Klobuchar to End Presidential Campaign, Will Endorse Biden
WASHINGTON – Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, will end her presidential campaign Monday night and endorse Joe Biden at his campaign rally in Dallas.
The decision comes one day after former Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Ind., departed the race, and after weeks of Democratic Party hand-wringing about a crowded field of moderate candidates splitting a finite field of centrist votes.
Klobuchar, who pitched herself as a moderate Midwesterner, posted a strong third-place finish in the New Hampshire primary, but came in fifth in South Carolina and has been lagging in the polls in several Super Tuesday states.
Klobuchar had a last-minute rally set for Sunday night in suburban St. Louis Park to try to lock down her home turf. But her campaign canceled the event after protesters took the stage calling for her to drop out of the race over her handling of the case of Myon Burrell, a black teen who was sent to prison for life while Klobuchar was the county’s top prosecutor.
Klobuchar, who was not on stage when the protests began, announced she planned to campaign in other Super Tuesday states Monday and Tuesday before returning home for primary night.
But a tightening of the polls in Minnesota, suggesting Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., was gaining on her in her home state appears to have augured the end.
Losing her home state would have been hugely damaging to Klobuchar, whose main selling point throughout the campaign has been her three statewide victories for U.S. Senate, which she points to as proof she can win with cross-party appeal in America’s heartland.
