Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s family supports her running for the White House in 2020.
“I wanted to talk to my family. So big news today, my family is on board, including my in-laws, showing some momentum,” Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat, told MSNBC on Tuesday.
Klobuchar, whose national profile has steadily increased since her questioning of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh during the then-nominee’s Senate confirmation hearings last year, had said late last year during the holiday season that she had to talk to her family before deciding on a 2020 run.
[Read more: 45 Democrats jostling to challenge Trump in 2020]
During her interview with MSNBC, Klobuchar touted her electoral success in 2018 as one reason she would make a strong contender in a likely crowded Democratic primary field.
“I think a few months ago, I had talked about the fact that we just came off an election in Minnesota where I won in every congressional district, including some rural districts that Donald Trump had won handedly. That I think it’s important to have someone who has some heartland sensibility,” Klobuchar said.
“I will make this decision on my own course, regardless of what other candidates are doing,” she told the network later in the interview. “I think what America wants is someone that is going to make their own decisions. That’s not going influenced by every tweet out from the White House or what happens every single day in the news. I think they need a president that’s there for them in the long haul.”
Klobuchar’s comments come as former Obama administration housing secretary Julian Castro last week formally announced his bid, Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts formed a presidential exploratory committee in December, and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York is expected to tell CBS’s “Late Show with Stephen Colbert” on Tuesday she too has established an exploratory body.
