time for a change that's going to go very, very deep within the agencies, and it starts with responsibility and accountability from the very top,” she told supporters in St. Paul.
The difficulty Klobuchar could have separating herself from the controversial aspects of the Walz administration is central to Demuth’s messaging.
Just this week, Demuth blamed “Tim Walz, Amy Klobuchar and Democrats in the Legislature” for hostility toward mining projects in northeastern Minnesota, which was once a reliable DFL stronghold that has become more-fertile ground for Republicans.
That came as Walz issued an executive order banning a new type of mining on the periphery of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, creating a new hurdle and likely inviting more legal jousting over a proposed copper-nickel mine there.
Demuth vowed to “work each day to ensure mining is part of Minnesota’s future.”
Klobuchar, speaking to MPR News’ Morning Edition, reacted cautiously to the Walz action announced less than an hour before the interview. She said she would review the order but noted her past opposition to mining just outside the BWCA.
Klobuchar said she doesn’t want to impede other mining projects on the Iron Range that “don’t endanger the Boundary Waters that I think is important to allow pending environmental reviews to go forward.”
More front and center for Demuth is her message of cleaning up fraud in state government programs. She touts her work leading a tied state House of Representatives, as well as holding firm for conservative priorities in state budget negotiations like reducing total state spending, blocking tax hikes and ending a program that provided health insurance to people in the country without proper authorization.
She could face some blowback on the campaign trail for prior legislation aiming to limit access to abortions in Minnesota and not letting a proposal to add new gun restrictions come to the floor for a vote in the wake of the Annunciation Catholic Church and School shooting.
Demuth has won over at least one prior Klobuchar backer.
Margie Hendriksen said she helped Klobuchar in a winning campaign for Hennepin County Attorney, Klobuchar’s first political office. Hendriksen's sentiment changed.
“As the party went to the left, so did she on policy positions, and I was just not in sync anymore,” Hendriksen said.
She’s backing Demuth now.
To win in November, Demuth must shift many more of the people like Hendriksen into her column to topple Klobuchar, who has won her four statewide campaigns by comfortable margins.
