Al Franken’s return to national politics appears increasingly imminent.
USA Today’s decision to give the former senator a 900-word platform in its op-ed section to rage against Judge Brett Kavanaugh this week is another indication of that. “Brett Kavanaugh is a partisan who was nominated, and will likely be confirmed, in order to help achieve the Republican Party’s goals: destroying protections for people with pre-existing health conditions, eradicating what’s left of workers’ rights and, yes, overturning Roe v. Wade,” Franken wrote on Friday, slamming Senate Republicans for “destroy[ing] the independence of our judicial system and turn[ing] it into yet another partisan battlefield.”
Speaking of partisan battlefields, it’s been less than a year since Franken resigned amid sexual misconduct allegations in December — which sympathizers of the former senator still insists never should have happened.
Writing for Vox in May, Laura McGann took an excellent dive into the Democratic Party’s divide over Franken. “On a meta level, liberals have embraced #MeToo as an extension of their own commitment to women’s equality,” she wrote. “But practically, when the accused is one of their own, many liberals feel turning on him unfairly holds Democrats to a higher standard than Republicans. Democrats will need to resolve this dilemma to move forward on Franken and cases like his.”
After a photo emerged of Franken jokingly placing his hands over a sleeping woman’s breasts for a photo op late last year, several other woman came forward to accuse him of inappropriately touching their behinds or forcibly kissing them. Some Democrats still hold a grudge against Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., for initiating the pressure campaign that ultimately forced Franken to resign. The complaint is that it was a politically-motivated effort for Gillibrand to boost her profile and make Democrats look consistent amid their attacks on Roy Moore (and President Trump), all at the expense of a good progressive senator.
Franken’s defenders surfaced again in July after he declined to rule out another run for office. My colleague Becket Adams has charted progressives’ efforts to “whitewash” the Franken allegations. David Axelrod, for instance, once referred to his exit from the upper chamber as “collateral damage” of #MeToo.
As Franken tests the waters of re-entry into national politics — evidenced by his comments in July and participation in the Kavanaugh debate — he’s had his defenders. For good or bad, USA Today’s willingness to publish his thoughts on Kavanaugh is telling in and of itself. Judging by Franken’s bitter, self-victimizing resignation speech, his inability to rule out another run, and his insistence on staying involved in the conversation, he likely has a strong interest in making a return. That may not be as difficult as it once seemed.
