Franken's rising star obscured by accusations
WASHINGTON — “Many of you have jobs, many of you have families,” Sen. Al Franken told Democratic leaders gathered on the eve of a hotly contested governor’s election in Virginia. After an expectant pause, he leaned into the microphone and added, “Ignore them.”
Frank en was jokingly beseeching activists to get out the vote the following day, in what ended up as a surprisingly decisive victory for Democratic candidate Ralph Northam. But the moment, barely two weeks ago, also underscored how high the onetime “Saturday Night Live” comic had risen in his party’s fifirmament.
After spending much of his nearly nine years as senator trying to shed his funny man image and quietly digging into issues like internet access and consumer protection, he was now a draw at politic al events and mentioned by some as a 2020 presidential possibility. Months of savaging some of President Donald Trump’s appointees had turned the Harvard-educated Franken into a weapon of choice for Democrats eager to attack the administration and energize party voters.
Now Franken’s rising trajectory has been interrupted by allegations he had physical contact with four women without their permission. He faces a Senate ethics investigation for improper conduct and hasn’t been seen publicly since the fifirst claims of misbehavior last week. His future is suddenly unclear.
Mike Lux, a liberal Democratic consultant, said it was premature to say how the allegations would affffffffffffect Franken’s career. But, he added, “If more incidents come to light, he’s got a real problem.”
Franken’s aides have said he’s “spending time with his family and doing a lot of reflflecting.”
Frank en came to the Senate after a monthslong recount gave him a 312-vote victory in his 2008 election. He immediately distanced himself from his decades of professional comedy, and avoided national reporters.
Instead, he focused on building a reputation as a studious senator. As a signature issue, he adopted the push to protect “net neutrality,” an Obama administration policy barring internet providers from blocking or hindering websites. The Trump administration’s Federal Communications Commission said Tuesday it will dismantle the rule.
Frank en helped shape parts of former President Barack Obama’s health care law and tackled farm and mental health issues. He easily secured a second six-year term in 2014, defeating a Republican businessman.
But it was Trump’s emergence that teased out a new Franken and had him pivot to liberal attack dog.
In withering interrogations in the Senate, Franken has clashed with a parade of Trump Cabinet appointees.
“He made those guys sweat,” former Senate Democratic aide Jim Manley said. “He’s got the ability to channel some of the populist rage against the administration.”
Frank en clashed last month with Jeff Sessions over the attorney general’s evolving descriptions of his contacts with Russian offifficials during last year’s presidential campaign. Sessions, a Trump campaign offifficial, told Congress in January he’d not communicated with the Russians. He later said he didn’t recall such contact. Then last month, he told the Senate Judiciary Committee he’d had no “improper discussions” with them.
“To me, that is moving the goal posts every time,” Franken, a committee member, told Sessions.