Franken was first elected to the
United States Senate in
2008, defeating incumbent
Republican Senator
Norm Coleman by a narrow margin of 312 votes out of nearly three million cast. He was a popular Senator and easily won
reelection in 2014 over Republican challenger
Mike McFadden. On December 7, 2017, after several accusations of sexual misconduct, Franken announced his intention to resign from the Senate.
Early life and education
Franken was born on May 21, 1951, in New York City, to Joseph Franken, a printing salesman, and Phoebe Franken (born Kunst), a real estate agent. His paternal grandparents emigrated from
Germany; his maternal grandfather came from
Grodno,
Belarus; and his maternal grandmother's parents were also from the
Russian Empire.
[1] Both of his parents were
Jews, and Franken was raised in a
Reform Jewish home.
[2] The Frankens moved to
Albert Lea, Minnesota when he was four years old.
[3] His father opened a quilting factory, but it failed after just two years. The family then moved to
St. Louis Park, Minnesota, a
suburb of
Minneapolis.
[4] Franken graduated from
The Blake School in 1969, where he was a member of the wrestling team.
[5] He attended
Harvard College, where he majored in
political science, graduating
cum laude with a
Bachelor of Arts in 1973.
[6] His older brother Owen is a
photojournalist, and his cousin
Bob is a journalist for
MSNBC.
[7]
Franken began performing in high school, where he and his longtime friend and writing partner
Tom Davis were known for their comedy.
[8] The duo first performed on stage at Minneapolis's
Brave New Workshop theater, specializing in
political satire.
[9] They soon found themselves in what was described as "a life of near-total failure on the fringes of show business in Los Angeles."
[10]
Saturday Night Live
On
Weekend Update near the end of
Season 5, Franken delivered a commentary called "
A Limo for a Lame-O". He mocked controversial
NBC president
Fred Silverman as "a total unequivocal failure" and displayed a chart showing the poor ratings of NBC programs. As a result of this sketch, Silverman declined
Lorne Michaels's recommendation that Franken succeed him as producer, and Franken left the show when Michaels did, at the end of the 1979–80 season.
[12] Franken returned to the show in 1985 as a writer and occasional performer. He has acknowledged using
cocaine and other illegal drugs while working in television, and stated that he stopped after
John Belushi died of an overdose.
[13][14] In 1995, Franken left the show in protest over losing the role of
Weekend Update anchor to
Norm Macdonald.
[15]
Post-SNL
In 1995, Franken wrote and starred in the film
Stuart Saves His Family, which was based on his
SNL character Stuart Smalley. Franken became depressed as a result of the film's critical and commercial failure.
[16][17] Stuart Saves His Family has an aggregate rating of 27% on Rotten Tomatoes,
[18] but received favorable reviews from
The Washington Post[19] and
Gene Siskel.
[20]
Franken signed a one-year contract in early 2004 to host a talk show for
Air America Radio's flagship program with co-host
Katherine Lanpher, who remained with the show until October 2005. The network was launched on March 31, 2004. Originally named
The O'Franken Factor but renamed
The Al Franken Showon July 12, 2004, the show aired three hours a day, five days a week for three years. Its stated goal was to put more progressive views on the public airwaves to counter what Franken perceived as the dominance of conservative syndicated commentary on the radio: "I'm doing this because I want to use my energies to get
Bush unelected," he told a
New York Times reporter in 2004.
[27] Franken's last radio show on Air America Radio was on February 14, 2007, at the end of which he announced his candidacy for the
United States Senate.
[28]
Political activism prior to election
According to an article by
Richard Corliss published in
Time magazine, "In a way, Franken has been running for office since the late '70s." Corliss also hinted at Franken's "possibly ironic role as a relentless self-promoter" in proclaiming the 1980s "The Al Franken Decade" and saying, "Vote for me, Al Franken. You'll be glad you did!"
[33] In 1999, Franken released a parody book,
Why Not Me?, detailing his hypothetical campaign for president in 2000. He had been a strong supporter of Minnesota Senator
Paul Wellstone and was deeply affected by Wellstone's death in a plane crash shortly before the
2002 election. Wellstone was a mentor
[34][35] and political and personal role model for Franken, who stated his hopes of following in Wellstone's footsteps.
[36][37]
Franken said he learned that 21% of Americans received most of their news from
talk radio, an almost exclusively conservative medium.
[33] "I didn't want to sit on the sidelines, and I believed Air America could make a difference", he said.
[33] In November 2003, Franken talked about moving back to his home state of Minnesota to run for the Senate. At the time the seat once held by Wellstone was occupied by Republican
Norm Coleman. At a 2004 Democratic presidential campaign event, Franken tackled a man who was allegedly threatening other attendees and heckling Governor
Howard Dean.
[38][39] In 2005, Franken announced his move to Minnesota: "I can tell you honestly, I don't know if I'm going to run, but I'm doing the stuff I need to do in order to do it."
[40] In late 2005, he started his own
political action committee,
Midwest Values PAC. By early 2007, the PAC had raised more than $1 million.
[41][42]
Franken initially supported the
Iraq War but opposed the
2007 troop surge. In an interview with
MSNBC's
Joe Scarborough,
[44] he said that he "believed
Colin Powell", whose presentation at the
United Nations convinced him that the war was necessary, but that he had since come to believe that "we were misled into the war" and urged the Democratic-controlled Congress to refuse to pass appropriations bills to fund the war if they did not include timetables for leaving Iraq. In an interview with
Josh Marshall, Franken said of the Democrats, "I think we've gotta make
President George W. Bush say, 'OK, I'm cutting off funding because I won't agree to a timetable.'"
[45]
Franken favors transitioning to a
universal health care system,
[46] with the provision that every child in America should receive health care coverage immediately. He objects to efforts to privatize
Social Security or cut benefits, and favors raising the cap on wages to which Social Security taxes apply.
[47] On his 2008 campaign website, he voiced support for cutting
subsidies for oil companies, increasing money available for college students, and cutting
interest rates on
student loans.
[48][49]
During the 2008 election, New York state officials asserted that Al Franken Inc. had failed to carry required
workers' compensation insurance for employees who assisted him with his comedy and public speaking from 2002 to 2005. Franken paid a $25,000 fine to the state of New York upon being advised his
corporation was out of compliance with the state's workers' compensation laws.
[50] At the same time, the
California Franchise Tax Board reported that the same corporation owed more than $4,743 in taxes, fines, and associated penalties in the state of California for 2003 through 2007, because the corporation did not file tax returns in the state for those years.
[51] A Franken representative said that it followed the advice of an accountant who believed when the corporation stopped doing business in California that no further filing was required.
[52] Subsequently, Franken paid $70,000 in back
income taxes in 17 states dating back to 2003, mostly from his speeches and other paid appearances. Franken said he paid the income tax in his state of residence, and he would seek retroactive credit for paying the taxes in the wrong states.
[53]
U.S. Senate
2008 elections
Franken campaigning for the U.S. Senate in 2008
On July 8, 2007, Franken's campaign stated that it expected to announce that he had raised more money than his Republican opponent,
Norm Coleman, during the second quarter of the year, taking in $1.9 million to Coleman's $1.6 million,
[56][57] although in early July 2007, Coleman's $3.8 million cash on hand exceeded Franken's $2 million.
[57]
In late May 2008, the
Minnesota Republican Party released a letter about an article Franken had written for
Playboy magazine in 2000 titled "Porn-O-Rama!" The letter, signed by six prominent GOP women, including a state senator and state representative, called on Franken to apologize for what they called a "demeaning and degrading" article.
[58] His campaign spokesman responded, "Al had a long career as a satirist. But he understands the difference between what you say as a satirist and what you do as a senator. And as a Senator, Norm Coleman has disrespected the people of Minnesota by putting the
Exxons and
Halliburtons ahead of working families. And there's nothing funny about that."
[58]
On June 7, 2008, Franken was endorsed by the
DFL.
[59] In a July 2008 interview with
CNN, he was endorsed by
Ben Stein, a noted entertainer, speechwriter, lawyer and author known for his conservative views, who generally supported Republican candidates.
[60] Stein said of Franken, "He is my pal, and he is a really, really capable smart guy. I don't agree with all of his positions, but he is a very impressive guy, and I think he should be in the Senate."
During his campaign, Franken was criticized for advising
SNL creator
Lorne Michaels on a political sketch ridiculing Senator
John McCain's ads attacking
Barack Obama in the
2008 presidential election.
[61] Coleman's campaign reacted, saying, "Once again, he proves he's more interested in entertainment than service, and ridiculing those with whom he disagrees."
[62]
Preliminary reports on election night, November 4, were that Coleman was leading by over 700 votes, but the official results, certified on November 18, 2008, had Coleman leading by only 215 votes. As the two candidates were separated by less than 0.5 percent of the votes cast, the Minnesota
Secretary of State,
Mark Ritchie, authorized the automatic recount provided for in Minnesota election law. In the recount, ballots and certifying materials were examined by hand, and candidates could file challenges to the legality of ballots or materials for inclusion or exclusion. On January 5, 2009, the
Minnesota State Canvassing Board certified the recounted vote totals, with Franken ahead by 225 votes.
[63]
On January 6, 2009, Coleman's campaign filed an
election contest, which led to a trial before a three-judge panel.
[64] The trial ended on April 7, when the panel ruled that 351 of 387 disputed absentee ballots were incorrectly rejected and ordered them counted. Counting those ballots raised Franken's lead to 312 votes. Coleman appealed to the
Minnesota Supreme Court on April 20.
[65][66][67] On April 24, the Minnesota Supreme Court agreed to hear the
case.
[68][69] Oral arguments were conducted on June 1.
[68][70]
On June 30, 2009, the Minnesota Supreme Court unanimously rejected Coleman's appeal and said that Franken was entitled to be certified as the winner. Shortly after the court's decision, Coleman conceded.
[71] Governor
Tim Pawlenty signed Franken's election certificate that same evening.
[72]
2014 elections
Franken was reelected to a second term in 2014. He won the August 12 primary election, in which he was challenged by Sandra Henningsgard, with 94.5% of the vote.
[73] He won the general election against the Republican candidate,
Mike McFadden, with 53.2% of the vote.
[74][75]
Tenure
Franken meeting with Vice President
Joe Biden in May 2009
Franken was sworn into the Senate on July 7, 2009, 246 days after the election.
[76][77] He took the oath of office with the
Bible of late Minnesota Senator
Paul Wellstone, whose old seat was set aside for Franken by Senate leaders.
[78][79]
A video of Franken at the
Minnesota State Fair on September 2, 2009, engaging in a discussion with a group of
Tea Party protesters on health care reform, began circulating on the Internet and soon went
viral.
[82][83] The discussion was noted for its civility, in contrast to the explosive character of several other discussions between members of the
111th Congress and their constituents that had occurred over the summer.
[82][84][85]
Citing the case of
Jamie Leigh Jones, Franken introduced a limit to the arbitration policy of the 2010 Defense Appropriations bill that withheld defense contracts from companies that restrict their employees from taking workplace
sexual assault, battery, and discrimination cases to court. It passed the Senate in November 2010, 68 to 30 in a roll-call vote.
[91] https://www.franken.senate.gov/?P=Issue&Id=211
In May 2010, Franken proposed a financial-reform amendment that created a board to select which
credit rating agency would evaluate a given security. At the time, any company issuing a security could select the company that evaluated the security.
[92] The amendment was passed, but the financial industry lobbied to have it removed from the final bill.
[93]Negotiations between the Senate and
House, whose version of financial reform did not include such a provision, resulted in the amendment's being watered down to require only a series of studies being done on the issue for two years.
[94] After the studies, if the
Securities and Exchange Commission had not implemented another solution to the conflict-of-interest problem, Franken's solution would go into effect.
[95][96]
In August 2010, Franken made faces and hand gestures and rolled his eyes while Senate Minority Leader
Mitch McConnell delivered a speech in opposition to the confirmation of
Elena Kagan to the
U.S. Supreme Court.
[97][98][99] Franken's actions prompted McConnell to remark, "This isn't
Saturday Night Live, Al."
[99] After Kagan's confirmation, Franken delivered a handwritten apology to McConnell and issued a public statement saying that McConnell had a right "to give his speech with the presiding officer just listening respectfully."
[97]
The
National Journal reported in 2013 that Franken supports the
National Security Agency's data mining programs, believing they have saved lives, and that "I can assure you, this is not about spying on the American people."
[100]
When Franken declared his intention to seek reelection in
2014,
[101] his seat was thought to be a top target for the Republicans because of his very slim margin of victory in the previous election. But
Politico reported that his high approval rating, his large campaign fund, and the Republicans' struggle to find a top-tier candidate meant he was a "heavy favorite" to win reelection,
[102] and Franken won the race comfortably.
The Associated Press has noted that contrary to expectations, Franken has not sought out the media spotlight: "He rarely talks to the Washington press corps, has shed his comedic persona and focused on policy, working to be taken seriously."
[103] In interviews he has expressed his desire to be known for a focus on constituency work, keeping his head down, and working hard.
[86][104]
Franken has been an effective fundraiser for the Democrats.
[105][106][107] By late 2015, his political action committee had raised more than $5 million in donations.
[107] In 2016, his PAC raised $3.3 million.
[106][108] According to
The Star Tribune, Franken has been able to "draw crowds and donations across the country".
[105]
Sexual misconduct allegations
On November 16, 2017, conservative
[109] media personality
Leeann Tweeden alleged in a blog post and an interview with her radio station,
790 KABC, that Franken kissed her on a 2006
USO tour during a rehearsal for a skit. She wrote, "I said 'OK' so he would stop badgering me. We did the line leading up to the kiss and then he came at me, put his hand on the back of my head, mashed his lips against mine and aggressively stuck his tongue in my mouth."
[110] She said she pushed him away, feeling "disgusted and violated".
[110] Franken was also photographed appearing to place his hands above or on her breasts while she was asleep on an aircraft wearing
body armor and a helmet.
[111][112] In response Franken said, "I certainly don't remember the rehearsal for the skit in the same way, but I send my sincerest apologies to Leeann ... As to the photo, it was clearly intended to be funny but wasn't. I shouldn't have done it."
[113] A few hours later, Franken issued a longer apology,
[114] which Tweeden accepted.
[115]
On November 20, 2017, a 33-year-old woman named Lindsay Menz accused Franken of touching her clothed buttocks while they posed for a photo at the
Minnesota State Fair in 2010.
[116] In a statement responding to the allegation, Franken said, "I take thousands of photos at the state fair surrounded by hundreds of people, and I certainly don't remember taking this picture. I feel badly that Ms. Menz came away from our interaction feeling disrespected."
[117]
On November 22, 2017, Huffington Post reported that two additional women who insisted upon anonymity said that Franken had subjected them to very similar misconduct during political events in 2007 and 2008 (before he took office), incidents Franken also said he did not remember.
[118] Franken issued another apology on November 23, 2017, stating, "I've met tens of thousands of people and taken thousands of photographs, often in crowded and chaotic situations. I'm a warm person; I hug people. I've learned from recent stories that in some of those encounters, I crossed a line for some women — and I know that any number is too many."
[119]
On November 30, 2017,
Jezebel reported that another anonymous woman said that after she was a guest on Franken's radio show in 2006, Franken leaned in toward her face during a handshake and gave her "a wet, open-mouthed kiss" on the cheek when she turned away.
[120][121] That same day, an army veteran named Stephanie Kemplin told CNN that Franken held the side of her breast for 5 to 10 seconds "and never moved his hand" while posing for a photo with her during a 2003 USO tour in Iraq.
[122]
On December 6, 2017, Politico reported that an anonymous former Democratic congressional staffer said, and Franken denied, that Franken had tried to kiss her (but failed to do so) as she exited the studio after an interview on his radio show in 2006.
[123] The same day, another former Democratic congressional staffer,
Tina Dupuy, wrote a piece in
The Atlanticalleging that Franken squeezed her waist while posing for a photo at a presidential inauguration party in early 2009.
[124][125]
Senate leaders
Mitch McConnell and
Chuck Schumer sent Tweeden's accusations to the
Senate Ethics Committee for review, a decision supported by members of both parties, including Franken himself.
[112] On November 30, the committee announced that it was investigating allegations against Franken.
[126][127] Some liberal groups and commentators, including the
Indivisible movement and
Sally Kohn, called on Franken to resign because of the allegations.
[128] On December 6, more than two dozen Democratic senators called on him to resign.
[129]
On December 7, 2017, Franken announced that he will resign his Senate seat
[130] and also made comparisons to Republican politicians, saying he was "aware of the irony" that President Donald Trump remains in office despite the comments Trump made in the
Access Hollywood tape released a month before his election, and that the Republican Party supports
Roy Moore's
Senate campaign despite the many allegations of harassment and molestation against Moore.
[131]
Committee assignments
-
-
-
Works
The following are works authored by Al Franken.
- Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations (Delacorte Press, 1996) ISBN 0-385-31474-4
- Why Not Me?: The Inside Story of the Making and Unmaking of the Franken Presidency (Delacorte Press, 1999) ISBN 0-385-31809-X
- Oh, the Things I Know!: A Guide to Success, or Failing That, Happiness (Plume Books, 2003) ISBN 0-452-28450-3
- Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right (Dutton Books, 2003) ISBN 0-525-94764-7
- The Truth (With Jokes) (Dutton Books, 2005) ISBN 0-525-94906-2
- Al Franken, Giant of the Senate (Grand Central Publishing, 2017) ISBN 1455540412
Filmography
Electoral history
| 2008 Minnesota U.S. Senate Democratic–Farmer–Labor primary election |
|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| DFL | Al Franken | 164,136 | 65.34% |
| DFL | Priscilla Lord Faris | 74,655 | 29.72% |
| DFL | "Dick" Franson | 3,923 | 1.56% |
| DFL | Bob Larson | 3,152 | 1.25% |
| DFL | Rob Fitzgerald | 3,095 | 1.23% |
| DFL | Ole Savior | 1,227 | 0.49% |
| DFL | Alve Erickson | 1,017 | 0.40% |
2008 Minnesota U.S. Senate election[132][133]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
|---|
| DFL | Al Franken | 1,212,629 | 41.994% |
| Republican | Norm Coleman (incumbent) | 1,212,317 | 41.983% |
| Independence | Dean Barkley | 437,505 | 15.151% |
| Libertarian | Charles Aldrich | 13,923 | 0.482% |
| Constitution | James Niemackl | 8,907 | 0.308% |
| Write-ins | | 2,365 | 0.082% |
| Margin of victory | 312 | 0.011% |
| Total votes | 2,887,646 | 100 |
| 2014 Minnesota U.S. Senate Democratic–Farmer–Labor primary election |
|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| DFL | Al Franken (incumbent) | 182,720 | 94.50% |
| DFL | Sandra Henningsgard | 10,627 | 5.50% |
2014 Minnesota U.S. Senate election[134]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
|---|
| DFL | Al Franken (incumbent) | 1,053,205 | 53.15 |
| Republican | Mike McFadden | 850,227 | 42.91 |
| Independence | Steve Carlson | 47,530 | 2.4 |
| Libertarian | Heather Johnson | 29,685 | 1.5 |
| Write-ins | Others | 881 | 0.04 |
| Margin of victory | 202,978 | 10.24% |
| Total votes | 1,981,528 | 100 |
| DFL hold |
Personal life
Franken met his wife, Franni Bryson, in his first year at Harvard. In 2005, they moved to
Minneapolis,
Minnesota.
[135] Together they have two children. Their daughter, Thomasin,
[4]has degrees from
Harvard and the
French Culinary Institute; she is the director of extended learning at DC Prep, an organization in
Washington, D.C., that manages
charter schools.
[136] Their son, Joseph, works in the finance industry.
[4] Franken is a second cousin of the actor
Steve Franken, known for his appearances in the television series
The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis.
[137] In 2013, Franken received the Stewart B. McKinney Award for his work fighting homelessness.
[138]
See also??
