Amy Klobuchar Introduces Herself to Las Vegas Union Members with 4th Grade Spanish Name

LAS VEGAS, NV - FEBRUARY 18: Amy Klobuchar at the Culinary Union intimate event with guest
Damairs Carter/MediaPunch /IPX
Hannah Knudsen

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) on Tuesday introduced herself to members of the Las Vegas Culinary Union by referencing the name she was given in her 4th grade Spanish class.

“My name is Amy and when I took Spanish in fourth grade my name was Elena,” she told the members of the influential union, which boasts of 60,000 members and prides itself as Nevada’s “largest immigrant organization.”

She told the group she was given the name “because I couldn’t roll my R’s very well and so it was ‘e-l-e-n-a'”:

Latino voters comprise a significant portion of the electorate in Nevada, but a Telemundo poll released this week showed Klobuchar struggling to gain support from that demographic, with only five percent backer her.

The Culinary Union declined to endorse a Democrat candidate after releasing an informational flyer, giving an overview of the positions of the top Democrat candidates. The union noted Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who is leading in Nevada, would “End Culinary Healthcare” and later accused his supporters of “viciously” attacking members for highlighting that information:

Nonetheless, the union declined to formally endorse a candidate.

“We’re not going to endorse a political candidate,” Local 226 Secretary-General Geoconda Argüello-Kline announced last week.

“We are going to work … to defeat President Trump,” she added.

Sanders, however, landed an endorsement from the influential Latino group Mijente this week, which plans to assist him in garnering support in Nevada and other upcoming states such as Arizona, Texas, and California:

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