We need to elect a leader who tells the truth.

We need to elect a leader who improves the Affordable Care Act by adding a public option while preserving insurance for many Americans.

We need to elect a leader who promotes good jobs with job training and by matching educational goals with market needs.

We need to elect a leader who understands climate change and reenters the Paris Accord, upholding the Clean Air Act and implements environmental regulations to keep our water pure and our national parks free from destruction.

We need to elect a leader who will repair our infrastructure, creating great employment opportunities.

We need to elect a leader who works with Congress to implement humane immigration policies and actions, including for Dreamers.

We need to elect a leader who recognizes the need for commonsense gun legislation that decreases gun violence, banning assault weapons and enabling sport.

We need to elect a leader who, having lived with addiction, will expand mental health treatment, combating the drug epidemic as well post-traumatic stress disorder suffered by our returning veterans.

We need to elect a leader who protects Roe v. Wade.

We need to elect a leader who addresses homelessness and poverty, initiating public-private partnerships to build affordable housing.

We need to elect a leader who is not afraid to designate white nationalist groups as terrorist organizations.

We need to elect a leader who stops foreign and domestic interference with our right to vote through cyber tactics and voter suppression.

We need to elect a leader who faces, not embraces, the heads of Russia, Turkey and North Korea.

We need to elect a leader who ends the tariff nightmare that has hobbled farmers and businesses across the nation.

We need to elect a leader who will stand up to China’s continuing theft of our innovative technology.

We need to elect a leader who tackles the quagmire of the Middle East with thoughtful, realistic actions.

We need to elect a leader who does not discriminate on the basis of race, sex, sexual orientation, disability, age, ethnicity or nationality, and brings representatives of all into the new administration.

As a Missouri native and 50-year-plus resident of Massachusetts, I have extended family and friends in my home state who voted against the Democratic nominee in 2016. They are not all stupid, nor racist. To me they represent neither the left nor the right, but rather the 10 percent to 15 percent of swing voters who will determine the ultimate 2020 winner.

We need to elect a leader who has successfully and repeatedly won a U.S. Senate seat, even in counties Trump carried in 2016.

We need to elect a leader who brings independents and Republicans together with Democrats to affirm American values.

We need to elect a leader with a sense of humor.

Please join me in voting early or on March 3 and Nov. 3 for a tireless campaigner, an effective advocate, a pragmatic progressive for all of us: Amy Klobuchar.

Pam Thomure, Garden Street