NEW LONDON, N.H. — Amy Klobuchar does not want to run for president as a “woman candidate.”

That’s never been the Minnesota Democrat’s style. But the media, public opinion polls and the addition of more men to an already crowded 2020 primary race led the three-term senator to a conclusion: Many Americans still aren’t comfortable with the idea of a woman in the Oval Office, and she needed to amplify the conversation about it.

So in interviews, on the debate stage and before overflow crowds at weekend town halls in New Hampshire, Klobuchar has been talking more pointedly about gender and politics — even if she’d rather be discussing her record of winning even in Republican areas or the more than 100 bills she’s passed.

“Our people want to win. And if they think, ‘Oh, can a woman really win?’ you gotta start discussing that. But it’s not the theme of why I should win,” Klobuchar said. “I want to run on my merits.”

President Donald Trump’s 2016 election sparked a new level of activism among women, who marched by the millions and ran for – and won – elections in record numbers. Female voters who abandoned Trump’s GOP, particularly in suburban areas, also fueled Democratic gains in longtime Republican places. Now Democrats see those voters as critical to unseating Trump in 2020.

And yet second-guessing by some Democrats about who can defeat Trump and the memory of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 loss have created an ever-present additional challenge for the record number of women seeking the party’s nomination. Of the six female candidates who entered the race, only one — Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren — is polling among the four-person top tier. The one who ran most overtly as a feminist and mom, New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, has dropped out.

The issue may be especially important at this stage of the race for Klobuchar, who’s polling in fifth place and has been battling two men with better poll numbers and more money — former Vice President Joe Biden and South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg — for the primary’s moderate lane.

And just as she’s been slowly but steadily gaining momentum in recent weeks, the competition got even tougher. Billionaire Michael Bloomberg entered the race Sunday as another moderate alternative to Biden. He’s spending $30 million on a round of TV ads, roughly double what Klobuchar raised in the first three quarters of this year.

Klobuchar was critical of Bloomberg’s decision to get in the race but said her campaign is moving forward the way she has always operated — working hard, talking with voters and spending money conservatively to be sure she has enough to keep going.

She’s invested a significant portion of her time and money in Iowa, the first caucus state, and is adding New Hampshire staff at a time when some campaigns are cutting or redeploying them.