WASHINGTON _ Amy Klobuchar's vice presidential prospects are facing stiff headwinds from progressives and African American activists who are increasingly vocalizing their opposition to the Minnesota senator joining the Democratic ticket.
The 59-year-old Klobuchar is widely thought to be near the top of Joe Biden's running mate list due to her moderate political profile, Midwestern roots and timely endorsement of the former vice president ahead of his string of Super Tuesday primary victories.
But to her most ardent critics, the elevation of Klobuchar would amount to a stinging snub of two of the Democratic Party's most vital constituencies: liberals and women of color.
"Klobuchar was never able to excite any black voters and that didn't seem to be something she was interested in correcting on the campaign trail. She has a horrible record on race," said Tiffany D. Cross, author of "Say it Louder! Black Voters, White Narratives and Saving Our Democracy," who is advocating for Biden to select a woman of color as his VP.
"It would be a mistake to assume that black voters are just so excited about Joe Biden that he could pick anyone and still maintain that enthusiasm," she added. "He can't."
She the People founder Aimee Allison said most female minority leaders she regularly speaks with believe "Klobuchar would be a reckless choice that would risk the votes of the party's base."
And on Wednesday, Stacey Abrams, the former Georgia gubernatorial candidate who has openly stated she wants to be the VP pick, said she would have "concerns" if Biden did not choose a woman of color.
Spokespeople for Klobuchar did not respond to a request for comment.
Biden has promised to put a woman on the ticket for only the third time in U.S. history. He said he would whittle his options down to a final two or three by July, placing him on a conventional timeline for a midsummer rollout.
But informal auditioning is already well underway, with Klobuchar becoming the latest prospect to test the waters with Biden this week. The campaign released a podcast featuring the two on Monday, and Klobuchar was slated to host a virtual town hall with female Biden supporters on Thursday night.
Klobuchar is among a handful of female politicians who Biden has publicly lauded, having credited her with delivering him a victory in Minnesota's primary after she lent her endorsement that was featured in a TV ad there. But perhaps no other potential vice presidential contender has stirred as acidic a reaction in progressive circles as Klobuchar.
"The people who I organize with, no one would be excited about Amy Klobuchar as a vice presidential candidate," said Phillip Agnew, a civil rights activist who served as a senior adviser to Bernie Sanders' 2020 campaign. "She doesn't bridge that gap, with poor people, black people, Latino people."
While Agnew said he has no personal preference of who Biden's running mate should be, he insisted that a woman of color would be best-positioned to excite a base that he believes will be seeking a signal of what the future of the Democratic Party will look like after Biden.
"I do think this is a generational pick," Agnew said. "The person at the top of the ticket does not really represent the future of the party."
The case for Klobuchar largely rests on geography: As a three-time elected senator from the hotly contested Midwest she could help Biden win back swing voters that deserted Democrats in 2016 in states like Wisconsin and Michigan. As a presidential candidate herself, she regularly argued that pragmatism was the best way to expand the Democratic coalition.
"African American women have turned out every single time for Democratic candidates. They need some friends," she said at one fundraising event. "They need some support. And so when I look at this, I look at independents, and I look at moderate Republicans to add to our numbers."
Ed Rendell, the outspoken former Pennsylvania governor and chairman of the Democratic National Committee, acknowledged the possibility that Klobuchar could unsettle some corners of the party but assessed that the backlash would ultimately be minimal. He noted that Biden has already pledged to fill a Supreme Court vacancy with an African American woman.
"There's a theory that yes there'd be blowback, but African American voters are so angry at Trump that it doesn't matter," Rendell said. "Barack Obama's going to be out there a lot."
But even the Democrats' most powerful surrogate is not equivalent to the person who the 77-year-old Biden would be placing as next-in-line to become commander-in-chief. Klobuchar struggled to show any traction with voters of color in the primary, attracting just 4% of the Hispanic vote in Nevada and 1% of the black vote in South Carolina, according to entrance and exit polls.
Klobuchar's pre-Senate record as a county prosecutor is bound to reemerge as a factor in the vetting process. Her role in the life sentence of Myon Burrell, a black Minnesota teenager convicted of murder despite the absence of key evidence like a weapon, DNA or fingerprints, generated protests on the campaign trail. Last month, she acknowledged "significant concerns" and called for an independent investigation to review the case.
There are also the stories about her harsh treatment of staff, which bubbled up at the outset of her candidacy but faded when she admitted to being a tough boss and the campaign progressed. Biden's vetting team would still be tasked with probing for potential tales that remain unearthed and could cause unnecessary distractions.
There's no perfect running mate, of course, and each of the top contenders carries vulnerabilities and weaknesses.
Kamala Harris' debate attack on Biden's racial record last summer was described as a "punch to the gut," by Jill Biden, who is still wounded by the broadside, according to one Democratic source in contact with the campaign. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was forced this week to change the vendor tracking coronavirus data after complaints about its ties to Democratic politics.
Abrams' highest elected office is to the state Legislature, and she lacks any veritable foreign policy experience. Elizabeth Warren's relentlessly progressive politics may be out of sync with Biden's center-left approach. And Catherine Cortez Masto is largely unknown outside of her home state of Nevada.
"It's not about qualifications, there's a whole lot of qualified people, women of all races," said Melanie Campbell, who heads the Black Women's Roundtable. "It's what can excite black women voters, to not just show up, but we're the secret sauce to getting the black vote (and) do all the extra things to help the party see a high turnout of black voters. ... We think now's the time for a black woman."
