ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Republicans see Minnesota as a state where liberal naiveté delivered welfare fraud and general decline. Democrats view it as a blue bastion where a grassroots resistance rose up and turned the tide in a battle against President Trump's aggressive immigration enforcement.
Once known mostly for cold winters and Bob Dylan, Minnesota is now a political Rorschach test after two state flashpoints became nationalized and part of this year's midterm election debate.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, the chamber's third-highest-ranking Democrat and heavily favored to be Minnesota's next governor after the Nov. 3 election, is a top actor in that debate as she tries to help her state turn a page after a troubled first six years of this decade.
As some Democrats try to move their party in a more progressive -- even socialist -- direction, Klobuchar is pushing moderation. She has called for no new taxes, expressed a willingness to work with Republicans and businesses, and has distanced herself from Democratic Gov. Tim Walz, who abandoned his bid for a third term because of the fraud scandal.
"Major things went wrong," Klobuchar said of the state's current leadership, in an interview. "That pissed me off, and everyone else off."
Republicans, meanwhile, are questioning whether her moderate rhetoric would become liberal governance, as was the case with Walz.
"She has a more moderate temperament, but it remains to be seen if she governs in a more moderate way," said Jim Schultz, a Republican and leader of the Minnesota Private Business Council. "She has been a reliable liberal vote in the U.S. Senate."
Klobuchar pushed back by noting how she raised her hand on a debate stage while running for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination when candidates were asked if they worried about a "Democratic socialist" at the top of the party's ticket, a reference to Sen. Bernie Sanders's bid. Businessman Tom Steyer was the only other candidate to raise his hand.
While the 2028 Democratic presidential field is expected to be large, Klobuchar has said she wouldn't be a candidate then or in 2032.
Turning around Minnesota's reputation after one of the nation's largest pandemic-era welfare fraud scandals won't be easy. Trump and Republicans have showcased it as a potent example of Democratic mismanagement. Total losses remain unknown, but estimates range from $300 million to billions.
The thievery, perpetuated mostly by Somali immigrants, has been an embarrassment for a state that had long clung to an unofficial motto: Our taxes may be high, but we have good government and services. Republicans now lump Minnesota in with traditional GOP punching bags such as New York, California and Illinois.
Klobuchar, 66 years old, argues her experience as the top prosecutor of the state's most populated county puts her in a unique position to ferret out fraud and make changes.
"They were just signing off on these grants," she said. "Walz himself said he should have caught it earlier. Well, yeah. When the line item is skyrocketing up for one program that should be an immediate red alert."
The senator also stressed her differences from Walz, who has seen his approval rating fall in the wake of the fraud scandal.
"I was in the private sector for over a decade," she said, referring to work for Minneapolis law firms where her concentrations included telecommunications law. "That is a very different background."
In a new television ad that started airing late last week, Klobuchar talks about the fraud scandal and her prosecutorial experience as she vows to "clean up this mess."
A river of sadness has flowed through Minnesota this decade, from the 2020 killing of George Floyd by police -- and the riots that followed -- to political assassinations and a mass shooting of school children inside a church. The fatal shootings of two Minneapolis residents in January by federal immigration officials amid a enforcement surge were among the latest calamities.
The events have left many residents shellshocked. The state was, after all, the inspiration for Minnesota native Garrison Keillor's Lake Wobegon, a fictional and idyllic small town featured in his radio monologues where nothing of national importance ever happened.
Asked about Minnesota's run of bad news, Klobuchar suggested it has been amplified on the national stage, in part, because Minnesotans have protested in large numbers when people have been killed. "We stand up, and so that is not an excuse for any of this. It just is a partial answer to why I think it's been in the public's eye," she said.
The state's tarnished reputation stands in contrast to when TIME magazine in 1973 put Minnesota's governor on its cover, wearing a plaid shirt and holding freshly caught northern pike. The article showcased a robust economy and Norman Rockwell-like quality of life.
A half-century later, state economic growth has trailed the nation's since the early 2000s, population gains rank in the bottom half of states, and personal and corporate taxes are among the nation's highest, as are binge drinking rates.
The signature tagline for Keillor's Lake Wobegon monologues was that it was a place where "all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average."
Minnesota children are still above average in some metrics, but in 2022 its fourth-graders for the first time tested below the national average in reading proficiency, and overall student achievement has been lagging for much of the past decade. The Annie E. Casey Foundation ranks Minnesota fifth for overall child well-being, but 21st for education. Young adults are leaving the state for college and employment elsewhere at higher rates than those moving in.
Klobuchar, the daughter of a newspaper columnist and teacher, said the state's declining test scores were "completely unacceptable" and called for greater emphasis on phonics, additional tutoring and summer reading programs.
If elected, Klobuchar will also face challenges from within the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, as Democrats are known in the state. The DFL has moved left in recent years, and the state has passed paid family and medical leave, transgender-rights protections and more.
She has already had extensive conversations with progressive legislators and has stressed to them that economic growth would be the ultimate revenge against Republicans who have mocked the state.
Heading into November's election, the state's legislature is narrowly divided, with Democrats holding a one-seat majority in the Senate; they are tied with Republicans in the House.
If elected, Klobuchar said she planned to look to red- and blue-state governors for ideas and would cut "red tape" and streamline state government. "If you want to have more housing or child care, you cannot stop people all the time and make it hard for them to start a business," she said.
In a state where the GOP hasn't won a statewide office since 2006, Klobuchar won 56% of the vote in 2024. That was more than five points higher than the share secured by a Democratic presidential ticket that included Walz.
State House Speaker Lisa Demuth, who beat a Trump-endorsed candidate to become the GOP nominee for governor, said Klobuchar would be pressured if elected to move left by a Democratic legislative caucus that has become more progressive in recent years.
"No Democrat can possibly think that they are going to make the depth of changes that are needed in every single agency," she said. "The only way to make those changes is someone of a different party."
While Minnesota faces plenty of problems, it still scores high on many quality-of-life rankings, has a robust cultural scene and a AAA bond rating. Eighteen Fortune 500 companies are based in Minnesota, although many are long-lived ones, such as 3M and General Mills, and the state isn't attracting many startups.
"We brought the world everything from the pacemaker to the Post-it Note. We have the Mayo Clinic that's currently investing $5 billion," Klobuchar said. "But we cannot rest on our laurels."