Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar is amassing a coalition of local leaders in her bid for the White House, giving the mayors of Minneapolis and St. Paul roles in the early stages of her campaign.
St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter recently returned from California, where he campaigned for Klobuchar and attended the presidential debate. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey has been on board from the start after helping kick off the third-term senator's presidential campaign at Boom Island Park last year. Duluth Mayor Emily Larson, Moorhead Mayor Johnathan Judd and Mankato Mayor Najwa Massad have also pledged support.
With a field of more than a dozen contenders for the Democratic nomination and President Donald Trump running a largely anti-city re-election — including a public spat with Frey this fall — the hometown choice is a safe one.
"You really have nothing to lose by endorsing one of your own within the state," said David Schultz, a political-science professor at Hamline University.
U.S. senators can help move federal money to both cities, and endorsing a politician who helps with that could be seen as a sign of thanks, Schultz said. Cross a local senator who wins office, he said, and you could risk ruining the relationship.
Carter waited nearly a year to take an official stance in the 2020 presidential race — though he said in a recent interview that he's been talking to Klobuchar since early 2019.
"I, like all of us, have been watching really closely as the conversation grows and as the debates grow and have become very convinced that we need not only a candidate who can win; we need a real plan to not just oppose the current occupant of that office, but to address some of the day-to-day challenges that people in cities across our country face," Carter said.
Carter is the state's most prominent black officeholder to publicly support Klobuchar's presidential bid. U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison have endorsed Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. Last month, Carter traveled to Los Angeles to campaign for Klobuchar's Housing First plan, which includes proposals ranging from reducing wait times for Section 8 vouchers to raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour.
