U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar shook hands with DFL Congressional candidate AJ Peters at a Democratic fundraiser event in rural Granite Falls. Peters is running against Rep. Michelle Fischbach in Minnesota’s Congressional District 7.

GRANITE FALLS — There’s a lot riding on November’s elections, speakers at a regional DFL event said this weekend. Democratic candidates and legislators, including Sen. Amy Klobuchar, said the importance of the election went beyond choosing the next U.S. president.

“Democracy is on the line,” Klobuchar told a crowd gathered at the Tim and Connie Velde farm in rural Granite Falls.

“What really concerns me about Donald Trump and JD Vance is they won’t even admit the results of the last election. You think about in Minnesota, when we’ve had Republicans or Democrats, win or lose, they have always acknowledged the results of the election,” she said.

Klobuchar spoke about her experiences when the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection interrupted the certification of the 2020 presidential election results at the U.S. Capitol. After the events of that day, it was important that democracy prevail, she said.

The Congressional District 7 DFL held a fall fundraising event Saturday at the Velde farm. Speakers at the event included Klobuchar, keynote speaker Minnesota state Sen. Steve Cwodzinski, DFL-Eden Prairie, Minnesota State Auditor Julie Blaha, and CD 7 DFL candidate AJ Peters.

In addition to talking about the upcoming elections, Klobuchar gave an update on her legislative priorities. She said she was in favor of getting a new Farm Bill completed as soon as possible. The current Farm Bill, which includes funding for both agriculture and nutrition programs, expired this fall.

“I still think there’s a chance of getting it done by the end of this year,” Klobuchar said. “The negotiations are still going on. I wish we would have had it already done . . . I think it would be really good for everybody in rural America to get this done this year, because going into next year we’re going to have these big tax cut discussions.”

Other ongoing priorities will include child care and housing, Klobuchar said. She said by this week, she would be completing an 87-county tour of Minnesota. Some of the stops in the western part of the state included communities like Morris and Luverne, that are trying to find new child care solutions.

“So there’s all kinds of models we’re using, but watch for that to be an issue next year, as well as housing,” Klobuchar said. “I really believe that we need to do more to encourage the building of housing in greater Minnesota, and I don’t think it could start in a better place than the 7th District.”

Klobuchar said other ongoing issues included supporting infrastructure projects in greater Minnesota, and finding ways to reduce health care costs.

After years of perseverance on the issue, “We finally passed my bill to require the pharma companies to negotiate with Medicare,” Klobuchar said. She said the bill included 10 “blockbuster” medications that would be negotiated, including diabetes drugs like Januvia and Jardiance, and blood thinners like Xarelto and Eliquis.

Negotiating the costs of those 10 drugs would save about $1.5 billion in out-of-pocket costs for nine million senior citizens, Klobuchar said.

Speakers at Saturday’s event said the energy among Democrats was still high in this campaign season. They stressed the importance of getting out the vote, especially among young adults.

Klobuchar said some of the positive things about Kamala Harris as a presidential candidate were how she was able to unite the Democratic party quickly, and that she has been able to reach out to independents and moderate Repblicans.

Cwodzinski said he believed a “wake-up call” was happening in Minnesota and across the U.S., in terms of what people wanted from their government.

“People are screaming for change. They’re screaming for everything we accomplished in the Legislature last session,” he said.

Both Peters and Cwodzinski said they had encountered Republican voters who were reluctant to support Donald Trump in this election.

Peters said he was hopeful about his race against Rep. Michelle Fischbach. “I think if we work hard, we can get our ideas across,” he said.

In addition to the presidential election, Cwodzinski said a key race for Democrats would be the special election for state Senate in District 45, in the Minnetonka area. District 45 incumbent Kelly Morrison announced this summer that she was resigning to run for Congress.

The outcome of the District 45 election will determine whether the DFL will keep control of the Minnesota Senate. Cwodzinski said it was going to be a tight race, but Democrats were showing support for the DFL candidate, former state Sen. Ann Johnson Stewart.

“We want her back,” Cwodzinski said.