Democratic candidate Amy Klobuchar has canceled her campaign after a group of protestors occupied the stage at a Sunday event in Minnesota.
The event, scheduled for Sunday night in Klobuchar’s home state, was canceled after protestors refused to sit with Klobuchar. The reason? A life sentence in prison for teenager Myon Burrell, who was imprisoned while Klobuchar was County Attorney in Hennepin, Minnesota.
A recent Associated Press investigation into Myon Burrell’s conviction found his trial and the case against him to be fundamentally flawed. This has called Klobuchar’s reputation into question. It has sparked a number of protests against her.
The “Free Myon” protest is now a reality the candidate will have to contend with directly.
The most recent protest was organized in part by Nekima Levy Armstrong, a civil rights attorney. In spite of the protest being put together with the help of the lawyer, advice from the Klobuchar campaign meant the event would go on.
At one point, the protestors briefly agreed to sit down with Klobuchar. But for reasons that are not currently known, they changed their minds on the agreement and continued to occupy the stage.
This protest was a black eye for the struggling Klobuchar campaign. The candidate had difficulty scoring any traction among black voters. Present polling shows only around one percent of black voters support Klobuchar. As part of the recent public protest, people were chanting “Black Lives Matter” during the Klobuchar rally.
During the protest, several Klobuchar supporters tried to drown out the protestors on the stage, shouting over their chant of “Black Lives Matter” with repeated “Amy, Amy, Amy” chants. However, the announcer eventually told the crowds the event was over. It was time to disperse.
Irate supporters filed out. Protestors celebrated. “Who shut it down? We shut it down!” they called.
Klobuchar announced her campaign cancellation on Monday and thanked her supporters. She now plans to endorse Joe Biden.
She is the second moderate candidate to drop out of the race in the last two days. Sunday, Pete Buttigieg announced he was dropping out. His campaign was strong at the start of the primary season, but he didn’t see himself winning.
With several key moderates out of the running ahead of Super Tuesday, it will be interesting to see how this affects the prospects of the frontrunner, progressive candidate Bernie Sanders.
