SACHA PFEIFFER, HOST:
The candidates for governor of Minnesota are going after each other's policies and parties in the usual ways. But those candidates, Democrat Amy Klobuchar and Republican Lisa Demuth, also share an experience. One of them says it links them in sisterhood. They're both breast cancer survivors. Minnesota Public Radio's Dana Ferguson sat down with both of them.
DANA FERGUSON, BYLINE: It was days before Christmas in 2009 when Lisa Demuth got the call.
LISA DEMUTH: The doctor just said - he was super kind, and he just said, I'm so sorry to tell you, but you do have breast cancer.
FERGUSON: Amy Klobuchar got her cancer diagnosis in a call in 2021.
AMY KLOBUCHAR: I get this call kind of out of the blue. And at that moment, a vote was called in the Senate. I had time to call my husband, and then I went onto the Senate floor, where they were just calling the names of, you know, Senator Barrasso, Senator da, da, da. And it felt like, in my head, my whole life had changed, but nothing around me had changed.
FERGUSON: Demuth decided surgery was her best option.
DEMUTH: I couldn't get it off my body fast enough. Like, I just needed it to be done. I chose a very extreme surgery so that there was no chance of recurrence.
FERGUSON: Klobuchar also underwent surgery. In her case, a lumpectomy, followed by radiation treatment. As a U.S. senator, Klobuchar went public with her diagnosis.
KLOBUCHAR: Putting news out there like that and putting news about your problems, I think that matters.
FERGUSON: She recalls women telling her it prompted them to get around to mammograms or checkups that they'd been putting off. Demuth, now speaker of the Minnesota House, was a school board member when she was diagnosed. Her health struggle was kept to a close circle. And when she heard news of Klobuchar's diagnosis years later...
DEMUTH: You know, I reached out after that and just sent a note. I remember the thought of, at least when I was diagnosed, it was private unless I chose to, you know, tell anyone about it and how different that is.
KLOBUCHAR: I appreciated that. And she was very kind about it. And I am, again, really, really happy that she is doing well, as well. And it's kind of a sisterhood, right? No matter what differences you might have, that is a sisterhood.
FERGUSON: As for policy, Demuth says some people in rural Minnesota might not have the access to care like she did.
DEMUTH: Having access to healthcare matters. That is how I was diagnosed.
FERGUSON: Klobuchar points to bills she helped pass in Congress that require insurance coverage for mammograms and fund cancer detection. Now she wants tax credits to offset insurance costs.
KLOBUCHAR: When you look at getting coverage for treatment and getting coverage for mammograms and all of that, I understand how important it is.
FERGUSON: Women in elected office do sometimes change the policy conversation. Christina Ewig directs the Center on Women, Gender, and Public Policy at the University of Minnesota.
CHRISTINA EWIG: There's pretty thorough research on women politicians and the fact that they do bring different issues to legislative agendas.
FERGUSON: But Ewig says women also face the usual political pressures - party affiliation and public opinion that can limit their options. Both candidates say their cancer fight reshaped who they are. Lisa Demuth.
DEMUTH: I have scars, but they're just part of who I am. But I don't think about it every day. I think more about the things, the opportunities that I have, the family that I have, the life that I've been gifted.
FERGUSON: Amy Klobuchar.
KLOBUCHAR: It makes you want to appreciate the incredible doctors and nurses that I had, just my husband getting up, you know, at 4 in the morning to take me to radiation. It gives you a whole appreciation of that. But it also gives you an understanding of why it's so important to keep looking for a cure.
FERGUSON: In the campaign, they've criticized each other's agendas, like you'd expect. But Klobuchar and Demuth have something in common. Their latest check-ins confirm they're cancer free.
For NPR, I'm Dana Ferguson in St. Paul. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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