AP calls it early: Tina Smith defeats Richard Painter in Minnesota primary

[highplainsdem]

From the AP's Kyle Potter:

Link to tweet

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Tina Smith, appointed to replace Sen. Al Franken, easily defeats top Trump critic Richard Painter to win Democratic primary to finish last 2 years of term. #mnsen

[manor321]

1. Good

Keep these damned former Republicans out of our Congress. We have plenty of life long progressive Democrats to vote for.

[SHRED]

3. Agreed!

[Garrett78]

5. Yep. These anti-Trump Republicans are full of shit. Most seem to think the pre-Trump GOP...

...was just fine. The pre-Trump GOP (going all the way back to the days of Nixon) is what created the current monster.

[byronius]

17. Pegged. Still, Painter's helped out. Respect for arcs of any kind.

Plenty of good Democrats started out conservative. For instance, I gave a speech supporting Richard Nixon in seventh grade.

By the time I could vote, though, I voted Democratic. Every time. Never even considered the GOP. Always viewed them as obviously the Worst Possible -- basic history and science fiction can cure a lot of right wing, man.

Proud to be able to say that.

[Kajun Gal]

21. Was he once a republican? Did not know that.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

22. He was Bush II's ethics lawyer.

[dalton99a]

10. +1

[mythology]

39. I'll gladly keep my former Republican Elizabeth Warren

Not that Painter is equivalent, but I wouldn't rule out somebody because they used to be a Republican.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

2. K&R. Very happy about this.

[Crutchez_CuiBono]

4. Al we hardly knew ye,...

and Im so pissed you got run out on a rail.

[EffieBlack]

24. +1000

[UTUSN]

6. K&R, good!

[dhill926]

7. Good...

[RhodeIslandOne]

8. Excellent

[dalton99a]

9. Great job!

[wellst0nev0ter]

11. Reminder of how Franken got shivved

Eight accusers.

Three are confirmed to be lying, two-faced trumpanzees who gladly voted for a known pussygrabber.

Four are horseshit anonymous accusers who lies are only backed by hearsay and who won't give Franken the chance to confront them.

The last is Tina Dupuy, an obvious attention seeker whose weaksauce allegation (which was the final nail in Franken's coffin, btw) basically boils down to this:

[RhodeIslandOne]

14. Don't disagree

At least Tina Smith is a real Democrat.

[wellst0nev0ter]

20. We'll see if she fills his shoes

Or if she'll keep the seat ratfucked by the Roger Stone.

[NoMoreRepugs]

23. Gillibrand seemed to believe n support all of them.

Franken not being in the Senate is a tremendous loss.

[LenaBaby61]

37. Franken not being in the Senate is a tremendous loss.

Without Franken's questioning of beauguard the racist, there's NO recusal of the racist elf, and there's NO Mueller.

Yep, Al was shivved by thuglicans and by some in his OWN party 😪

[mythology]

40. You do realize that Franken literally apologized for how he treated women

Was he in on the conspiracy against himself?

When you are so eager to not believe something that you intentionally misrepresent what the accusations were, you really undercut your argument. Dupuy didn't accuse Franken of touching her shoulder.

[druidity33]

43. He apologized to women who "felt" mistreated. That's different. nt.

[Progressive dog]

44. That is quite humorous

They only "felt" mistreated, so he must apologize. How deep did those feelings go?
Seriously, Franken chose resignation as the best thing for him to do.

[wellst0nev0ter]

46. Because he doesn't get support

from turncoat dems. So he took one for the team.

[Progressive dog]

47. "turncoat dems"

funnier and funnier.

[wellst0nev0ter]

45. Apologies do not equal admissions of guilt

Yes, he apologized for the picture, and for the fact that a group of women felt the need to express how uncomfortable they felt around him.

That's how he is, Franken is a decent man. But people, like you, are too eager to get rid of him.

Read what Dupuy alleged that Franken did, and ask yourself if we should outlaw holding people by the waist when taking photos. Her accusation makes a mockery of victims who went through much worse.

[Haggis for Breakfast]

12. Lest we forget

Richard Painter was one of the good guys.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

15. He can keep doing what he does best, which is tweet and hold forth on cable news shows.

People seem to like that.

[SunSeeker]

26. +1

[MurrayDelph]

29. Yes, but he was one of the good guys

who up until get recently kept calling for "the real Republicans" to rise up and overthrow the wackos.

I don't want any Republican who has given up on the Republicans going back to their imaginary roots and now wants the Democrats to fill that niche .

[2naSalit]

13. Good !

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

16. Good. I like him a lot as a critic of Trump but he never was very convincing

about being a for-real Democrat as to other issues. I hope he endorses Tina Smith and campaigns on her behalf.

[ecstatic]

19. +1. nt

[Cha]

18. YEAH for Tina Smith! Congratulations!!!

[SunSeeker]

25. I like Richard Painter, but I'm glad Tina won. nt

[pecosbob]

27. Painter's criticism of Trump and the current GOP is both useful and appreciated

but the man is nowhere close to being progressive enough to represent a state as blue as Minnesota.

[herding cats]

28. Yay!

I like his anti-Trump Republican voice, but that didn't make him a Democrat in my eyes. I'm so glad the voters there agreed.

[JI7]

30. GOOD , Painter should go back to going on TV or anywhere and just going after Trump

[pnwmom]

31. That's what I hope he does, too. n/t

[Honeycombe8]

32. Good for her. But neither she nor Painter is a replacement for Franken. Still a big loss. nt

[pazzyanne]

33. This Minnesotan is very happy tonight.

Tina won over Richard Painter, Amy Klobuchar easily won her spot on the Dem ticket, Tim Pawlenty lost the repub nomination for governor (yea), Tim Walz for governor (running mate is Peggy Flanagan (a member of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe), and Keith Ellison easily took the spot for Minnesota Attorney General. Of course, Keith will be going through an ethics investigation, but Minnesotans lost Al Franken on questionable accusations and we're not about to do that again without a fight. State wide Democratic candidates are looking good, so the November election is looking a little brighter. I have actually started breathing again!

[jalan48]

34. Great. We don't need recycled Republicans.

[comradebillyboy]

35. Happy to see the Democrat beat the Republican.

Really, fuck Painter.

[Niagara]

36. K&R!!

[Raine]

38. GOOD...

I don't trust Painter, I'm relieved he didn't win.

[mcar]

41. Good!

[MineralMan]

42. That was expected. Painter didn't really campaign much.

Besides, despite his opposition to Trump, he is a Republican, now wearing Democratic clothes. Minnesota DFL voters are too smart to fall for that masquerade.

Tina Smith's GOP opponent is a dimpled, grinning, blonde cheerleader type who spouts empty platitudes as her only campaign rhetoric. She will lose to Tina, who is a solid Democrat who should appeal to the entire spectrum of DFL voters in MN.