As expected, Minnesota’s Governor has named his Lt. Governor to replace Al Franken in the Senate.
Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton has named his Lt. Governor Tina Smith to replace Al Franken in the Senate:
Smith’s name had been near the top of the list from the moment that Franken announced his impending resignation last week. As noted, she will have to run in a Special Election next November, at which point Minnesota’s other seat, currently held by Senator Amy Klobuchar, who will be running for re-election to her third term a race she is likely to win. Smith will likely face challenges in her own bid for re-election, both in the primary for the Democratic-Farm Labor nomination and in the General Election itself. Given the fact that Minnesota hasn’t had a Republican Norm Coleman, who served a single term from 2002 through 2009, though, it’s likely that Smith will win the Special Election easily. Of course, whoever wins that Special Election will have to run again in 2020 for a full term in their own right. Senator Franken, meanwhile, has not announced when he would formally resign, but it was anticipated when he made the announcement that he intended to do so by the end of the calendar year. This would mean that Smith would take office when Congress returns from the holiday break.
Hot Air’s Ed Morrissey, a Minnesota resident, comments:
Morrisey also made this observation on the possibility of Congressman Keith Ellison, who was the first Muslim-American Member of Congress, either being appointed by Dayton or running for the DFL nomination:
As for the Republican side of the aisle, since it’s unlikely that anyone will be able to beat Klobuchar next November it’s likely that there will be more interest in running for the Republican nomination to take Smith on given the fact that she will be running for election in her own right statewide for the first time in her political career. So far there are no declared candidates for the 2018 Special Election, but several potential names have been mentioned, including sitting Members of Congress such as Tom Emmer and Erik Paulsen as well as a handful of members of the state legislature, including the current Speaker of the state’s House of Representatives. Another name that has been mentioned is former Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, who of course was a candidate for the Republican Presidential nomination in 2012. Bachmann has never stood for election outside the District she represented in Congress, though, and it seems unlikely that she would be successful statewide even in a Republican primary. Minnesota does not have runoff elections for primaries, though, so it would not require a majority for someone to win the nomination of their party. If the field for the nomination to take on Smith is crowded, then, it wouldn’t be beyond the realm of possibility that Bachmann could win the nomination if she ran. That being said, given the fact that the two potentially strongest Republican candidates, former Senator Norm Coleman and former Governor Tim Pawlenty have already ruled out running for the seat, the odds that any Republican will stand a chance in 2018 seem low indeed.
Update: Congressman Keith Ellison has announced that he will not be running for the Senate next year, so that takes his name off the table completely.
I understand that Tina Smith is favorably regarded in Minnesota and should make a formidable candidate. My liberal friends are thrilled, so people worried that Franken’s replacement wouldn’t be a strong Democrat can at least take solace in her solid blue stands.
Like or Dislike: 0
