Klobuchar’s Rise Brings New Scrutiny to Record as Prosecutor

(Bloomberg) -- Senator Amy Klobuchar pressed the need to tackle racial disparities in the criminal justice system as scrutiny over her track record as a prosecutor in Minnesota increased following a strong showing in the New Hampshire primary.

Klobuchar also said her campaign had raised more than $12 million online since the New Hampshire Democratic debate on Feb. 7, mostly from new donors, helping to scale up her 2020 presidential effort heading into Super Tuesday.

“Everyone involved in the criminal justice system has to take responsibility, including myself,” Klobuchar said on CNN’s “State of the Union,” one of four talk-show appearances on Sunday. “What we know is that there’s institutional racism. And how do we get at it is really my job and will be my job as president.”

The moderate Democrat’s time as the top prosecutor in Minneapolis has come under fire amid new revelations in the case of a 16-year-old boy who was sentenced to life in prison for the 2002 death of an 11-year-old girl killed by a stray bullet. Both were African-American.

Klobuchar on Feb. 11 said new information in the case should be reviewed immediately, but was asked Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” whether it had been her responsibility to be more vigilant at the time.

Time to Review

“Well, I wasn’t aware of that information,” Klobuchar said. “It must be reviewed immediately. Not just the new evidence, but old evidence as well.”

Klobuchar defended her record in other appearances Sunday, saying her office in Minnesota’s Hennepin Country handled more than 10,000 cases each year. She also pointed to a 12% reduction in African American incarceration rates while she was in the office.

She contrasted her work in law enforcement with that of former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who’s come under criticism for his embrace of “stop-and-frisk” while in office before recently apologizing as a presidential hopeful.

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With the nomination contest moving to Nevada and then South Carolina in the next two weeks, Klobuchar is trying to build momentum and position herself as a choice for moderate Democrats and Republicans.

Newly Discovered

Most of her donors this month have been “new people, who have discovered me for the first time and get what I’m focused on, which is bringing people with me instead of shutting them out,” she said on ABC.

A strong debate performance days before the New Hampshire primary helped Klobuchar exceed expectations by winning 20% of the vote in the state. She finished behind Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg but ahead of one-time heavyweights Elizabeth Warren and Joe Biden.

On “Meet the Press” Klobuchar didn’t answer directly a question on which nominating contests she could win, but mentioned Colorado and Virginia as states she could do well in.

Klobuchar, 59, also said that ultimately she’d support whoever wins the Democratic nomination, including Bloomberg.

Klobuchar’s jump in support in New Hampshire followed after a fifth-place finish in Iowa. She’d campaigned heavily in the Midwestern state, which borders her own, hoping to break into the top tier of candidates.

Blizzard of Support?

“You know, when I announced in the blizzard [in February 2019], they didn’t even think we’re going to finish that speech, much less get through the summer and the debate, and we are clearly surging,” she said on ABC.

While New Hampshire is overwhelmingly white, Nevada has a large Latino population, and Klobuchar is polling in sixth place ahead of the state’s Feb. 22 caucuses. In South Carolina, where the majority of Democratic primary voters are black, she’s also in sixth place for the Feb. 29 primary.

Klobuchar attributed her dismal support among minority voters -- the latest national poll from Quinnipiac University showed her at zero percent among black voters -- to a lack of name recognition.

The Klobuchar campaign announced it raised more than $2.5 million within a few hours after the polls closed in New Hampshire on top of another $4 million that came in following the Feb. 7 debate. Based on Sunday’s comments, the money has continued to flow in.

Klobuchar raised $25.4 million for her campaign through the end of 2019, according to Federal Election Commission filings, putting her sixth among candidates relying on donations to fund their campaigns.

To contact the reporters on this story: Ryan Beene in Washington at rbeene@bloomberg.net;Bill Allison in Washington DC at ballison14@bloomberg.net;Hailey Waller in New York at hwaller@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Wendy Benjaminson at wbenjaminson@bloomberg.net, Ros Krasny, Kevin Miller

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