Daily Digest: Franken announces resignation

Good morning and happy Friday. Here's the Digest.

1. Democratic Sen. Al Franken on Thursday said he will resign from the Senate in the coming weeks in the face of mounting accusations of sexual misconduct before and during his time in office. His stunning exit will scramble Minnesota's political climate heading into the 2018 midterm election. Franken had spent the past three weeks pleading for forgiveness in response to the accusations over his past actions. He'd hoped to make his case to the Senate Ethics Committee that his behavior shouldn't require him to give up the seat, though at least eight women shared stories of him touching them without consent during photo-opportunities, on a celebrity tour to military installations abroad or at political events. Standing on the Senate floor Thursday, he said he could no longer be an effective senator for Minnesota. But he insisted that some of the allegations against him were "simply not true ... others, I remember very differently." (MPR News)

2. Franken supporters had mixed feelings about his announcement. A couple dozen students at the University of Minnesota Duluth gathered in front of a big screen TV at the Kirby Student Center Thursday morning to see Sen. Al Franken announce his intention to resign in the coming weeks. "It was hard to watch. It was a bummer," said UMD senior Willow Huber, who interned at Franken's Duluth office last year. She even got to meet him at UMD's commencement last year, which she recalls as a "great experience," where he shared memories of working on Saturday Night Live and talked about issues she was passionate about. "It's hard to see someone you respect so much, see them change in your eyes. You know it's not quite the same anymore," she said. "I'm glad that he is understanding that he should have consequences to his actions." Many young Democrats in Duluth and across the state are trying to reconcile their admiration for Franken the Senator — champion of progressive causes and pointed questioner of Trump cabinet nominees — with their belief that he should probably resign, even if they don't really want to see him go. (MPR News)

3. Gov. Mark Dayton said Thursday he will decide on and announce within the next few days his pick to fill the U.S. Senate seat that Franken is vacating. Dayton has a choice. He can appoint someone who would serve as a temporary caretaker, or someone who wants to face voters next fall for the chance to serve the remaining two-years of Franken’s term. That special election will draw plenty of interest from Democrats and Republicans. Dayton said in a statement following Franken’s resignation announcement that he has not yet decided who he will appoint to fill the vacancy. Multiple news reports say Lt. Gov. Tina Smith is his choice to be a temporary replacement. There is also a long and growing list of names of potential candidates for the seat in next year's special election. (MPR News)

4. Getting rid of Franken was the Democrats’ strongest declaration yet that they — unlike the Republicans — are willing to sacrifice their own in the interest of staking out the high ground. In his speech on the Senate floor where he announced his plans to resign, Franken pointed out what, to his supporters, is a bitter irony: “I am leaving, while a man who has bragged on tape about his history of sexual assault sits in the Oval Office, and a man who has repeatedly preyed on young girls campaigns for the Senate, with the full support of his party.” That, in fact, is precisely the contrast that Democrats hope to present — as House leaders did in forcing the resignation of Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.), the longest-serving member of Congress, who was accused of demanding sexual favors from female staffers. After President Trump enthusiastically endorsed GOP Alabama Senate nominee Roy Moore this week and the Republican National Committee resumed its financial support, GOP senators are bracing for an exceedingly awkward situation if he wins. “Clearly, part of the wager here was to try to force Franken out before Tuesday, to draw a bright line around Moore’s alleged transgressions. Tuesday will be the test,” said David Axelrod, who was former president Barack Obama’s chief political strategist. (Washington Post)

5. How often do states have two senate elections in one year?  A Smart Politics analysis finds there have been 53 instances during the direct election era in which a state hosted U.S. Senate elections for both seats – with nominees being elected from two different parties just eight times and not once over the last half-century. The last instance of a state splitting its vote for its two U.S. Senate seats on the same ballot took place in South Carolina 51 years ago. In November 1966, the Palmetto State reelected Republican Strom Thurmond while former Democratic Governor Fritz Hollings won the special election triggered by the death of Democrat Olin Johnston in April 1965. Each of the subsequent 10 instances in which both seats were on a state’s ballot during the next half century resulted in one party winning both elections: Democrats in Alabama (1978), California (1992), and New York (2010) and Republicans in Minnesota (1978), Tennessee (1994), Kansas (1996), Mississippi (2008), Wyoming (2008), Oklahoma (2014), and South Carolina (2014). (Smart Politics)

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