Al Franken Plans To Resign As Support Crumbles
Senator Franken’s departure from public life post-#MeToo has divided many in the Democratic party Image by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Democrat Al Franken will resign from the U.S. Senate on Thursday, Minnesota Public Radio reported, after more than half of his Senate Democratic colleagues urged him to do so in light of sexual misconduct accusations.
Franken said on Twitter that no final decision had been made.
After accusations began surfacing three weeks ago, Franken said he would remain in office and work to regain the trust of voters in Minnesota, the state he represents.
But on Wednesday, calls for him to resign came from the majority of his Democratic colleagues in the Senate, including Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and almost all of the Democratic women in the chamber, putting great pressure on him to quit.
“He has a higher obligation to his constituents and the Senate, and he should step down immediately,” Schumer said in a statement.
In its report, Minnesota Public Radio cited a Democratic official who had spoken to the senator and aides.
Late on Wednesday, news website Politico reported that Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton’s was expected to appoint Democratic Lieutenant Governor Tina Smith to take Franken’s seat if he resigned. She would hold the seat until a special election in 2018.
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