Amy Klobuchar - Our United States Senator

Amy Klobuchar was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2006, becoming the first woman elected to represent the State of Minnesota.  As chief prosecutor in Hennepin County, Minnesota’s largest county, and now as a United States Senator, Amy brings the values she learned growing up in Minnesota to her work every day.  Her grandfather worked 1500 feet underground in the iron ore mines of Northern Minnesota.  Her father, Jim, was a newspaperman, and her mother, Rose, was an elementary school teacher who was still teaching a classroom of thirty second-graders at age seventy.

Throughout her career, Amy has taken those Minnesota values to heart to get results.

As a private citizen and before being elected to public office, she was the leading advocate for successful passage of one of the first laws in the country guaranteeing 48-hour hospital stays for new moms and their babies.

And, in 1998, after serving as a partner of two of Minnesota’s leading law firms, Amy was elected to serve as the Hennepin County prosecutor, which includes Minneapolis and 45 suburbs. As County Attorney, Amy headed the largest prosecutor’s office in the state for eight years, making the prosecution of violent and career criminals her top priority.  She was a leading advocate for successful passage of Minnesota’s first felony DWI law, and received the leadership award from Mothers Against Drunk Driving.  Her safe schools initiative, community prosecution efforts, and criminal justice reforms also earned national awards, including from the U.S. Department of Justice.  She was also elected by her colleagues to serve as president of the Minnesota County Attorneys Association. In 2006, the people of Minnesota elected Amy to be their U.S. Senator.  Since arriving in the Senate, Amy has been a strong advocate for middle-class families and Minnesota values on the critical issues facing our nation, from promoting long-term economic growth and job creation to bringing fiscal responsibility and accountability to Washington, from supporting our Minnesota businesses, workers, and farmers to developing homegrown energy.

In the Senate, Amy took the lead to pass the most significant consumer product safety legislation in a generation, keeping foreign toxic products off our shores and out of our stores. She acted quickly to obtain full funding to replace the I-35W bridge, the eight-lane highway which was rebuilt in a record nine months after tragically falling into the Mississippi River. She introduced legislation to secure health and education benefits for our nation’s veterans. She took on the cell phone companies for more consumer-friendly policies. And she helped pass the most sweeping ethics reform since Watergate.

Her work has gained national recognition. The American Prospect named her a “woman to watch,” and Working Mother Magazine named her as a 2008 “Best in Congress” for her efforts on behalf of working families. The Star Tribune reported on her substantial progress, calling her “a fast-moving legislator.”

Amy is known as a hard worker determined to get results, and has taken the lead in passing several bipartisan bills and amendments through the Senate, including legislation supported by consumer and industry groups to ban foreign wood products containing formaldehyde, as well as bills providing for safe disposal of prescription drugs, simplifying international adoption, banning lead in children’s toys, allowing community bankers to maintain their voice within the Federal Reserve, and putting in place a value index to increase accountability by emphasizing quality over quantity in health care delivery systems.

Amy was the valedictorian of her Wayzata High School class. She graduated magna cum laude from Yale University and the University of Chicago Law School. Her senior thesis in college, published as the book “Uncovering the Dome,” chronicles the 10-year-history behind the building of the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome and is still used at colleges and universities across the country.

Amy is married to John Bessler, a native of Mankato who attended Loyola High School and the University of Minnesota.  He now teaches law. Amy and John have a daughter, Abigail, who is 16 and is in her junior year of high school.