Minnesota senator withdraws from VP race

AMY Klobuchar is dropping out of the running to be vice-president and urging Democrat Joe Biden to select a woman of colour instead.

The white Minnesota senator, who had seen her prospects fall as racial tensions swept the nation, said she called the presumptive presidential nominee on Thursday and made the suggestion.

Mr Biden had already committed to choosing a woman as his running mate. She told MSNBC: “I think this is a moment to put a woman of colour on that ticket.

“If you want to heal this nation right now – my party, yes, but our nation – this is sure a hell of a way to do it.”

Ms Klobuchar’s chances of getting the nod diminished after the killing of George Floyd by a white police officer in Minneapolis.

She was a prosecutor years ago in the county that includes Minneapolis and during that period more than two dozen people, mostly members of minorities, died during encounters with police.

Mr Floyd’s death last month set off days of protests across the country and criticism that, as the county’s top prosecutor, Ms Klobuchar did not charge any of the officers involved in citizen deaths.

Officer Derek Chauvin, who was charged with Mr Floyd’s murder, had been involved in one of those cases, the fatal 2006 shooting of a man accused of stabbing people and aiming a shotgun at police.

Ms Klobuchar dropped out of the presidential campaign and threw her support behind Mr Biden before the crucial March 3 Super Tuesday contests after struggling to win support from black voters, who are crucial to Democratic victories.