Minnesota Names Lt. Gov. Tina Smith to Replace Franken in Senate
Franken now has no choice but to resign as he promised.
Last week, Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) announced he will resign in the coming weeks after facing numerous sexual misconduct allegations.
Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton (D) has appointed Lt. Gov. Tina Smith (D) to take over Franken’s seat whenever the senator does decide to step down.
Smith will finish Franken’s term, which will end in 2020. From Fox News:
Dayton was under pressure from Washington Democrats to appoint a replacement who would run in 2018.
The 59-year-old Smith is a former General Mills executive who in the 1990 started her own marketing and political consulting firm. She eventually managed Walter Mondale’s unsuccessful 2002 Senate run and Mondale’s son Ted Mondale’s failed 1998 bid for governor.
She also served in the early 2000s as a vice president of external affairs for Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota. Smith later served as chief of staff to Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak before taking the same job with Dayton.
The special election for Franken’s seat is expected to be expensive race and hotly contested race for a swing seat.
Franken still hasn’t set a date for his resignation. Smith plans “to run to complete Franken’s term through 2020.”
On the day Franken made his announcement, Richard Painter, the vice president of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), a left-wing watchdog group, urged Dayton to wait to make the appointment until after the Alabama special senate election. That took place on Tuesday and Democrat Doug Jones beat Republican Roy Moore.
During the campaign, Moore faced accusations from numerous females of sexual misconduct when they were teenagers and he was in his 30s. Painter said that if Moore won that meant Alabama chose “to drastically lower the bar” and Franken could stay.
Also, if Moore won, the GOP would keep its two seat majority in the Senate. Franken, one of the most outspoken Democrats, could have changed his mind if Moore won, even though we know that Dayton would have picked a Democrat.
But Moore lost and the GOP’s majority is now only by one seat and the Democrats don’t really need Franken anymore.
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Call me when the moving truck actually shows up
Smith was on the short list early on, so this is not unexpected, particularly since her xx chromosomes give her super virtue signaling powers in the predatory atmosphere on planet DC.
All she needs now is to self-identify as a POC and start transitioning and she’ll be a shoe-in for the Dim presidential nomination in 2020.
witch ‘color’ is the most appropriate ?
Sure her last name really isn’t “Fey?”
It’s like that Twilight Zone episode “My name is talking Tina. I’m going to kill you…”
This is as it should be… the state’s should always select their Senators. The 17th Amendment should be repealed, it disenfranchises the states which destroyed the balance of power in our Republic.
Totally agree. Senators should be elected by the legislature of the state, not the people. They can then be free to represent the state’s interest and be immediately recalled if needed. The Senate can then be a check and balance of both the Federal government and the people’s House of Representatives. We lost this important check against the leviathan in 1913.
I wonder if she’s a closet Muslim?
Ms. Smith’s best characteristic is that she’s not Keith “Hakim” Ellison.
Seriously — I am somewhat relieved that this utterly vile anti-Semite and Islamic supremacist-demagogue, who the Dumb-o-crats, in their moral bankruptcy and myopia, saw fit, not to ostracize or condemn for his history of anti-Semitism (including asserting that Israel was allegedly using the U.S. as an “ATM machine”), but, rather, to elevate to a plumb Party leadership position!
Policy-wise and Senate voting-wise, I suppose that one Dumb-o-crat is the same as any other, but, I couldn’t bear to see Ellison elevated to a higher position of power.
Ms. Smith’s best characteristic is that she’s not Keith “Hakim” Ellison.
Seriously — I am somewhat relieved that this utterly vile anti-Semite and Islamic supremacist-demagogue, who the Dumb-o-crats, in their moral bankruptcy and myopia, saw fit, not to ostracize or condemn for his history of anti-Semitism (including asserting that Israel was allegedly using the U.S. as an “ATM machine”), but, rather, to elevate to a plumb Party leadership position, isn’t ascending to the U.S. Senate.
Policy-wise and Senate voting-wise, I suppose that one Dumb-o-crat is the same as any other, but, I couldn’t bear to see Ellison elevated to a higher position of power.
Dirty commie? Ran Mondale’s campaign..
Has no soul? Was a VP of PP in Minnesota..
I’m sorry Minnesota. How do you end up Godless trash like that?
I remember someone talking aout her on the news saying she has great progressive credentials includng being a senior member of Planned Parenthood.
People should watch Minnesota in 2018 because much like Wisconsin hit a tipping point back in 2010 and old time Democrats started to vote Republican the same thing is happening here in Minnesota.
People judge us by who elected in the past like Franken during the Obama wave but any NEW Democrat is not going to get a free ride in Minnesota that Trump lost by 1.4%. Only Reagan did better in Minnesota in 1984 since Nixon won it in 1972.
LOL! Why do I get the feeling that the Governor and LT Governor were high fiving when the Franken scandal broke?
Seems to me they can’t get rid of him fast enough, so they’re making an offer he can’t refuse!
She appears to be white? Isn’t she evil by definition then? Where are the rioters…I mean, protesters? Shouldn’t MN be on fire right now for, well…you know…social justice?
Lack of color. Not very diverse. Perhaps she can claim a majority minority race (e.g. African, Hispanic, Chinese).
Or perhaps minority majority race. I wouldn’t want to judge her by character (e.g. principles).
She’s 1/.0000000000000000000000000000000000000006 American Indian.
In case you didn’t know. She looks like Fauxcahontas, too. (Cheekbones, of course.) We’ll find out if she’s another screaming hysteric.
It was liberal (i.e. divergent) humor, but not funny ha-ha.
Anybody remember being groped by Tina, real or imagined, anytime within the last 40 years? Now would be a good time to get your 15 minutes. Thirty minutes if you can claim to have been underage at the time. Because, you know, that’s how it works now.
I am going to wait until she wins the primary and it is about 4 weeks to go to the election till I tell my groping story.
Word has it she’s groper. Of blind children. In wheelchairs.
At least that’s the word from Whoria Allred and harry reid.
How can there be a replacement for a position that is not vacant?
Whoopty-doo. The Governor of Minnesota has named the presumptive replacement for Franken should he ever get around to resigning. As the Governor can only fill a vacancy, nothing changes. Al may still be around until 2020. After all, no one in Congress can afford to open up the can of worms an ethics investigation into sexual misconduct would cause.
Does anyone really believe the GropenFranken will actually resign? Cmon. I’ve got a nice bridge to sell you.
Don’t count on the msm to remind anyone that he said he would. I’m certain crickets would be louder than their reports.
…..so….Tweedledum gets replaced by Tweedledee….