Washington, Aug 11 (EFE).-
Sen. Amy Klobuchar won the Democratic nomination for governor of Minnesota Tuesday by a wide margin over her rivals, putting her on track to become the first Democratic woman to run for governor of the state.
With 16% of the vote counted, Klobuchar had about 110,000 votes, compared with just over 6,100 for her main rival, Kobey Layne.
Klobuchar, 66, has represented Minnesota in the Senate since 2007 and entered the race in January after Gov. Tim Walz announced he would not seek a third term.
Walz and Klobuchar have been allies in the Democratic Party, and Klobuchar has defended the actions of state authorities in response to President Donald Trump’s immigration policies, including federal immigration operations in Minnesota.
Minnesota is one of the country’s most reliably Democratic states but has become a new battleground with Trump over immigration and Republican criticism of the state’s management of public programs following a fraud scandal that politically damaged Walz’s administration.
Klobuchar, one of the Democratic Party’s best-known national figures, was first elected to the Senate in 2006 and has been reelected three times by wide margins.
In 2020, she sought the Democratic presidential nomination but dropped out of the race and endorsed Joe Biden.
The November election will test the Democrats’ ability to retain control of the governor’s office. Klobuchar is likely to face Republican Lisa Demuth, the current speaker of the state House of Representatives, who leads the preliminary Republican vote count. EFE
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