Meet Amy Klobuchar's Husband, John Bessler
They met in the early 1990s in a pool hall.
getty Ever since becoming the first elected female U.S. Senator for Minnesota in 2006, Amy Klobuchar has made her name and face known among her colleagues and the country. She even won her reelection in 2012 by a landslide! How’s that for girl power?
In October 2018, she entered the spotlight with the Brett Kavanaugh sexual assault allegations. During the hearing, Klobuchar asked Kavanaugh if he had ever drank so much that he “didn't remember what happened the night before or part of what happened,” to which Kavanaugh snidely replied, “You're asking about blackout. I don't know, have you?” After the hearing, Klobuchar said she was “really stunned” by his actions.
Now, Klobuchar is in the public eye once again, launching a campaign for the 2020 presidential election. In February 2019, she appeared in front of a large crowd in Minnesota where she gave the message, "I stand before you as the granddaughter of an iron ore miner, the daughter of a teacher and a newspaperman, the first woman elected to the United States Senate from the state of Minnesota, to announce my candidacy for president of the United States."
She went on to say, "I’m running for every parent who wants a better world for their kids. I’m running for every student who wants a good education. For every senior who wants affordable prescription drugs. For every worker, farmer, dreamer, builder. For every American. I’m running for you."
Now that she's officially entered her bid for the 2020 presidency, we can't help but wonder: who is Amy Klobuchar’s husband? What do we know about her family life? Here are a few things to know about John Bessler, their relationship, and how he feels about her bid for election..
1. Who is Amy Klobuchar's husband, John Bessler? He’s a native of Minnesota.
While at Oxford, he wrote articles for two law journals: Indiana Law Journal and the Arkansas Law Review, and was the senior managing editor for the former.
2. He’s an attorney and professor.
Bessler is currently a private practice attorney as well as a professor at the University of Baltimore School of Law, a position he’s held since 2009. He’s an expert on the death penalty, and has also clerked for U.S. Magistrate Judge John M. Mason of the District of Minnesota, and also practiced law as a partner at Kelly & Berens.
3. Bessler and Klobuchar married in 1993.
The future spouses met in a pool hall in the early 1990s in Minneapolis, part of a group of lawyers who went out for drinks after an event at the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs. Though Klobuchar is 7 years older than Bessler, she initially thought he was much older than her.
Turns out, they hit it off, and Bessler proposed to Klobuchar in a bookstore. Rather than proposing on cliché Valentine's Day, he chose Abraham Lincoln’s birthday.
They eventually married and had one daughter, Abigail, who graduated from Yale in 2017.
4. Their daughter had problems after she was born.
After Klobuchar gave birth, their daughter was extremely sick. According to her, “She was sick for so long. It was really scary. That’s part of why we had one child. But she’s gotten better every year. We don’t even think about it anymore.”
5. Bessler is known as “Mr. Mom.”
In 2015, she revealed the hilarious side to Bessler’s duties: “I knew things were getting a little out of hand the day that Claire McCaskill and I were driving out of the Capitol to go to an event, and she looks out the window and says, ‘Isn’t that your husband walking across the lawn with a pink box?’ And I rolled down the window and I said, ‘What are you doing?’ And he said, ‘I'm going to Jim Webb’s wife’s baby shower.’”
6. He’s an author.
So far, Bessler has written 7 books, most of which are about capital punishment. In 2015, he received the Scribes Book Award, recognition that is given for “the best work of legal scholarship published during the previous year.” He was awarded for his book, The Birth of American Law: An Italian Philosopher and the American Revolution.
Two of his books, Death in the Dark: Midnight Executions in America, and Legacy of Violence: Lynch Mobs and Executions in Minnesota, were finalists for the Minnesota Book Award.
7. He mostly stays out of the spotlight.
Although Bessler hasn't done many interviews, he has often been seen in photos with Klobuchar and their daughter since she started campaigning. However, Bessler has said that he does often offer his wife advice. He's said in the past, “I do offer advice. Anybody who has been married knows the spouse doesn’t always take your advice.”
Klobuchar has backed up her husband's statement, revealing that he's been a partner in all her campaigns: “Every campaign I’ve run has been in partnership with my husband. He is great with people and loves policy.”
Bessler has made a few other comments regarding his wife's presidential campaign stating that, “Amy is from a smaller state and didn’t have the same kind of pre-existing list that some of the other candidates have. She’s got to spend a lot more time introducing herself to the public. And that’s why the debates are so important."
8. The Klobuchar family is maintaining a sense of normalcy.
If Klobuchar were to win the election, Bessler would become the first "First Gentleman" in U.S. history! But he's handling that pressure very well.
“We’re not sure yet how that’s going to shape up... Got to work. We’re very middle class, you know? And we have to pay for our apartment in D.C. and our house in Minnesota," he said in an interview.
Samantha Maffucci is an associate editor for YourTango who focuses on writing trending news and entertainment pieces. In her free time, you can find her obsessing about cats, wine, and all things Vanderpump Rules.