Minnesota Lt. Gov. Tina Smith (D)
The Daily Kos Elections Morning Digest is compiled by David Nir, Jeff Singer, Stephen Wolf, and Carolyn Fiddler, with additional contributions from David Jarman, Steve Singiser, Daniel Donner, James Lambert, David Beard, and Arjun Jaikumar.
Leading Off
● MN-Sen-B: On Wednesday, Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton announced that he would name his lieutenant governor, Tina Smith, to the Senate seat that will soon be vacated by Sen. Al Franken, who said last week that he would resign in the face of multiple sexual harassment allegations. Franken didn't offer a precise timetable for his departure, but he said that he'd leave office "in the coming weeks"; when he does, Minnesota will become just the sixth state ever (and only the fourth currently, along with California, New Hampshire, and Washington) to boast an all-woman Senate delegation.
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Smith also said she'd run for the final two years of Franken's term in 2018, and she's already consolidated support from much of the Democratic establishment. Following Dayton's announcement, she earned praise from her soon-to-be-fellow Sen. Amy Klobuchar, as well as Reps. Keith Ellison (who specifically endorsed her for next year's special election), Betty McCollum, Tim Walz, Rick Nolan, and Collin Peterson. That's every Democrat who currently represents Minnesota in Congress, suggesting Smith is unlikely to face a primary challenge.
Her appointment isn't without concerns, though. When Smith's name was first floated a week ago, she reportedly was not interested in running in the special election that will be held next November. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, though, was reportedly unhappy at the prospect of Dayton picking a placeholder, preferring that he choose someone who'd capitalize on the advantages offered by a year of incumbency, and so therefore pushed him to pick a candidate who'd actually run in 2018.
That candidate turned out to be … Tina Smith, suggesting that perhaps she had to be pushed into doing something she wasn't otherwise inclined to do. If so, that's unfortunate: You always want your office-seekers to actually want to seek office, and there's a large number of other Democratic women in Minnesota who've made it clear they are eager to run statewide, such as Attorney General Lori Swanson, who is still considering a bid for governor, or state Auditor Rebecca Otto, who actually is running for governor. And unlike a Swanson or an Otto, Smith has never been elected in her own right: The only time she ever appeared on a ballot was on a joint ticket with Dayton as his running-mate in 2014.
Then there's the matter of who will succeed Smith. Under the state constitution, the job would now fall to the president of the state Senate, Michelle Fischbach—who's a Republican. That's a dangerous move, because god forbid something should happen to Dayton (who is 70 years old, has twice fainted in public, and was treated for prostate cancer earlier this year) during his final year in office, the GOP would wind up with complete control of the state's government for the first time in several decades. Even Dayton himself acknowledged that this scenario is "a valid concern." (Suffice it to say that Republicans would never put themselves at risk in such a way if the situation were reversed.)
Fischbach is making life even more complicated by insisting she plans to keep her current job while simultaneously serving as lieutenant governor. Fischbach claims there's precedent for such an arrangement, despite the obvious separation-of-powers problem it presents, while Democrats say that a 1972 amendment to the constitution precludes Fischbach from holding both positions at once. Litigation seems likely.
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