We have two Senate races this year. Amy Klobuchar is running for a regular six-year term. Tina Smith is running to finish out Al Franken’s term. This is the Amy race, rather than the Tina race.
Running in the DFL primary for this Senate seat:
Steve Carlson
Stephen A. Emery
David Robert Groves
Leonard J. Richards
Amy Klobuchar
The quick, easy tl;dr answer here is to vote for Amy Klobuchar, but that’s not what you people come here for, so read on to find out, among other things, who Leonard J. Richards is.
Steve Carlson is one of those candidates who likes to communicate via rambling video rather than written statements. If you skim through the written stuff on the site, you will quickly determine that this guy is an anti-gay, anti-abortion-rights, anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant Trump voter. Do not vote for him.
Stephen Emery describes himself as “Pro-Life, Pro-Traditional Family, Pro-Gun, Pro-Private Enterprise, Responsible Immigration,” which is probably all you need to know about him. His website is more coherent than Steve’s (which is a low bar) and includes some gems like:
If elected, I will advocate and vote in such a way as to promote the decree of the Creator for mankind to take dominion over the earth and subdue it and to be fruitful and multiply. Amy Klobuchar does not, and she is part of the problem. This mandate directs the full and responsible utilization of the earth’s natural resources, which includes elevating the needs of people over animals and plants. … I will advocate and vote for a “people first” environmental policy, including for all undeveloped land in control of the federal government to be immediately transferred first to the citizens of this country and what is left over to the States. Amy Klobuchar is in favor of ever-increasing regulation.
And:
I would advocate and vote to defund the promotion of evolution. It is a destructive philosophy and there isn’t even one proof of it using the scientific method of observability, testability, and repeatability. I have asked the National Geographic, a leading proponent of evolution, to do so, numerous times and they cannot. … No one should be surprised that children act like animals when they are taught that they are animals. One component of the solution to resolving school shootings is to remove the teaching of evolution from the educational system.
And:
I would advocate and vote to defund and disband the United Nations. This group of people is not elected by anybody, let alone people of the United States, is thoroughly corrupt, exerts increasing control over the United States, diminishes United States sovereignty through treaties, and is a tool to further Muslim interests throughout the world.
“Why are you running as a Democrat” is a question that does not appear to be answered anywhere on his site.
David Robert Groves wants a flat tax, a census process that doesn’t count non-citizens, and he’s opposed to the Mueller investigation. Again, why this guy is running as a Democrat is not clear.
Leonard J. Richards
Leonard J. Richards doesn’t have a website but he popped right up in Google. He’s currently serving a life sentence for murdering his half-sister and his lawyer. When he tried to get his name on the ballot in 2014 for the congressional race in the 6th, his two policy positions were criminal justice reform and demanding that President Obama resign. The saga of his crime and trials is interesting in a horrifying/infuriating way: he murdered his sister for life insurance money, apparently, and there was a trial to deny him the insurance money but he was not indicted criminally for the actual murder until after he murdered his attorney, was charged for that, and convicted. He was indicted for his sister’s murder the same day he was found guilty of killing his lawyer.
I’m trying to come up with a scenario where I’d vote for someone serving a life sentence for murder to become my Senator and drawing a blank.
So, yes, if you were wondering if anyone was running to Amy’s left, the answer is no. A really emphatic no.
Amy Klobuchar is in fact the only actual Democrat running in the DFL primary for this seat, so it’s basically a no-brainer. Vote for Amy.
Will Tell Stories For Food 
Many thanks (again) for your invaluable efforts here. Looking forward to more installments
This is one where I could have simply Googled the candidates and come to the same conclusions, but I look forward to reading your posts on more nuanced races. Thank you!