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Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar To Suspend Presidential Campaign

Patrick Semansky, AP
AP
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., at a campaign event in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. She has ended her presidential bid.

Updated at 1:51 p.m.

Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar is suspending her presidential campaign, just one day before her home state was set to vote on Super Tuesday.

The Democrat plans to endorse former Vice President Joe Biden in Dallas on Monday night, according to her campaign.

Minnesota is one of 14 states set to vote Tuesday. There has been little polling of Minnesota, but Klobuchar had held a small lead in surveys there.

Her decision to suspend her campaign follows a similar announcement from fellow Midwesterner Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Ind.

Klobuchar saw a surge of momentum and fundraising after a strong debate performance and a third-place showing in the New Hampshire primary, but, like Buttigieg, she struggled to expand or sustain that support as the primary moved into larger, more diverse states.

She finished sixth, with just 3% of the vote, in South Carolina on Saturday.

The senator from next-door Minnesota had campaigned heavily in Iowa. She had held nearly 200 events in the state, and traveled to all 99 of its counties. She ended up finishing fifth there.

In Iowa and elsewhere during the campaign, Klobuchar often stressed her Midwestern roots and more moderate Democratic policies. She said she was a candidate who was able to get things done — and win in battleground areas.

She also touted several newspaper endorsements, including a co-endorsement (with Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren) by The New York Times, an endorsement by the Quad-City Times in Iowa and endorsements by a few New Hampshire outlets, including the Union Leader in Manchester.

Klobuchar was one of four senators still running for president while also serving as jurors in the impeachment trial of President Trump. The trial's schedule disrupted the final weeks of campaigning around the Hawkeye State.
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