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Tim Nelson

Klobuchar shares remembrances of friend and colleague McCain

John McCain
Sen. Amy Klobuchar takes a selfie with Sen. Chris Van Hollen, Sen. John McCain and Sen. Bernie Sanders on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol at the inauguration ceremony for Donald Trump on Jan. 20, 2017 in Washington.
Joe Raedle | Getty Images

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U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar and U.S. Sen. John McCain came from different parties, different generations and different parts of the country. But the Minnesota Democrat and Arizona Republican became close friends during their time as Senate colleagues.

Klobuchar shared remembrances of McCain on Sunday, a day after McCain died of brain cancer at age 81.

John McCain
U.S. Sen. John McCain (left) points at a model of the former Hoa Lo prison, otherwise known as the "Hanoi Hilton," during a visit to Hoa Lo museum built on the site of the jail, along with U.S. Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Lindsey Graham, and U.S. ambassador to Vietnam Michael Michalak on April 8, 2009. McCain who is on a two-day visit to Vietnam, was held in the prison for more than five years after his plane was shot down over Hanoi during the Vietnam War.
Ian Timberlake | AFP | Getty Images

"He just had this amazing ability to teach people, younger senators, first of all how to work together at home, but also how to work on the world stage," Klobuchar said of McCain. "And he passed that torch on to so many of us."

Klobuchar went on several overseas trips with McCain after she was elected to the Senate in 2006. In 2009, she joined him on a trip that included a stop at the site of the prison in Vietnam where McCain was held captive during the Vietnam War.

"When you see something like that, you are forever in awe of someone," she recalled.

Klobuchar in Vietnam
Sen. Lindsay Graham, left, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, center, and Sen. John McCain stop in 2009 at Truc Bach Lake in Hanoi, Vietnam, where McCain was shot down on Oct. 26, 1967. The three senators stopped by the site during their congressional delegation visit to Vietnam, China, and Japan focusing on economic and security issues.
Photo courtesy of Sen. Klobuchar's office

Klobuchar said that, although they disagreed on some issues, McCain was a unifying presence in Washington.

"I think the one thing that we're going to miss more than anything during this time of great polarization, and a lot of people saying stuff that's not very civil, was that sense he had that he would bring people back to what mattered," she said.

"His legacy will be one of putting country first, as someone who loved his country in a way that a lot of people can't even imagine. Someone who would go out of his way to try to do the right thing — I didn't always agree with him, but he would try to do what was right in his mind every single day."