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Al Franken’s Minnesota Seat to Be Filled by Tina Smith, a Democrat
ST. PAUL — Lt. Gov. Tina Smith will take over Al Franken’s seat in the United States Senate, the governor of Minnesota announced Wednesday, keeping a Democrat in the seat for now but setting the stage for a freewheeling 2018 election that could shift the balance of power in Minnesota and in Washington.
Mr. Franken announced last week that he would resign after being accused by women of sexual misconduct.
Ms. Smith, the lieutenant governor since 2015, will serve as senator until at least next fall, when voters are expected to choose a candidate to fill the remaining two years of Mr. Franken’s term. Ms. Smith also said that she plans to run for the office in that 2018 election.
Ms. Smith praised Mr. Franken’s Senate record, calling him “a real champion for this state,” but also said she saw a major shift underway in the national conversation about sexual harassment.
“I think in some ways, this sea change is being led by young women who tell women of my generation that maybe some of the things we put up with during our lives we shouldn’t have to put up with,” Ms. Smith said. “And that is a good thing, and it is so important that we don’t slide backwards.”
Ms. Smith, who previously worked as chief of staff for the governor, has been especially visible in her role as lieutenant governor and widely discussed in recent days as a potential replacement for Mr. Franken.
Over a matter of three weeks, a growing number of allegations against Mr. Franken upended politics in a state that prides itself on clean governance and high voter turnout.
The upheaval could provide an opening for Republicans, who control both chambers of the State Legislature but have struggled in statewide races over the last decade. President Trump finished within 50,000 votes of Hillary Clinton here last year, closer than many analysts expected, and carried most counties outside the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area.
The election next year will include the governorship — Gov. Mark Dayton, a Democrat, is not seeking another term — and both of the state’s Senate seats. Senator Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat, is expected to run for re-election, and voters will decide who finishes the last two years of Mr. Franken’s term.
Ambitious members of both parties have already announced their runs for governor, and some could now weigh a Senate campaign instead.
With a fight for partisan control of the Senate looming, Mr. Franken’s exit puts up for grabs a seat the Democrats had thought they were certain to hold until at least 2020. Given the stakes, Governor Dayton had been urged by some in his party to pick a replacement who would stand for election in 2018 — boosted, presumably, by already having a year in office — and again for a full term in 2020.
But the move carries its own risks. In the 1970s, outraged voters swept Democrats out of office after the party’s governor tried to engineer his own appointment to a vacant Senate seat. That led some political observers to suggest Mr. Dayton would be wise to pick a temporary replacement who only intended to hold the job until the voters could make their own choice next year.
In a news conference at the Minnesota Capitol, Ms. Smith seemed to address those suggestions after announcing that she intends to run for the job next year.
“Anybody who knows the voters of Minnesota knows that they can’t be told what to do,” Ms. Smith said. “My purpose is to go out and ask for those voters’ support, and that is my job to do.”
Mr. Dayton praised his lieutenant governor as “extremely intelligent, quick to learn and always open to hearing others’ views,” and endorsed her 2018 candidacy. He said the months before the special election would give voters time “to size up and assess” Ms. Smith.
Mr. Dayton said he had yet to receive any official notice of resignation from Mr. Franken, but expected him to leave office in early January.
“I don’t have anything in writing,” Mr. Dayton said. “I know Senator Franken is a man of his word. I know he gave this a great deal of very intense thought. And, again, I fully expect that he will follow through and resign.”
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