Klobuchar delays governor campaign launch as Border Patrol killing upends Minnesota

Amy Klobuchar planned to officially launch her gubernatorial campaign on Monday, but has delayed it in the wake of the fatal shooting of a protester by immigration agents in Minneapolis over the weekend, according to two people familiar with the Minnesota Democrat’s plans.

The senator instead spent Monday morning speaking to White House officials, urging deescalation and pushing to get the administration to end its immigration crackdown in her state, according to a third person, who is close to the senator and, like the others, was granted anonymity to describe private conversations.

Her decision to wait on her campaign launch comes amid weeks of turmoil in Minnesota that further escalated over the weekend when Border Patrol agents on Saturday fatally shot Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care unit nurse and American citizen.

Over the last two days, Klobuchar has been meeting with city and state leaders, strategizing with Senate colleagues over Department of Homeland Security funding and calling Trump administration officials, according to the third person, who said Klobuchar’s “focus is on de-escalating the situation and getting ICE out of Minnesota. There's not time for politics today.”

Klobuchar’s nascent gubernatorial campaign has run headlong into a national crisis, another twist for a campaign that started under unusual circumstances. Earlier this month, Democratic Gov. Tim Walz unexpectedly dropped his reelection bid for a third term, as a swirling fraud scandal threatened to engulf his campaign, and met with Klobuchar about running for the office herself. Since then, two American citizens have been killed by federal immigration agents, thrusting Klobuchar into the center of a battle on an issue for which she’s traditionally cut a moderate profile.

“Regardless of what [campaign] Klobuchar is considering, this is what I’d expect from her, she’s been the leader in this state,” said Democratic Minnesota state Sen. Grant Hauschild. “We’re facing unprecedented circumstances of federal overreach and harm to our communities, and she’s stepped up, being present on the ground and fighting in Congress.”

The two people who described her changed launch plans said they expect the senator to formally launch before next Tuesday, when the state’s party precinct caucus kicks off. Klobuchar already filed paperwork with the state’s campaign finance board last week, allowing her to begin raising funds ahead of an expected bid.

Pretti’s killing also shook up the GOP side of the Minnesota governors’ race. Chris Madel, an attorney who launched his campaign as a Republican late last year, announced on Monday he would be dropping out, calling the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement tactics “wrong” and “an unmitigated disaster.”

“I cannot support the national Republican-stated retribution on the citizens of our state, nor can I count myself a member of a party that would do so,” he said in a video posted to social media.

Klobuchar is not expected to face a serious Democratic opponent when she enters the gubernatorial race, giving her some breathing room on both her announcement timeline and on her stance on immigration. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, a well-known progressive who was considered a potential candidate, confirmed he would not be running for the job last week.

“What you hear from Klobuchar is, ‘ICE needs to get out of here,’ and I don’t think she needs to say more than that [because] without a primary challenger, I don’t think she’ll have to change her position on it,” said a Minnesota Democratic strategist, granted anonymity to discuss the issue candidly. “She’s smart, she’s careful and she’s cautious, and she knows how to win suburban and independent voters.”

Klobuchar has always cut a moderate profile. She rose up in Hennepin County as its prosecutor before running for Senate. During her presidential campaign in 2020, Klobuchar rejected calls for “abolishing ICE,” drawing fire from immigration rights advocates groups in that race, and instead called for reforms of the agency.

When asked during an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday whether she supported abolishing ICE, Klobuchar said “we’re always going to have some immigration enforcement in this country, and border control.” But she called for the ICE operation to leave the state because “this agency has been functioning is completely against every tenet of law enforcement.”

Klobuchar ticked through several reforms she supports: “New leadership. Stopping these surges across the country, not just in my state. Training them like they were supposed to be trained. ... Mandatory body cameras. Stopping ramming into people's houses without a judicial warrant.”

Those specifics could become part of Senate Democrats’ demands to give enough votes to pass a bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security and other parts of the government.

Other Democrats have called for more aggressive policies, including abolishing ICE altogether. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn) posted on X that “voting NO on the DHS funding bill is the bare minimum,” adding that ICE is “beyond reform” and to “abolish it.”

Klobuchar’s approach is once again drawing criticism from some immigrant-rights advocates. “I do not believe that's far enough,” said George Escobar, executive director of CASA, an immigration advocacy organization. “Unless we deal with the cancer that is causing this, which is ICE itself, and unless we have a comprehensive reform of that agency, which to us, means abolishing it, then honestly, this cycle is just going to repeat over and over again.”One Democratic consultant who has worked on Minnesota races warned that Klobuchar’s deliberative approach could hurt her. “She’s incredibly cautious, and this is not a cautious moment,” they said. “So far, she has not put her foot in it by being too moderate, but she’s also not been under a huge spotlight — and that will change with the gubernatorial run.”

Nonetheless, Klobuchar’s messaging earned her praise from even some progressives. "I think she’s spot on,” said Mark Longabaugh, a former adviser to Sen Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). “If you're going to step up and say that this organization needs to be restructured, or shut down and restructured, you also have to tie that to, ‘Listen, there is a legitimate law enforcement need here, both for customs and for border control.’”

Most Minnesota Democrats don’t think Klobuchar will suddenly center anti-ICE messaging in her gubernatorial campaign. Interviews with a half dozen operatives and elected officials found they still expected the campaign to largely revolve around the economy. “Affordability is still going to be central to her work, along with protecting her state,” said the person close to Klobuchar. “She will always stand up for Minnesota on both.”

“Who knows if, in 10 months, it will specifically be a part of the narrative or messaging,” said a Minnesota Democratic donor adviser. “But this isn’t going to go away any time soon … because we’re traumatized here.”