PERSON: Tina Smith

Senator

Christine Elizabeth Smith (née Flint, born March 4, 1958) is an American politician, retired Democratic political consultant, and former businesswoman serving as the junior United States senator from Minnesota since 2018. She is a member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), an affiliate of the Democratic Party.

Born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Smith moved to Minnesota in the 1980s to work for General Mills and later became the vice president of Planned Parenthood of Minnesota. She then began a career as a political consultant and organizer for local Democratic candidates. Smith managed Walter Mondale’s unsuccessful last-minute campaign in the 2002 United States Senate election in Minnesota after incumbent Senator Paul Wellstone died in a plane crash 11 days before the election.

After Mondale lost, Smith served as chief of staff to Mayor of Minneapolis R. T. Rybak. She then helped run Mark Dayton’s successful campaign for Governor of Minnesota in 2010. After his victory, Dayton named Smith his chief of staff. Later, for Dayton’s reelection campaign in the 2014 election, Smith was named as Dayton’s pick for lieutenant governor. After winning her first election to public office, Smith served from 2015 to 2018 as Minnesota’s 48th lieutenant governor. Dayton then appointed her to fill the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Al Franken’s resignation in 2018. She won the 2018 special election and was elected to a full term in 2020.

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