\n Sen. Amy Klobuchar launched a Democratic bid for governor on Thursday, pledging to unify her state and move beyond a deadly battle with the federal government over immigration.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cThese times call for leaders who can stand up and not be rubber stamps of this administration,\u201d Klobuchar said in an announcement video. \u201cBut who are also willing to find common ground and fix things in our state.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n Klobuchar, who has served in Washington for two decades, is seeking to govern Minnesota during an extraordinarily fraught moment. The state has become the epicenter of the Trump administration\u2019s immigration crackdown, which has sparked waves of outrage and protest from residents, particularly after two fatal shootings of protesters by federal agents.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cWe cannot sugarcoat how hard this is,\u201d she said, \u201cbut in these moments of enormous difficulty, we find strength in our Minnesota values of hard work, freedom, and simple decency and good will.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n Her formal entry into the race comes after Gov. Tim Walz ended his reelection bid in the wake of a deepening federal investigation into widespread fraud of social service programs in Minnesota. Nearly a dozen Republicans were running for governor in hopes of challenging Walz, though one candidate left the race<\/a> to protest what he called \u201cretribution on the citizens of our state,\u201d two days after a Border Patrol agent shot and killed 37-year-old Alex Pretti.<\/a>\n <\/p>\n \n Minnesota is now on the front lines of a searing debate over the politics of immigration enforcement and the exertion of federal power, emerging as a national test for whether the actions of President Donald Trump\u2019s administration are seen as overreach or justified.\n <\/p>\n \n Klobuchar, 65, has long been seen as one of Minnesota\u2019s most popular leaders in one election after another. She could face one of her biggest political tests yet in seeking to unify a state entwined in a fierce battle over immigration policy during a critical midterm election, with a race for governor, Senate and competitive House seats on the ballot in Minnesota.\n <\/p>\n \n In a four-minute campaign video, Klobuchar did not explicitly mention Trump by name or the broader immigration challenges facing the state, but she denounced the \u201c3,000 ICE agents on our streets and in our towns, sent by an Administration that relishes division.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cI\u2019m asking Minnesotans across this state to not look down, to not look away,\u201d Klobuchar said. \u201cI\u2019m asking you to look to each other.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n As she debated whether to stay in the Senate or run for governor, friends say, she often talked about the appeal of serving as a chief executive without the limitations of a dysfunctional Congress.\n <\/p>\n \n She joins a long list of lawmakers from both parties<\/a> who are retiring or seeking an office away from Washington, though she is not planning to resign as she embarks on her campaign. If she wins in November, Klobuchar could resign and allow Walz to appoint her successor or choose her own replacement after being sworn in as governor. If she loses, she could return to the final four years of her Senate term.\n <\/p>\n \n The politics of the state have been scrambled since Walz stepped away from his reelection bid on January 5. Two days later, an ICE agent killed Renee Good<\/a>, a 37-year-old Minneapolis woman.\n <\/p>\n \n Klobuchar began considering jumping into the governor\u2019s race long before unrest rocked Minnesota in the wake of Good\u2019s death and intensified after Pretti was killed. As she weighed a campaign, she told CNN: \u201cMinnesota is right now the center of America\u2019s heartbreak.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n She is expected to largely clear the Democratic field, party strategists say, even though some progressive leaders have not ruled out recruiting a candidate to challenge her in the primary.\n <\/p>\n \n Klobuchar, who previously served as Hennepin County Attorney in Minneapolis, won her first US Senate race in 2006 with 58% of the vote. In her four Senate contests, she built a moderate record and notched a string of blowout victories. The closest challenge came in 2024, when she still won by 16 points.\n <\/p>\n \n Klobuchar\u2019s ability to reach voters across the political spectrum will be tested anew in this highly polarized moment. Yet the number of voters casting split tickets has fallen dramatically, a sign that party strategists say is a change in the bipartisan nature of the state.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cI\u2019m asking Democrats, Independents, and Republicans to join our campaign,\u201d Klobuchar said in her announcement video. \u201cIt is a home grown one, born in a moment like no other. It is for people who believe in something bigger than ourselves.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n While Klobuchar has not entirely ruled out running for president again, as she did in 2020, aides acknowledge it would be difficult to enter the 2028 Democratic primary because she would have to launch a campaign during the first year of her term as governor if she wins her race.\n <\/p>\n \n In the race for Minnesota governor, a crowded GOP field is already engaged in a competitive primary including Lisa Demuth, the speaker of the Minnesota House and highest-ranking Republican in the state. Mike Lindell<\/a>, the chief executive of MyPillow and a right-wing conspiracy theorist, is also running.\n <\/p>\n