POLITICAL FIGURES: “Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton is expected to name his lieutenant governor, Tina Smith, to replace resigning Sen. Al Franken in the Senate at a press conference Wednesday [12-13-17] morning.
Smith was Dayton’s chief of staff during his first term in office and served as his running mate in 2014. She worked in marketing for General Mills as a vice president for a regional branch of Planned Parenthood before serving as chief of staff to then-Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak, after which she went to work for Dayton…
Dayton’s appointment of Smith will hand Franken’s seat to a female Democrat after Franken, who was in the middle of his second term, decided to resign under pressure after multiple women accused him of groping and sexual harassment. More than half of Senate Democrats called for Franken’s resignation last week after another accuser stepped forward.
Smith plans to run in a 2018 special election to complete the remainder of Franken’s term, which lasts until 2020. That means she’d be running at the same time as Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who is up for reelection next year. It will be Smith’s first solo run for elected office…
Minnesota, traditionally a solidly Democratic state, has seen Republican gains in recent years: President Donald Trump lost the state to Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton by only 1.5 percentage points in 2016. No top-flight Republican candidate has yet emerged for either seat, but some GOP figures are working to recruit former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who is now the CEO of the Financial Services Roundtable.”
-Kevin Robillard and Maggie Severns, “Minnesota governor names Lt. Gov. Tina Smith as Franken replacement,” Politico, Dec. 13, 2017 11:19am