Senate swears in Franken successor

Former Minnesota Lt. Gov. Tina Smith (D) was sworn in on Wednesday to fill the Senate seat vacated by former Sen. Al Franken (D).

Vice President Pence administered the oath to Smith from the Senate floor, with former Vice President Walter Mondale, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Senate Democratic leadership looking on from the chamber.

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Pence and Smith took part in a mock swearing-in from the old Senate chamber.

The Senate also swore in Sen. Doug Jones (D-Ala.), who won last month’s special election to fill Attorney General Jeff Sessions’s old seat.

“I’d like to extend a particular welcome to our two new senators who were just sworn in,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said later from the Senate floor.

Smith was appointed to the Minnesota seat last month after Franken said he would resign following several allegations of sexual harassment and groping.

Franken announced during a defiant Dec. 7 floor speech that he would step down after pressure grew for him to resign over the accusations. He formally submitted his letter to Democratic Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton on Tuesday.

“I am grateful to Minnesotans for giving me the chance to serve our state and our nation, and I am proud to have worked on their behalf,” Franken wrote in the resignation letter.

Franken’s resignation sparks a special election set for 2018 for the final two years of his Senate term.

Smith, who some observers had speculated would be a caretaker, had said she plans to run in the 2018 election.

A second election will take place in 2020 for a full six-year term.

Dayton announced that he was selecting Smith last month, marking the first time Minnesota has been represented by two female senators.

Smith, who served as Minnesota’s lieutenant governor for roughly three years, brings the total number of female senators in the Senate up to 22 — a record for the upper chamber.

Four states — Minnesota, California, New Hampshire and Washington — now have two female senators.