By Jeff Zeleny, CNN
Washington (CNN) — Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota filed paperwork on Thursday to form a campaign committee to run for governor of her home state, which has become an epicenter of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown in America.
“This is a preliminary step necessary for any candidate considering a run,” a person close to Klobuchar told CNN. “The senator will make an announcement of her plans in the coming days.”
Her impending decision comes after Gov. Tim Walz abruptly abandoned his reelection bid in the wake of a deepening federal probe into a sweeping welfare fraud scandal in the state, which the Trump administration has aggressively seized upon. The politics of the state have been dramatically upended since then, after an ICE agent killed a Minneapolis woman and protests have flared for days.
Klobuchar, 65, has long been seen as one of Minnesota’s most popular leaders in one election after another. She could face one of her biggest political tests yet as the state takes center stage in the midterm election fight and a battle over immigration policy in America.
“Minnesota is right now the center of America’s heartbreak,” Klobuchar told CNN as she reached a final decision over whether to leave Washington after nearly two decades and run for governor.
The role of Minnesota’s governor – already a challenge, given the fraud investigation and fraught politics of immigration – now includes even more layers of difficulty in the wake of the Jan. 7 shooting of Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother of three.
Klobuchar has called on the Trump administration and the Department of Justice to work with Minnesota officials to investigate the fatal shooting. In a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi, Klobuchar said: “It is critical there be a thorough, objective and impartial investigation.”
With more than four years remaining in her fourth Senate term, Klobuchar is not expected to immediately resign her seat as she embarks on a race for governor. She will join Republican Sens. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee and Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama in running for governor in their respective states while serving in the Senate.
If she wins in November, Klobuchar could resign and allow Walz to appoint her successor, aides say, or choose her own replacement after being sworn in as governor in early January 2027. If she loses, she could return to her Senate seat.
Klobuchar, who sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020, has long been a high-profile fixture in Washington. Known for her sharp questioning of Supreme Court nominees and other witnesses in the Judiciary Committee and a wide-ranging interest in foreign policy and technology, Klobuchar embraced the spotlight of Capitol Hill.
She was chairwoman of the Senate Rules Committee on Jan. 6, 2021, overseeing the electoral certification when the Capitol was violently attacked. She later spearheaded a bipartisan measure called the Electoral Count Reform Act, designed to make challenging the outcome of federal elections more difficult.
Yet Klobuchar also has acknowledged her frustrations with Democrats out of power in the Senate, along with the deepening partisan divide and lack of productivity across Congress.
As she decided whether to stay in Washington or returning to Minnesota, friends say, she has often talked about the appeal of serving as chief executive who can more easily get things done. She has not entirely ruled out running for president again, but aides acknowledge it would be more difficult since she would be in the first year of her term as governor.
“I love my job,” Klobuchar told CNN as she worked through her decision whether to leave the Senate. “I love my state.”
She would likely clear the Democratic field for governor, party strategists say. It’s an open question whether any of the 10 Republicans