Tina Smith joins U.S. Senate

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Tina Smith was sworn into office Wednesday, joining the upper chamber of Congress as it prepares for a busy year at an unpredictable time in Washington.

Smith, who had been Minnesota’s lieutenant governor and worked behind the scenes as an influential DFLer for years before that, was sworn in as Minnesota’s newest U.S. senator just after noon Eastern time. She stood at the front of the Senate chamber alongside Alabama Sen. Doug Jones, also a Democrat, as Vice President Mike Pence administered their oaths of office.

“Congratulations, senators,” Pence said as they wrapped up the brief ceremony. Smith and Jones were quickly surrounded by fellow senators

Smith was joined by former Vice President Walter Mondale of Minnesota, a longtime mentor, along with Sen. Amy Klobuchar, the state’s senior senator. Jones, who won an unexpected victory in December in his strongly Republican state, was accompanied by former Vice President Joe Biden, also a former senator.

Smith, 59, replaces former Minnesota Sen. Al Franken, who stepped down a day earlier following sexual harassment allegations. By serving alongside Klobuchar, also a DFLer, Smith will make Minnesota just the fourth state to currently have two women as U.S. senators. Smith will become the 22nd woman to join the U.S. Senate, a new all-time high.

A New Mexico native, Smith moved to Minnesota in the 1980s for a marketing job at General Mills. She later founded a public relations firm before becoming an operative and strategist for a several well-known DFLers, along with a stint as a vice president for Planned Parenthood of Minnesota and the Dakotas.

After Smith served as Dayton’s chief of staff during his first term as governor, he recruited her as his lieutenant governor running mate for his 2014 re-election bid.

In an interview with the Star Tribune Wednesday morning, Smith said she’s still waiting to receive her committee assignments but is interested in several of the panels that Franken served on: the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions; and Energy and Natural Resources. She’s also eager to work on agricultural issues, calling it the foundation of Minnesota’s economy, and said she wants to work on the farm bill as it comes up for renewal this year.

Lawmakers have a busy schedule in the coming months, from agreeing on a government funding bill to avoid a shutdown to finding a solution for the DACA program, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, that protects people who illegally immigrated to America as minors. President Trump wants to link the continuation of the program — scheduled to end in March — to the building of a wall on the Mexican border.

Noting that she’s worked on the issue of undocumented immigrants as lieutenant governor, Smith said that it “seems unconscionable” to send young immigrants back to a country that has never been their home.

Like Franken, Smith is also against Republican efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act. She said Minnesotans want lawmakers to fix what isn’t working in the law, “as opposed to just flat-out repealing it, because all that does is create even more chaos in our healthcare system.”

And she is critical of the GOP’s recent overhaul of the tax code, pointing to the Dayton administration’s move to raise taxes on the top 2 percent and put more money into rural education and broadband.

“That’s not what this tax bill that just passed does at all, so we have a big hill to climb in terms of finding common ground when I think our approaches [as Democrats and Republicans] are so different,” said Smith.

She added: “I’m hopeful and optimistic that we can work together, but I’m not naive about the big differences that divide us.”

Smith plans an early focus on issues that occupied her time as lieutenant governor, including economic development, rural broadband access, affordable child care and paid family leave.

Smith is planning to run in a special election in November to fill out the remaining two years of Franken’s term. So far one Republican candidate for that race has emerged in state Sen. Karin Housley of St. Marys Point.

“The people of Minnesota deserve an elected official who has been chosen by them and not political insiders,” Housley said in a statement.

“Minnesotans will be watching closely to see if Smith can attempt to govern in a bipartisan fashion, or if she will continue as the consummate (DFL) insider,” Jennifer Carnahan, chairwoman of the Minnesota Republican Party, said in a statement.

DFL Chairman Ken Martin praised Smith in a statement.

“I am grateful she stepped forward to serve Minnesotans in this role, and I am convinced she will continue in the proud tradition of other strong progressives who held this same seat before her,” Martin said.