DULUTH – Amy Klobuchar is once again Democrats’ choice the carry the party’s banner as its candidate for Minnesota’s U.S. Senate seat.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn. (Alex Brandon / Associated Press)

In what was largely an evening on Friday promoting DFL legislative accomplishments, Klobuchar, seeking her fourth Senate term, captured the vast majority of delegates. She will either face navy veteran and businessman Joe Fraser or Royce White, a far-right podcaster and former professional basketball player, in November’s election.

In her acceptance speech, Klobuchar highlighted Democrats’ work supporting unions, voter access, infrastructure, climate change, gun control and abortion.

“Together we have made Minnesota a better place,” Klobuchar told delegates. Klobuchar began her first term as senator in 2007.

Klobuchar also took aim at Republicans Friday, calling them “peddlers of lies,” and condemned the movement built by former President Donald Trump, the likely nominee of the Republican Party for 2024.

Nomination

In her speech, she also spoke about her experience walking through the U.S. Capitol building following the Jan. 6 riot, an act led by Trump supporters upset over unsubstantiated claims of election fraud. The events of the day led to five deaths in 36 hours and hundreds of arrests.

“We made sure that when the public woke up in the morning that yes, democracy prevailed,” she said.

Klobuchar was nominated Friday evening by Minnesota Sen. Grant Hauschild, DFL-Hermantown, with a resounding second by the majority of the delegates gathered at the DFL State Convention in Duluth.

An attempt to nominate another candidate failed to reach a seconded motion by 25% of the delegates. A majority of delegates also failed to approve an official count of delegate votes on the issue.

“At this pivotal moment, Amy is standing up to monopolies and to extremists trying to take away rights away from women in Minnesota, and the DFL is proud to endorse her for reelection,” DFL Party Chair Ken Martin wrote in a news release.

Minnesota’s other senator, Tina Smith, touted her colleague’s bipartisan work in the Senate on Friday in Duluth.

“She’s not messing around ya’ll, she gets stuff done,” Smith said.

Campaign strategy

The mood in Duluth Friday is decidedly different than the Republican State Convention earlier this month.

There were lots of cheers and claps for DFL politicians and issues compared to mostly arguing during the GOP’s first convention day, where the focus was on who was a legitimate delegate.

In addition to Klobuchar’s endorsement, a DFL campaign strategy took shape Friday.

DFLers will lean towards touting their legislative successes, including securing abortion rights and free school meals for children, while also contrasting the differences between Democrats and a Republican Party largely controlled by Donald Trump’s MAGA movement.

Trump, freshly convicted of 34 felonies for falsifying business records related to a hush money payment to actress Stormy Daniels, was a main target for DFLers Friday.

DFL Party Chair Ken Martin laid into the former President during his opening convention speech, calling Trump’s movement “authoritarian.”

“For me, it’s about two competing visions about how you govern,” Martin told Forum News Service, adding that Trump and Republicans had their time in power and “frittered it away on culture wars and going after people.”

“When we’ve had power in this state, what we’ve done is actually tried to deliver on the critical needs that Minnesotans are facing,” he said.

The fact that Republicans have not held a statewide political office since former Gov. Tim Pawlenty left office in 2011 is a sign that the state has not signed on to what Republicans have been selling, according to Martin.

Loss of support in Greater Minnesota

DFL legislators have led two of the last legislative sessions by thin margins where several campaign promises, like legalizing an amount of marijuana and providing paid leave for workers, were delivered, though voting trends over the last decade have shown a loss of support in Greater Minnesota.

However, Republicans continue their infighting, often between old-guard Republicans and die-hard Trump supporters, and polling data suggests the Presidential election is mathematically a toss-up at this point.

While there is disagreement among Democrats, Martin called on party members to unite in the face of a MAGA movement he called “scary.”

Trump was a main target for DFLers Friday.

Attorney General Keith Ellison also condemned Trump during a speech at Friday’s convention.

“His philosophy is not welcome around here,” Ellison told the crowd.

On Saturday delegates and party leaders are expected to discuss and vote on 113 resolutions, some of which have been highly charged across the nation, like the war in Gaza, and in Minnesota, like the conflict between union miners and environmentalists.

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