20 Democrats who are likely to run in 2020

3. Amy Klobuchar

If the Democratic Party still indeed has control over its nomination process and is still afraid of losing centrist votes, then they may well pick someone like Amy Klobuchar as the party nominee. She’s a Minnesota senator with a history of moderate votes. Some are pointing to her “Midwestern nice” character as a salve to the contentious, heated climate in Washington, D.C. today. But can one potential candidate take on such a political landscape? And does she even want to run?

First of all, let’s talk statistics. Klobuchar’s 60 percent approval ratings are significant, especially when you consider that her state is pretty well divided between left- and right-leaning voters. For a Democratic senator to be as popular as Klobuchar speaks to her personality and the seemingly ineffable ability to work through political differences. Plus, Klobuchar could just be likeable enough for voters nationwide. That could be incredibly important to the Democratic Party, which surely wants to win a big election within the next two years.

Klobuchar herself hasn’t said much one way or the other. In 2017, she said that “Right now I am focused on my own job.” That’s more or less the equivalent of saying nothing, or shrugging and saying “we’ll see.”

In this year’s midterms, Klobuchar won an easy reelection in her state. She’s generally been able to fly under the radar, but not without getting a record number of bills passed and crossing paths with Brett Kavanaugh.

Klobuchar will be 60 on election day, something worth considering when other front-runners will be in their mid to late 40s and, for some voters, therefore too old to run. Whether or not that’s fair, it’s still something that may be on voters’ minds.