(PresidentialWire.com)- Senator Amy Klobuchar from Minnesota is one of the leading candidates to be chosen as Democrat Joe Biden’s running mate.
A former presidential candidate herself, Klobuchar created a nice following among progressive voters, and has hit the campaign trail hard for Biden since she dropped out of the race.
But there are a lot of people from powerful groups that are warning that Klobuchar would be the wrong choice.
According to Aimee Allison, the founder of the activist group She the People, said picking Klobuchar would “risk losing the very base the Democrats need to win.” Allison was referring Klobuchar’s poor record with people of color — both as a former presidential candidate and as a prosecutor in the state of Minnesota.
More than a dozen of other Latino and black strategists have warned against selecting Klobuchar as the vice president running mate for the same reasons. The leaders of these groups have said they’d prefer Biden to choose a running mate who is a black woman.
Just last week, Biden said “multiple black women [are] being considered” as his running mate. That presumptive list would include former Georgia nominee for governor Stacey Abrams, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Florida Representative Val Demings.
As the executive director of BlackPAC, Adrianne Shropshire, said about Klobuchar:
“It comes from her performance in the primary — her weakness in being able to motivate them. The engagement and enthusiasm of black voters is going to be a difference-maker in this election, and the concerns about her in this role stem from the degree to which she resonated or not with those core constituencies.”
The reported tug within the Democratic Party this election revolves around whether to inspire voters of color who weren’t excited to vote during the 2016 election, or whether to focus on white voters in the Midwest who supported President Donald Trump during the last election.
According to the Rev. Al Sharpton, Klobuchar “represents that tension.” Not surprisingly, Sharpton said he would prefer Biden select a black woman as his running mate, though he did say he’s “not anti-Amy.” He’s just “concerned” that Klobuchar wouldn’t energize minority voters.
“It’s not her fault, but she is in the middle of an ongoing battle from the last few presidential races,” Sharpton said.
Even liberal media outlets are saying Biden shouldn’t choose Klobuchar as his running mate. The Washington Post wrote an editorial this month that said, in part:
“Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee, does not need help winning white, working-class voters — he serves that function himself. A choice such as Sen. Amy Klobuchar (Minn.), who failed to prosecute controversial police killings and is responsible for the imprisonment of Myon Burrell, will only alienate black voters.”
And as the co-founder of Black Voters Matter, LaTosha Brown, said about the Post’s opinions:
“If it was important enough to raise in an op-ed, it speaks to how serious we are. [Klobuchar’s] campaign appeal was about bringing in working-class, white people from the Midwest, and perhaps that’s true, but that’s a particular strategy that doesn’t align with what it’s going to take to win. You need to excite the base.”
