Severe thunderstorm and tornado warnings issued for Twin Cities metro area

MPR News helps you turn down the noise and build shared understanding. Turn up your support for this public resource and keep trusted journalism accessible to all. 

Turn Up Your Support

U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar and U.S. Sen. John McCain came from different parties, different generations and different parts of the country. But the Minnesota Democrat and Arizona Republican became close friends during their time as Senate colleagues.

Klobuchar shared remembrances of McCain on Sunday, a day after McCain died of brain cancer at age 81. 

"He just had this amazing ability to teach people, younger senators, first of all how to work together at home, but also how to work on the world stage," Klobuchar said of McCain. "And he passed that torch on to so many of us."

Klobuchar went on several overseas trips with McCain after she was elected to the Senate in 2006. In 2009, she joined him on a trip that included a stop at the site of the prison in Vietnam where McCain was held captive during the Vietnam War.

"When you see something like that, you are forever in awe of someone," she recalled.

Klobuchar said that, although they disagreed on some issues, McCain was a unifying presence in Washington.

"I think the one thing that we're going to miss more than anything during this time of great polarization, and a lot of people saying stuff that's not very civil, was that sense he had that he would bring people back to what mattered," she said.

"His legacy will be one of putting country first, as someone who loved his country in a way that a lot of people can't even imagine. Someone who would go out of his way to try to do the right thing — I didn't always agree with him, but he would try to do what was right in his mind every single day."

Politics and Government News

Tim Nelson

Author

U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar and U.S. Sen. John McCain came from different parties, different generations and different parts of the country. But the Minnesota Democrat and Arizona Republican became close friends during their time as Senate colleagues.


U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar speaks with MPR's Tim Nelson to share her memories of her friend and colleague, U.S. Sen. John McCain

Klobuchar shares remembrances of friend and colleague McCain

Go Deeper.

Like this?