Amy Klobuchar leaned into her immigrant lineage as she scrambles to capitalize on a strong performance in the first two 2020 Democratic primary contests ahead of the Nevada caucuses on Feb. 22.
“I have had people count me out every single time, and I’ve come roaring back,” Klobuchar told donors in New York Wednesday night, her first public appearance since her surprising third-place finish in New Hampshire this week.
The Minnesota senator, 59, explained that she opened her election night speech in Concord, New Hampshire, with the line, “Hello, my name is Amy Klobuchar, and I will beat Donald Trump” because she was “well aware there were some people who had no idea who I was.”
But the White House hopeful, who spent the summer polling in the single digits, pushed back on the narrative that her success was only due to her strong performance in the New Hampshire debate, noting her 23 visits to the state and a slew of endorsements, including from the New Hampshire Union Leader.
“A lot of that got lost because no one was covering our campaign for that time,” she said.
Ahead of Nevada, the first contest with a more diverse electorate, Klobuchar spoke about her Swiss grandfather, who even after marrying her grandmother, a U.S. citizen, had to register under the Alien Registration Act as he worked in a pie shop in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
The former top prosecutor for Minnesota’s most populous county, which covers Minneapolis, said her family’s experience made her dislike President Trump’s charged immigrant rhetoric even more.
“He tries to shatter that dream for people every day,” she added.
Klobuchar’s White House ambitions will face a test in Nevada next week and in South Carolina on Feb. 29. She’s behind her rivals in terms of fundraising and ground-game infrastructure.
On Wednesday, the Midwesterner also joked with husband John Bessler, who along with their daughter, Abigail Bessler, picked up the slack on the campaign trail when the senator was “chained to her desk” in Washington for Trump’s Senate impeachment trial, about how they were celebrating the anniversary of when he proposed to her more than 25 years ago.
“Happy engagement anniversary, John. This is so romantic, you and me and a few of our friends,” she quipped.
