Minnesota's next senator: Quiet organizer, late to politics
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — The woman who is being touted as Minnesota's next U.S. senator is a largely behind-the-scenes player who came to elected office late in her career and passed up a major shot at power just a few months ago.
Tina Smith isn't passing a second time. Two Democrats told The Associated Press that Gov. Mark Dayton on Wednesday will name his trusted lieutenant governor and former chief of staff to fill Democratic Sen. Al Franken's seat until a special election next November.
Smith, a Democrat, will also run in that election to complete the final two years of Franken's term, a Democratic operative said on condition of anonymity because that person wasn't authorized to speak ahead of Dayton's 10 a.m. announcement.