Amy Klobuchar blasts Trump, pledges to take on drug makers in latest Reno campaign stop

Democrats are going to build a beautiful blue wall around Nevada and make President Donald Trump pay for it, U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., told a Reno audience on Friday.

"This election is going to be a decency check," she added in front of a largely retirement-age crowd of several hundred supporters packed into the Boys and Girls Club of Truckee Meadows. "It’s also going to be a patriotism check.

"The heart of America is so much bigger than the heart of the guy in the White House."

The 2020 Democratic presidential hopeful then pivoted toward a familiar call to reunite voters long stranded on opposite ends of a deep partisan divide.

"We live in a country of shared dreams," Klobuchar said. "We have an obligation to lift people up instead of shutting them down. To bring people in, instead of pushing them away.

"We really need to run on an optimistic economic agenda for the people in this country."

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She later offered well-received pledges to take on high-powered pharmaceutical companies, expand access to mental health care and drive down the nation's fast-growing deficit.

Klobuchar is the latest in a wave of Democratic candidates who have rushed to Reno ahead of Nevada’s crucial presidential nominating contest.

Prior to her White House run, she was perhaps best known for a sharp September 2018 exchange with future U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

Klobuchar launched her presidential campaign a few months after the well-publicized clash centered around Kavanaugh’s drinking habits, which emerged as a key line of questioning during his high-profile Senate confirmation hearing.

Friday marked her third visit to Northern Nevada, far fewer than other moderate contenders to take on President Donald Trump.

That may help explain her sluggish standing in Silver State polls, which suggest she’s the sixth most popular Democrat among likely caucusgoers.

The three-term senator also has a smaller Nevada campaign operation and less presidential caucus experience than some of her competitors.

But she does have what her campaign calls ‘Klomentum’ — a noticeable bump in the polls that emerged after she outperformed expectations with voters in Iowa and New Hampshire.

That surge was aided, at least in part, by a strong pre-primary debate performance in the Granite State and the continued decline of former front-runner Joe Biden’s electoral prospects.

Supporters expect Klobuchar can ride those same tailwinds in Nevada, shocking no shortage of pundits and political observers along the way.

“She’s a woman and she has good ideas,” said Ginny Cameron, a retired special education teacher from Nevada City, Calif. “I started paying attention to her during the debates. She did really well on that last one (in New Hampshire).”

Janet Gleason, a retired project manager from Reno, offered a strikingly similar account.

“(Klobuchar) was kind of a dark horse for me until the last few debates,” Gleason told the Reno Gazette Journal. “She’s pushed for a lot of bipartisan bills and her experience in the Senate helps.”

Klobuchar was not made available for questions after Friday’s event.

Early caucusing in Nevada begins on Feb. 15 at any one of 80 locations around the state. In-person caucusing is scheduled to start at 10 a.m. on Feb. 22. Nevada’s closed caucus system is open to registered Democrats who will be over the age of 18 by Nov. 3.

For more information, visit caucus.nvdems.com.

James DeHaven is the politics reporter for the Reno Gazette Journal. He covers campaigns, the Nevada Legislature and everything in between. Support his work by subscribing to RGJ.com right here.