Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar

Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a candidate for the Democratic nomination for president, emphasized her Midwestern roots at the Des Moines Register political soapbox Saturday afternoon.

Referencing Iowa- and Minnesota-based policies, historical figures, and state fair oddities often throughout her speech. She said the reason she was running for office was to unite rural and urban America, political divisiveness and “get things done.”

“It is time to cross the river of our divides and get to a higher plain,” Klobuchar said.

She opened introducing herself as the senator from Minnesota to a resounding cheer from the crowd and launched into talking about gun reform before talking about trade and agriculture problems impacting both Iowa and Minnesota.

She said President Trump should stop doing foreign policy by tweet, getting a resounding cheer from the crowd when she said Trump was “treating farmers like poker chips in his bankrupt casinos.”

She went on to touch on other Iowa-specific issues, calling Iowa’s privatized Medicaid “wrong,” and calling to invest more federal dollars in mental-health care, referencing Iowa’s near-the-bottom ranking in number of beds per person compared to other states.

Along the lines of agriculture-specific actions by the Trump administration, she criticized the EPA’s decision to grant 31 oil refineries exceptions to a minimum amount of biofuel they purchase, called the Renewable Fuel Standard.

Wednesday, Klobuchar released a policy plan focused on agriculture and rural America. Thursday, she visited Johnson County to visit a community farm called Grow: Johnson County in addition to 20 other states to tout her new plan.

At the very beginning of her speech, she called for background checks on all gun owners, saying President Trump hasn’t done his part. She referenced the shootings in El Paso and Dayton last week, saying it was time to end gun violence.

She called to address climate change, bring back carbon standards, invest federal dollars in incentives for cover crops and nutrient-reduction strategies. She said Iowa must believe in science or the state wouldn’t have given the world Norman Borlaug, an Iowa native and economist who helped food production around the world

She joked that she would compare the Minnesota state fair to the Iowa State fair.

She acknowledged she hadn’t had a viral moment on the campaign, but that her track record of never losing an election, and backing bipartisan legislation in Congress were what was best for America.

“I won every race since kindergarten,” Klobuchar said. She joked that she had abandoned her slogan from that time “All the way with Amy K.”

She also called for lowering prescription prices, and increasing access to generic medications.

She referenced that she is a leader on a bill with Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, a Republican, that would allow to bring in lower priced pharmaceuticals from Canada. That bill has not been brought to a vote.

On immigration, she called for “comprehensive immigration reform,” saying “immigrants don’t diminish America they are America — that is the voice from the heartland.”

After her speech, Klobuchar went to the Varied Industries building to meet voters.