U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar is the first woman elected to represent the State of Minnesota in the United States Senate. Throughout her public service, Senator Klobuchar has always embraced the values she learned growing up in Minnesota. 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 continued teaching until she was 70.

Senator Klobuchar has built a reputation of putting partisanship aside to help strengthen the economy and support families, workers, and businesses. In the 117th Congress, she was number one in the Senate for introducing bipartisan bills and number three for passing bills into law.

Senator Klobuchar is guided by the belief that her first duty is to represent the people of Minnesota. She acted quickly to obtain full funding to rebuild the I-35W bridge just thirteen months after it tragically collapsed into the Mississippi River. She worked across party lines to expand education and job opportunities for returning service members, fought to ensure that Minnesota National Guard members received the full benefits they earned, and helped turn Minnesota's ground-breaking “Beyond the Yellow Ribbon” program into a national model. As a member, and now lead ranking member, of the Senate Agriculture Committee, Senator Klobuchar worked to pass several bipartisan Farm Bills to strengthen Minnesota’s rural economy and give farmers the certainty and support they need.

Working with both Democrats and Republicans, Senator Klobuchar has made key progress on legislation to keep people safe. She led the effort to pass landmark pieces of legislation to end human trafficking and combat the opioid and fentanyl epidemic. She fought 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 also pushed the cell phone companies to enact more consumer-friendly policies. Additionally, her efforts to protect consumers have resulted in the largest furniture and airbag recalls in American history.

As Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, Senator Klobuchar is working on behalf of farmers, agriculture workers, and rural communities by fighting to expand the farm safety net, support food assistance programs, and expand voluntary conservation programs. She has also passed legislation to encourage the use of renewable fuels and to invest in programs to stop the spread of animal disease.   Additionally, Senator Klobuchar is devoted to passing on Minnesota’s tradition of outdoor recreation, fishing, and hunting to the next generation and has secured significant funding for research, restoration, and conservation activities, including the 2022 Great Lakes Fish and Wildlife Restoration Reauthorization Act.

As a member of the Joint Economic Committee and the Senate Commerce Committee, Senator Klobuchar has been a leader in working to implement a competitive agenda to ensure businesses have the tools they need to grow and create good jobs in their communities. She has established herself as a leader on addressing supply chain issues, successfully leading the bipartisan Ocean Shipping Reform Act to address sky-high shipping prices, which was ultimately signed into law. She has also authored legislation to lift the trade embargo with Cuba as well as legislation to help small businesses tap into new markets abroad and foster the creation and growth of new businesses across the country. She has successfully advocated to take action to combat illegal steel dumping. As co-chair of the Senate Broadband Caucus, Senator Klobuchar has been a leading advocate working to connect every American to high speed internet once and for all. Her provisions to expand high-speed broadband across the country were included in the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which was signed into law in 2021. She has also passed significant legislation aimed at increasing funds for STEM education and led national initiatives to boost American tourism, including a long-term reauthorization of Brand USA, which helps attract international travelers to destinations throughout the United States. Finally, she has established herself as a key voice on workforce training and leads bills to boost apprenticeships, skills training, and community and technical college so that America can continue to compete on the world stage.

Senator Klobuchar also serves as a senior member on the Senate Judiciary Committee where she has been active in advocating for legislation focused on increasing funding for police and first responders, protecting civil rights, expanding drug courts, improving our criminal justice system, and reforming our immigration laws. As Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and Law, she is committed to establishing guardrails online to protect Americans - from children exposed to harmful content and illegal drugs to consumers who have no privacy protections.  She has also worked to reinvigorate America’s antitrust laws and restore competition to American markets. She introduced legislation to strengthen prohibitions on anticompetitive conduct and mergers, and make additional reforms to improve enforcement. In 2022, her bipartisan bill to create rules of the roads for digital markets became the first piece of antitrust tech legislation to pass the Senate Judiciary Committee since the advent of the Internet. She also passed bipartisan legislation to modernize merger fees and increase resources for antitrust enforcers. The Washington Post credited her approach, noting, “The moderate but meaningful proposals provide a launchpad for cross-aisle cooperation, a goal of much of the senator’s legislative handiwork.” She has also introduced bipartisan legislation to lower prescription drug prices by cracking down on “pay-for-delay” agreements, the practice of brand-name drug manufacturers using pay-off agreements to keep more affordable generic equivalents off the market. Long focused on bringing down costs for families, provisions from Senator Klobuchar’s legislation to finally unleash Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices with the big pharmaceutical companies were signed into law in 2022.

Senator Klobuchar previously served as the Chairwoman of the Senate Rules Committee, where she has worked to ensure fairness, transparency, and efficiency in government. In response to the January 6th insurrection, she led a bipartisan investigation into the security, planning, and response failures related to the violent and unprecedented attack. The report made numerous recommendations, including passing a law to change Capitol Police Board procedures and improving intelligence sharing. Senator Klobuchar has worked across the aisle to implement these recommendations, including passing bipartisan legislation to give the U.S. Capitol Police Chief with the authority to request assistance from the DC National Guard or federal law enforcement agencies in emergencies without prior approval of the Capitol Police Board.

Senator Klobuchar spearheaded the Freedom to Vote Act in the U.S. Senate and was instrumental in passing the bipartisan Electoral Count Reform Act. Additionally, she helped pass the most sweeping ethics reform since Watergate and has authored legislation to automatically register eligible voters when they turn 18. She has also led efforts to improve election security and prevent foreign interference in our democracy and successfully secured $1.2 billion to strengthen states’ election infrastructure and help protect them from future attacks by foreign adversaries. She was the lead Democrat chairing the inaugural ceremonies for the 59th and 60th Presidential inaugurations.

Before serving in the Senate, Senator Klobuchar headed the largest prosecutor’s office in Minnesota for eight years, making the prosecution of violent criminals her top priority while increasing the office’s focus on white collar crime. In the Senate, she has championed reauthorizations of the local COPS Hiring Program and has prioritized both the funding of local police officers across the country as well as federal law enforcement such as the U.S. Capitol Police, U.S. Attorneys Offices, the FBI, and the U.S. Marshals Service. She led the effort 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 earned national awards from both the Bush and Clinton Justice Departments. She worked with the Innocence Project to advocate for videotaped interrogations across the country as well as innovative eyewitness processes to protect against false identifications. As a private citizen and before being elected to public office, Senator Klobuchar 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.

Senator Klobuchar’s work has gained national recognition. Vogue magazine described her as “personable, popular, and pragmatic,” The New York Times described her as a “former prosecutor with made-for-state-fair charms,” and Working Mother named her as "Best in Congress” for her efforts on behalf of working families. “Want to reform antitrust? Amy Klobuchar knows where to start,” The Washington Post headlined its opinion piece on her sweeping antitrust legislation, the Competition and Antitrust Law Enforcement Reform Act. She has received numerous awards from the National Farm Bureau and National Farmers Union for championing farmers and rural communities. She has been recognized for her work on behalf of children and consumers, and Refugee International gave her the Congressional Leadership Award for her work to support refugee communities. She received an award from the Service Women's Action Network (SWAN) for her work to fight sexual assault in the military, and the Disabled American Veterans honored her work to improve the lives of America’s veterans. She also received the “Outstanding Member of the Senate Award” from the National Narcotic Officers’ Associations’ Coalition and the Distinguished Public Service Award from the American Legion. In 2022, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy presented her with the Order of Merit, First Class.

Senator Klobuchar 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 essay 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. Her book, “Antitrust,” was on the New York Times Best Sellers list.

Senator Klobuchar is married to John Bessler, a native of Mankato, who attended Loyola High School and the University of Minnesota. Senator Klobuchar and John have a daughter, Abigail, who they are very proud of!