Sen. Amy Klobuchar argued Friday that she will be able to run a viable White House campaign in the coming weeks while simultaneously participating in President Trump’s impeachment.
“I’m a mom. I can do two things at once,” the Minnesota Democrat and 2020 presidential candidate said during a television interview aired on “CBS This Morning.”
Ms. Klobuchar made the comment as the Senate prepares to hold an impeachment trial against Mr. Trump during a pivotal time for Democratic candidates campaigning to be president.
Iowa is set to hold the election’s first Democratic presidential nominating contest on Feb. 3, with New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina having their own shortly afterward.
However, Ms. Klobuchar is hard-pressed to also spend time on Capitol Hill, where, as the ranking member of the Senate Rules Committee, she will serve as a juror in the president’s trial.
“It is my constitutional duty, and when I can go campaign in those early states, including Nevada and South Carolina, I will, but when I have to be there, I will,” Ms. Klobuchar said.
“One of the great things about having these early states is the voters get to know you, and I think they’re going to understand that I have a constitutional duty to be there,” the senator said.
Polling of likely Iowa Democratic caucus-goers released Monday by Monmouth University put Ms. Klobuchar in fifth place among fellow White House hopefuls, with about 8% of respondents naming her as their preferred candidate to challenge Mr. Trump in November.
She is hardly the only candidate competing for the Democratic presidential nomination divided between the campaign trail and Capitol Hill, however. Sens. Bernard Sanders, Vermont independent, and Elizabeth Warren, Massachusetts Democrat, are each similarly stuck juggling their respective White House bids with the president’s imminent impeachment trial.
“I would rather be in Iowa today,” Mr. Sanders said Thursday. “I’d rather be in New Hampshire, and Nevada, and so forth. But I swore a constitutional oath as a United States senator to do my job, and I’m here to do my job.”
Mrs. Warren concurred, saying during Tuesday’s Democratic primary debate that “some things are more important than politics.”
“I took an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States of America,” she said. “It says that no one is above the law. That includes the president of the United States. We have an impeachment trial. I will be there because it is my responsibility.”
The same recent Monmouth University poll placed Mr. Sanders and Ms. Warren in second and fourth place among Democratic presidential candidates, respectively. Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden came in first, with Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, claiming the third-place spot.
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