Prior to Super Tuesday, FiveThirtyEight predicted that Bernie Sanders had about a 50% shot of winning the most delegates in Minnesota, followed by Amy Klobuchar with 24%. But Klobuchar’s choice to sacrifice her campaign for the sake of Joe Biden proved a pristine political calculation, helping to deliver her home state to the former vice president just four years after Sanders dominated it.
Less than an hour after the polls closed, the Associated Press called Minnesota for Biden. Seeing as Biden couldn’t crack double digits in state polls as recently as a fortnight ago, this is already an astounding upset. But compounded by the fact that Sanders won it by 24 percentage points over Hillary Clinton during the 2016 primary, it’s a devastating testament to Biden’s newly empowered coalition and Klobuchar’s contribution.
Klobuchar certainly deserves the credit.
With a D+1 lean, Minnesota is barely blue, and it has the only state legislature in the nation with split party control. But Klobuchar is uniquely popular, routinely winning reelection by more than 20 points even as Clinton could only win the state by one point in 2016. It’s no coincidence that Biden’s prospects exploded after Klobuchar bowed out and backed him.
Klobuchar likely brokered a good deal with Biden, and on Super Tuesday, it paid off for him. Not only will he bolster his immediate lead, but in usurping a state Sanders expected to win, he furthered the narrative of his momentum. Whatever Cabinet position Klobuchar negotiated, she earned it.
