Amy Klobuchar

To share the story of your loved one, you can submit an obituary using any of the following methods:

Email: Please include the information from our Obituary Checklist (referenced below) to [email protected].

Online: Use our Self-Service Portal for a step-by-step guided process.

Need assistance? Our obituary desk is here to help. Please call us at 651-228-5263 with any questions regarding the process or deadlines.

General Information:

Your full name,

Address (City, State, Zip Code),

Phone number,

And an alternate phone number (if any)

Obituary Specification:

Name of Deceased,

Obituary Text,

A photo in a JPEG or PDF file is preferable, TIF and other files are accepted, we will contact you if there are any issues with the photo.

Ad Run dates

There is a discount for running more than one day, but this must be scheduled on the first run date to apply.

If a photo is used, it must be used for both days for the discount to apply, contact us for more information.

Policies:

Verification of Death:

In order to publish obituaries a name and phone number of funeral home/cremation society is required. We must contact the funeral home/cremation society handling the arrangements during their business hours to verify the death. If the body of the deceased has been donated to the University of Minnesota Anatomy Bequest Program, or a similar program, their phone number is required for verification.

Please allow enough time to contact them especially during their limited weekend hours.

A death certificate is also acceptable for this purpose but only one of these two options are necessary.

Guestbook and Outside Websites:

We are not allowed to reference other media sources with a guestbook or an obituary placed elsewhere when placing an obituary in print and online. We may place a website for a funeral home or a family email for contact instead; contact us with any questions regarding this matter.

Obituary Process:

Once your submission is completed, we will fax or email a proof for review prior to publication in the newspaper. This proof includes price and days the notice is scheduled to appear.

Please review the proof carefully. We must be notified of errors or changes before the notice appears in the Pioneer Press based on each day’s deadlines.

After publication, we will not be responsible for errors that may occur after final proofing.

Online:

Changes to an online obituary can be handled through the obituary desk. Call us with further questions.

Payment Procedure:

Pre-payment is required for all obituary notices prior to publication by the deadline specified below in our deadline schedule. Please call 651-228-5263 with your payment information after you have received the proof and approved its contents.

Credit Card: Payment accepted by phone only due to PCI (Payment Card Industry) regulations

EFT: Check by phone. Please provide your routing number and account number.

Rates:

The minimum charge is $162 for the first 12 lines.

Every line after the first 12 is $12.

If the ad is under 12 lines it will be charged the minimum rate of $162.

Obituaries including more than 40 lines will receive a 7.5% discount per line.

On a second run date, receive a 20% discount off both the first and second placement.

Place three obituaries and the third placement will be free of charge.

Each photo published is $125 per day. For example: 2 photos in the paper on 2 days would be 4 photo charges at $500.

Deadlines:

Please follow deadline times to ensure your obituary is published on the day requested.

Hours

Deadline (no exceptions)

Ad

Photos

MEMORIAM (NON-OBITUARY) REQUEST

Unlike an obituary, Memoriam submissions are remembrances of a loved one who has passed. The rates for a memoriam differ from obituaries.

Please call or email us for more memoriam information

Please call 651-228-5280 for more information.

HOURS: Monday – Friday 8:00AM – 5:00PM (CLOSED WEEKENDS and HOLIDAYS)

Please submit your memoriam ad to [email protected] or call 651-228-5280.

ROCHESTER, Minn. — U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, the presumptive Democratic-Farmer-Labor candidate for governor, received her party’s endorsement Friday at the state convention with overwhelming support — though there were a few progressive holdouts.

After one round of voting, the 1,200 delegates gathered at the Mayo Civic Center backed Klobuchar, a fourth-term senator with 67.6% support in the first round. Also on the ballot was Kobey Layne, who received roughly 27.6% of the vote. The rest were uncommitted.

In a speech and question-and-answer session ahead of the endorsement vote, Klobuchar emphasized her record in passing legislation in the Senate, her ability to appeal to many different voters across the state and the positive effect on other DFLers when she appears on the ballot.

“I have won around this state, and I do it by bringing people with me, not by pushing them aside, by standing up for the fight and showing up and making sure that people know that I am on their side,” she said. “I want to take this ticket and earn the trust of independents, of the moderate Republicans that have had it with Donald Trump, and win big in this election.”

Klobuchar said as governor she would resist the Trump administration, “make life affordable” by reducing the cost of health care and child care, and push for new gun control measures in the wake of the Annunciation Catholic School church shooting and the assassination of former House Speaker Melissa Hortman.

With formal backing from the DFL, Klobuchar, who has a long history of success in statewide elections and a significant fundraising advantage over all her potential Republican rivals, will now receive direct support from the party five months ahead of the Nov. 3 election.

Klobuchar entered the race in January after DFL Gov. Tim Walz withdrew his candidacy amid mounting scrutiny on his handling of widespread fraud in state programs. Walz blamed “political gamesmanship” by Trump and Republicans over fraud for his withdrawal.

With no competitors at the convention, Attorney General Keith Ellison also received the endorsement by acclamation from delegates on Friday. Delegates were scheduled to take up endorsements for U.S. Senate and state auditor on Saturday.

Progressive pushback

Klobuchar handily won the endorsement, but not without first facing progressive party activists.

In her speech before the vote, Layne called on the Democratic Party to live up to its stated progressive ideals and do more to fight corporate interests. She called for a $25 per hour minimum wage, abolishing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a moratorium on data center construction and investment in affordable housing.

“Many of us are just concerned with keeping this seat blue. However, the trend in this country is to take for granted the communities that vote Democrat in order to grab a couple extra independent and moderate votes,” Layne said. “Friends … we attended the No Kings rallies, yet what stands before us is the coronation of yet another corporate Democrat. What it takes to change these systems is a working-class candidate who refuses to be bought.”

More than half of the roughly 1,200 delegates at the convention were participating in the endorsement process for the first time, according to DFL Chair Richard Carlbom.

Ahead of the endorsement vote, Klobuchar supporters holding batons with flashing green lights dominated the convention floor. But not all delegates in Rochester were behind the frontrunner.

With no significant competitors, Klobuchar was the overwhelming favorite. Yet some delegates said they were still uncommitted ahead of the final vote, citing concerns about her record as a moderate and handling of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown this winter.

Younger delegates

Dan Heuer, a 34-year-old first-time delegate from Roseville, said he hadn’t told any campaigns that he was committed to their candidates.

Like other younger delegates representing the progressive wing of the DFL, Heuer said he was concerned about what he described as Klobuchar’s failure to push more aggressively against federal immigration officials earlier this year.

“Operation Metro Surge really showed me how weak she is on more progressive stances, how willing she is to cater towards a center, moderate, or even an uninformed voter,” said Heuer, who argued Klobuchar shouldn’t have taken White House border czar Tom Homan’s word that the Trump administration was dialing down its enforcement activities in February.

Others said they were not satisfied with Klobuchar’s record on Israel, despite her recent shift to supporting restrictions on certain arms sales and humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza.

While younger progressives acknowledged Klobuchar’s DFL endorsement and eventual primary win were all but inevitable, they hoped to push their message by backing another candidate or not supporting a candidate at all.

Other delegates said they were committed to supporting Klobuchar on the first ballot because of her moderate positions and past success in elections.

“We need to keep the governorship, we need to keep Minnesota blue,” said Cathy Johnson, 75, of Farmington. “With all of the problems that Walz has had to face with fraud … I think she’s our best chance of keeping the state going.”

Electoral success

Klobuchar has performed well statewide in every election since she first won office in 2006 and has always led her Republican competitors by double-digit percentage margins. No Republican has won an election for statewide office since 2006.

Among the Republicans running for governor include House Speaker Lisa Demuth, MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell; 2022 Republican endorsement contender Kendall Qualls, a former congressional candidate; and businessman Patrick Knight. The Minnesota GOP was expected to endorse its candidates for governor on Saturday at its convention in Duluth.

Before winning her Senate seat, Klobuchar served as Hennepin County attorney. In 2020, she ran for president, but suspended her campaign in March of that year and later endorsed Joe Biden.

Klobuchar was elected to a fourth term in 2024. If she is elected governor, Walz could appoint her successor. State law requires a special election the following November to elect a successor to complete the rest of Klobuchar’s current six-year term, which expires in 2030.