by Cori Hilsgen
news@thenewsleaders.com
Sen. Amy Klobuchar visited campaign headquarters (the former Newsleaders office building) of Minnesota Senate candidate Joe Perske in St. Joseph the morning of Sept. 15 to help rally democratic volunteers.
They were joined by Minnesota House of Representatives District 13B candidate Heidi Everett and 13A candidate Jim Read, former House Representative Bill Luther, senators Kari Dziedzic, Chuck Wiger and Carolyn Laine and other volunteers to help kick off a door-knocking campaign.
Perske spoke about how fighting and bickering needs to end to ensure the legislature is focusing on the needs of the people and making their lives better. He hopes to make a better Minnesota and believes legislators need to work together to do that.
“It’s about a better future for the people of Minnesota,” he said.
As a runner, he said he feels this is a last big marathon he is running in his life and he is in it to win for the people of Minnesota.
Klobuchar spoke about what the state needs is the bread-and-butter, no-nonsense politics right now and that, she added, is what Perske brings as a candidate.
She also spoke about how important it is to protect the Constitution of the United States and standing up for civility.
She discussed what she feels are some of the bread-and-butter issues for central Minnesota such as rising health-care and prescription-drug costs, infrastructure and local roads, tariffs such as those local farmers are facing and filling local manufacturing jobs.
With manufacturing being an important part of Central Minnesota, she said there are many pathways to success and there are many jobs available.
Klobuchar shared how she visited with former Sen. John McCain and his wife, Cindy, at their home shortly before he died. When McCain was finding it difficult to speak, he had pointed to a written passage about living for something bigger than yourself and how that is worth fighting for and that is what matters.
Both Everett and Read spoke about how important issues are to voters and how they hope to represent those needs. As a professor in the political science department at the College of St. Benedict/St. John’s University, Read encourages students to get out and vote.
Klobuchar is from Plymouth where she attended public schools and later Yale University and the University of Chicago before practicing law in Minnesota. She was elected as Hennepin County Attorney in 1998 and served there until she was elected to the U.S. Senate.
Her grandfather worked 1,500 feet underground in northern Minnesota iron ore mines, her father was a newspaperman and her mother was an elementary school teacher. In 2006, Klobuchar was the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate from Minnesota. Medill News Service reported she ranked first in the Senate with the most bills she led or cosponsored enacted into law in 2016.
She visits all 87 counties in Minnesota each year and promotes rural America in the Senate.
Klobuchar is married to John Bessler from Mankato. They have a daughter, Abigail.
For additional information visit amyklobuchar.com, PerskeForSenate.com, jimreadforrep.com and heidimn13b.com websites.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar and state Senate candidate Joe Perske listen while other candidates speak Sept. 15 at the Perske campaign headquarters in St. Joseph.
Campaign signs fill the front yard of state Senate candidate Joe Perske’s campaign headquarters Sept. 15 in St. Joseph.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (front center) visits the campaign headquarters of state Senate candidate (back right) Joe Perske Sept. 15 to help kick off a door-knocking campaign. They were joined by (front row, left to right) House of Representative District 13B candidate Heidi Everett, Sens. Kari Dziedzic, Klobuchar, Chuck Wiger and Carolyn Laine; and (back row) House of Representative District 13A candidate Jim Read and former House of Representative member Bill Luther and Perske.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar speaks while state Senate candidate Joe Perske, and House of Representative candidates Heidi Everett, Jim Read and others listen Sept. 15 at Perske campaign headquarters in St. Joseph.
Senate candidate Joe Perske (second from left) speaks while (left to right) Sen. Amy Klobuchar,
and House of Representative candidates Heidi Everett, Jim Read and others listen Sept. 15 at a kick-off campaign at Perske’s campaign headquarters.
