ST. PAUL, Minnesota: Minnesota Sen. Al Franken’s departure from the Senate solves one problem for Democrats, demonstrating their will to push out one of their own when sexual harassment allegations pile up. Now they must worry about keeping one more vulnerable seat when they already had their hands full in next year’s election.
Franken said he would resign, just a day after new allegations brought the number of women alleging he had groped or tried to kiss them to at least eight.
In a sometimes emotional speech delivered on the Senate floor, Franken said some of the accusations were false, but acknowledged he could not continue.
“I know in my heart that nothing I have done as a senator — nothing — has brought dishonor on this institution,” Franken declared.
The former comedian who made his name on “Saturday Night Live” is the latest to fall in the national wave of sexual harassment allegations, coming just two days after the resignation of Michigan Democratic Rep. John Conyers, who was the longest-serving member in the current House.
His rapid fall leaves Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton to appoint a replacement to serve until at least 2018, when the state would hold an election to finish Franken’s six-year term ending in 2020. Dayton said Thursday he expected to do so “in the next couple of days.”
Franken’s exit gives Republicans an opening to expand their reach in an already favorable Senate map — two dozen Democratic senators are up for re-election next year, including 10 in states that President Donald Trump carried in 2016. That difficult math raises the question of whether Dayton will appoint a temporary placeholder or try to give a Democrat a running start for the 2018 campaign.
His lieutenant governor, Tina Smith, has been most frequently mentioned for the temporary appointment. Smith is a trusted former chief of staff for Dayton and also ran former Vice President Walter Mondale’s brief Senate campaign in 2002 after Sen. Paul Wellstone died in a plane crash. But Smith previously announced she wouldn’t run for governor next year, suggesting she would be no more than a caretaker.
Franken said he would resign, just a day after new allegations brought the number of women alleging he had groped or tried to kiss them to at least eight.
In a sometimes emotional speech delivered on the Senate floor, Franken said some of the accusations were false, but acknowledged he could not continue.
“I know in my heart that nothing I have done as a senator — nothing — has brought dishonor on this institution,” Franken declared.
The former comedian who made his name on “Saturday Night Live” is the latest to fall in the national wave of sexual harassment allegations, coming just two days after the resignation of Michigan Democratic Rep. John Conyers, who was the longest-serving member in the current House.
His rapid fall leaves Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton to appoint a replacement to serve until at least 2018, when the state would hold an election to finish Franken’s six-year term ending in 2020. Dayton said Thursday he expected to do so “in the next couple of days.”
Franken’s exit gives Republicans an opening to expand their reach in an already favorable Senate map — two dozen Democratic senators are up for re-election next year, including 10 in states that President Donald Trump carried in 2016. That difficult math raises the question of whether Dayton will appoint a temporary placeholder or try to give a Democrat a running start for the 2018 campaign.
His lieutenant governor, Tina Smith, has been most frequently mentioned for the temporary appointment. Smith is a trusted former chief of staff for Dayton and also ran former Vice President Walter Mondale’s brief Senate campaign in 2002 after Sen. Paul Wellstone died in a plane crash. But Smith previously announced she wouldn’t run for governor next year, suggesting she would be no more than a caretaker.
