Sen. Amy Klobuchar to win 4th term in U.S. Senate, CBS News projects
MINNEAPOLIS — Voters in Minnesota have handed incumbent Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar a fourth term, according to a CBS News projection, defeating Republican challenger Royce White.
Klobuchar won her last two elections with sizeable leads over her GOP challengers.
White became the Republican candidate in what political experts saw as a struggle for the soul of the Minnesota Republican Party. Joe Fraser was originally believed to be the frontrunner but was stunned when White won the party's nomination at May's GOP convention. While he initially ceded, Fraser backtracked and renewed his fight against White.
Several establishment Republicans took the unprecedented step of publicly backing Fraser after his convention loss, including former Sens. Rudy Boschwitz and Norm Coleman and former Gov. Pawlenty.
The candidates
Klobuchar was born in Plymouth and worked at law firms in Minneapolis before being elected the Hennepin County Attorney in 1998. She became Minnesota's first female U.S. senator when she was elected in 2006.
Klobuchar won her 2012 reelection bid by more than 30 points and she won her 2018 bid by more than 20 points.
She launched a bid to become her party's nominee in the 2020 presidential race with a speech given in the middle of a Midwestern snowstorm, but ultimately withdrew from the race on the eve of Super Tuesday that year, when President Joe Biden solidified his support, ultimately becoming the nominee.
White, after being crowned Minnesota's Mr. Basketball in 2009 for leading the undefeated Hopkins boy's basketball team, joined the Gophers. However, he left the University of Minnesota just months into his first semester after pleading guilty to disorderly conduct and theft in connection to an incident at Mall of America. Soon after, he was accused of stealing a laptop from a U dorm, but no charges were filed. White then went to Iowa State and helped lead his team to the NCAA tournament in 2012.
He briefly played for the Houston Rockets and Sacramento Kings but struggles with an anxiety disorder and a fear of flying led to a quick exit from the NBA. Despite his hardships, he was applauded for launching a league-wide discussion on mental health.
He played two seasons in the NBL Canada before a short-lived foray into MMA fighting. He currently plays in the Big3 3-on-3 basketball league.
White sought to run against Democratic Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar in 2022 but lost the Republican primary to Cicely Davis.
Key issues
According to White's campaign website, his top three priorities are the border, debt and "forever wars." White says the three are linked.
Klobuchar told WCCO her top priorities are "bringing down prices for consumers, creating economic opportunity across our state, protecting our fundamental freedoms, and keeping people safe."
While Klobuchar says she supports codifying Roe v. Wade into federal law, White supports letting individual states decide their abortion laws.