Klobuchar, 61, tweeted that the cancer was detected during a routine mammogram, and eventually she had a lumpectomy to remove it. She said she completed radiation therapy in May amid a busy hearing schedule, including one treatment two days after her father died. She was fine after a checkup in August. According to ABC’s Good Morning America, she is “feeling much better”.
Klobuchar’s latest health update was a reminder for Democrats of their fragile grip on the Senate, which is controlled by one vote. Klobuchar did not make any explicit statements about her future but stated that the cancer had “given me renewed purpose for my work.”
Klobuchar stated that her stage 1A cancer had not spread beyond her breasts. She stated that she was grateful to have caught it so early, as she delayed her mammogram due to the pandemic.
Klobuchar stated on ABC that doctors have told her that my chances of getting breast cancer again are equal to those of other people. “But I learned a lot from this year… about how important it is to get those exams and also gratitude for all the others that surround me, my family and my husband.
She appealed to Americans not delay getting their screenings, noting that many women are still undiagnosed with breast cancer. She advised that people should get their screenings and go to the mammograms.
Klobuchar is still in the third term of her third term. In 2006, she was elected for the first time. She won easily against two lesser-known opponents to reelect her seat. Rose, a former schoolteacher, and Jim Klobuchar (a well-known Minneapolis journalist) are her parents. Rose died in May. Her grandfather was an iron miner from northern Minnesota.
Klobuchar has been known for her ability to be a straight-shooting, pragmatic, and willing to work with Republicans. This made her one of the most productive senators in passing legislation.
The senator ran for president but dropped out before the 2020 Democratic convention as moderates lined up behind Joe Biden. She memorably announced her campaign during a snowstorm in 2019, at a park along the Mississippi River with the Minneapolis skyline in the background.
Klobuchar, a lawyer and the former chief prosecutor in Minnesota’s largest county, currently chairs the powerful Senate Rules Committee, which is examining the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol.
