Sen. Al Franken pass on resign Jan. 2 and be succeeded by Minnesota Lt. Gov. Tina Smith a day later, NBC Dirt reported Wednesday.
Earlier this month, the Minnesota Democrat circulated he would step down amid sexual misconduct accusations, but had not set a fixed time to leave the Senate. Most of the Senate Democratic caucus onward Franken to resign, but at least two of his party’s senators — Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Patrick Leahy of Vermont — demanded recently that Franken got pushed out too quickly, according to Politico.
Days after Franken thought he planned to step down, Minnesota Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton determined Smith as his successor.
Franken faced a Senate Ethics Committee inquiry into multiple accusations of sexual misconduct and said he could no larger be “an effective senator” while it was ongoing. At the time, the senator said that “some of the assertions” against him “are simply not true,” while he remembers others “very differently.”
Democrats desired Franken to resign amid a heated special election for a Senate capacity for from Alabama. The Republican candidate, Roy Moore, was accused of pursuing relationships with teenage females when he was in his 30s decades ago.
Moore, who denied the allegations, eventually lost the contest to Democratic Sen.-elect Doug Jones.