Senator Amy Klobuchar, who dropped out of the presidential race on Monday, is pushing back on the criticism elicited by her and fellow former 2020 candidates’ endorsement of Joe Biden, saying they are “fresh faces” in the Democratic Party, not members of the establishment.
“What was cool about last night is you have Mayor Pete and you have Beto O’Rourke, who electrified Texas in his Senate race, and myself,” Klobuchar said Tuesday on CBS.
“And I just don’t think we are the face of the establishment,” she said. “I think we’re fresh faces in our party.”
Also awarding their endorsements to Biden on Tuesday were former South Bend, Ind. mayor Pete Buttigieg, who dropped out of the presidential race the same day as Klobuchar, and former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke, who suspended his 2020 bid last year.
Klobuchar insisted that she is “friends with Bernie,” but explained that, “I don’t think we should have a socialist heading up our ticket” come Election Day.
Supporters of progressive Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders have raised the alarm that members of the Democratic establishment are working together to nominate Joe Biden and bring down Sanders’s campaign.
At a campaign rally in St. Paul, Minn., Klobuchar’s home state, Sanders invited those who supported her and Buttigieg to join his movement.
“Tonight, I want to open the door to Amy’s supporters, to Pete’s supporters,” the self-described democratic socialist said. “We all have our differences. But I also know that virtually all of Amy’s supporters and Pete’s supporters understand that we have got to move toward a government which believes in justice, not greed.”
Klobuchar responded “No, not at all,” when asked whether Biden had offered her a position in his administration, but hedged on whether she would accept a vice presidential nomination.
“I never look at hypotheticals,” she said. “There’s been a lot going on here.”