Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar on Thursday night withdrew her name from the running to be Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s running mate, urging him to instead pick a woman of color.
“After what I’ve seen in my state, after what I’ve seen across the country. this is a historic moment, and America must seize on this moment,” Klobuchar told MSNBC, referring to the racial justice movement sparked by the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
“And I truly believe, as I actually told [Biden] last night when I called him, I think this is a moment to put a woman of color on that ticket, and there are so many incredibly qualified women, but if you want to heal this nation right now — my party, yes, but our nation — this is sure a hell of a way to do it, and that’s just what I think after being through this in my state,” Klobuchar said.
The Associated Press reports: Klobuchar’s chances at getting the VP nod diminished after the killing of George Floyd by a white police officer in Minneapolis. Klobuchar was a prosecutor years ago in the county that includes Minneapolis, and during that period, more than two dozen people — mostly minorities — died during encounters with police. Floyd’s death last month set off days of protests across the country and criticism that as the county’s top prosecutor, Klobuchar didn’t charge any of the officers involved in citizen deaths. Officer Derek Chauvin, who was charged with Floyd’s murder, had been involved in one of those cases, the fatal 2006 shooting of a man accused of stabbing people and aiming a shotgun at police. … The third-term senator had to cancel one of the final rallies of her campaign after Black Lives Matter and other activists took the stage in Minnesota to protest her handling of a murder case when she was prosecutor that sent a black teen to prison for life.
More from CNN: Biden himself has not committed to picking a black woman, telling CNN’s Dana Bash last month: “There are women of color under consideration and there are women from every part of the country under consideration because there are a lot of really qualified women that are ready to be president.””But I’m not making that commitment. I’m going to make that judgment after in fact this group goes through interviewing all these people,” he said.Biden has said he hopes to pick his running mate around August 1.
