She was on the front line when polarization hit perhaps its lowest point: during the Supreme Court nomination hearings for Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
But U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar - despite the political pit that Washington, D.C. can be, and in spite of the many cries for "resistance" from her Democratic colleagues - not only has persevered; she has found success. She has continued to go to work for Minnesota and for our nation, reinforcing her already-stellar reputation for bipartisanship and productivity.
The senator with the most legislation passed as lead author or cosponsor in 2016 has passed another 20 bills since Trump took office - important measures, too, to combat human trafficking, help veterans sickened by burn pits, fight the opioid crisis, bolster technical education to meet workforce shortages, expand broadband, and more.
Klobuchar may be Minnesotans' easiest vote on Election Day, Nov. 6. She has earned her support.
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"I have tried throughout this administration - while I don't agree, clearly, with a number of their policies - I've tried really hard to continue to work across the aisle with my colleagues and to work with the administration whenever I can," Klobuchar said in a candidate screening this month with the News Tribune Editorial Board. "That includes issues important to Duluth."
Indeed. She was a key player in restoring funding for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative after Trump zeroed out its federal allocation. She passed legislation to help Cirrus get faster approvals for safety innovations on its planes. And, for years, she fought illegal steel dumping. And those aren't the only examples.
Klobuchar's priorities if re-elected, she said, are infrastructure, including broadband and preventing another I-35W bridge collapse; job training to fill open manufacturing and other positions; and immigration, including investing in the border and creating paths to citizenship, in part, to maintain labor pools.
"We are going to lose business in Minnesota if we don't get comprehensive immigration reform," Klobuchar said.
The Republican running against Klobuchar is Jim Newberger, a paramedic, EMT, and three-term Minnesota House representative from Becker, Minn.
"I look forward to serving the state," Newberger said in a separate interview with the Editorial Board. "I am the choice for voters on the Range because I will bring in (copper-nickel) mining, and I will bring in Enbridge."
Klobuchar has been an advocate for those economic development issues, too.
Her record of achievement, even during difficult political sledding, can fill Minnesota voters with confidence on Nov. 6.
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"There's a group of us in the middle that works really hard on (important) issues and that is trying to get along," Klobuchar said. "I think that's the only way out of (the political polarization)."
ABOUT THIS ENDORSEMENT
This News Tribune endorsement editorial was determined entirely by the newspaper's editorial Board. The board's members are listed every day atop the Opinion page.
