Sen. Amy Klobuchar joined Fox News Wednesday night for a town hall in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, a state Hillary Clinton famously skipped during the 2016 election.
According to Fox News, the network allows candidates to select the location for their town halls and Klobuchar picked Milwaukee, which will also host the 2020 Democratic National Convention.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) was the first to join Fox News for one of its town halls, and it was later reported that candidates were “flocking” to the network, even after the DNC announced in March that Fox News would not “serve as a media partner for the 2020 Democratic primary debates.”
Moderators Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum covered a number of topics, but began by asking Klobuchar if she agrees with the House Democrats’ vote to hold Attorney General William Barr in contempt.
“Yes, the Attorney General is the people’s lawyer,” Klobuchar responded, saying “he should be showing up and answering questions.”
Klobuchar said that although the economy is doing well, when “you go out there and talk to real people, they feel like they’re not sharing in this prosperity.”
“There are jobs out there, we know that,” she said. “But it’s become harder and harder for people to afford health care, you have to have roads and bridges that work to get to a job.”
Klobuchar, who is among the more moderate candidates in the Democratic field, was later asked by an audience member about why progressives should support her.
“Progressives should support me because I am a proven progressive,” she responded. “The last time I checked, if you want to be a progressive and support progressives, then you’re supposed to make progress. That is what I have done my whole life. Even during the time of this president, 34 of the bills where I’ve been the lead Democrat have been signed into law.”
As a moderate vying for the support of middle-class voters in the heartland, Klobuchar will need to separate herself from candidates like former Vice President Joe Biden, who continues to dominate in the polls. Klobuchar said many candidates who were given “long odds” have gone on to win the presidency.
“If I thought to myself, oh well, everyone who discounted me—well, I won’t be able to do it, I’d never be where I am today,” she said. “So yeah, I can win this.”
Throughout the hour-long event, Klobuchar revealed her positions on a number of controversial topics. The Minnesota senator supports, for instance, legalizing marijuana on a “state-by-state” basis. She also expressed support for providing “free two-year community college,” and called health care “a right.”
She was also asked whether she believes Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh received due process during his highly controversial confirmation hearings.
“I’m only smiling because he got a really good job out of the whole thing,” she said. “We had a Senate hearing. That was a process.”
The town hall concluded with a discussion about pro-life legislation being passed around the country, such as the “heartbeat bill” that was just signed into law in Georgia.
“I think women should be able, right, to make decisions about their own health care,” she responded. “I believe in Roe v. Wade and the rights we have there. Those are the rights of this country.”
“We also want to reduce the number of abortions. How do you do that? It’s by making contraception available,” Klobuchar added.
The Republican National Committee told The Minnesota Sun that Klobuchar is “trying to fool Midwestern voters into thinking she’s ‘one of them.’”
“But her values better align with coastal elitists, not the heartland,” the RNC said. “On the job-killing Green New Deal, on attacking President Trump’s historic economic agenda, and on obstructing President Trump’s pursuit of progress, Klobuchar is nothing but a rubber stamp for the radical left.”
The full event can be watched below:
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Anthony Gockowski is managing editor of Battleground State News, The Ohio Star, and The Minnesota Sun. Follow Anthony on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Amy Klobuchar” by Fox News.
