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This morning, Democratic Sen. Tina Smith of Minnesota announced she will not be running for reelection in 2026. She made the announcement by way of a video posted on X. „This decision is not political, it is entirely personal“, she said.
I’ve decided not to run for re-election to the Senate in 2026.
This job has been the honor of a lifetime. For the rest of my term, I’ll work as hard as I can for Minnesotans and our country.
Thank you so much, Minnesota. pic.twitter.com/3sWVib8nKJ— Senator Tina Smith (@SenTinaSmith) February 13, 2025
Sen. Smith is only 66 years old which makes her a young whippersnapper compared to many of the fossils in the Senate. She was appointed to the seat in 2017:
Smith, 66, was first appointed to the Senate in 2017 to fill the vacancy left by then-Democratic Sen. Al Franken’s resignation in the wake of sexual misconduct allegations. Smith won a special election the following year and then another election in 2020 to serve a full six year term.
She has been a longtime fixture in Minnesota politics since well before she joined the Senate, serving as the state’s lieutenant governor and, before that, as a top aide to key Democratic politicians.
Sen. Smith is now the 2nd Democratic Senator to announce they will not run for reelection in 2026. Sen. Gary Peters of Michigan made the same announcement a couple weeks ago. Some see this pair of unexpected announcements as a sign that Democrats don’t see a lot of hope for change in their own near-future.
Gary Peters and Tina Smith were not anticipated retirements
Clearly there’s internal concern among elected Dems that the rebuilding of their party is going to take a long time
Even post-2008 the GOP wasn’t this lost https://t.co/w2ULhr2lGv— Jesse Hunt (@JJHunt10) February 13, 2025
Sen. Smith was, as my colleague David Strom pointed out to me, a VP at Planned Parenthood 20 years ago and abortion rights has always been central to her politics.
I’m proud of my work at Planned Parenthood, where I saw firsthand the opportunity that comes with access to affordable reproductive care.
