Amy Klobuchar pushes back on GOP fraud attack as Minnesota governor's race heats up
She has won four races for U.S. Senate by double digits, and now Sen. Amy Klobuchar is campaigning to become Minnesota's next governor.
Early polls show she is the favorite to beat Republican House Speaker Lisa Demuth. Klobuchar says Demuth's support for President Trump is one of the major issues in the campaign.
"I don't think we want a rubber stamp of Donald Trump in the governor's office of Minnesota," Klobuchar said.
One of Klobuchar's most significant challenges has been delivered by current Gov. Tim Walz, who earlier this month signed a surprise executive order to ban mining near the Boundary Waters. But the order expires 90 days after Walz leaves office. Demuth says if elected governor, she will let it expire.
"If I earn the trust of the people of Minnesota to be the next governor, I will look very carefully at that order, at every detail of that order, but what I want people in Minnesota to know is that I will protect the Boundary Waters," Klobuchar said when asked if she would extend the executive order.
One major strategy of the Demuth campaign is to link Klobuchar to an estimated $9 billion in fraud schemes that have occurred during the Walz Administration. Demuth's first campaign ad says Klobuchar supported a $1 million earmark for a Somali charity. That is true, but there have been no findings of fraud or charges connected to the group, which never received federal funding.
"I was the one that made the calls to say we shouldn't put in funding requests and guess what? It was never funded," Klobuchar said.
While the focus of Demuth's campaign is to try and link Klobuchar to the state-run fraud programs, Klobuchar is focusing on linking Demuth to Mr. Trump's policies, including tariffs, the unpopular war against Iran and Operation Metro Surge.
Next week, Demuth will be a guest on WCCO's State Fair show at 10:30 a.m. Sunday.
You can watch WCCO Sunday Morning with Esme Murphy and Adam Del Rosso every Sunday at 6 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.
