Jewish comedian Franken wins Minnesota Senate seat

Minnesota Supreme Court rules Franken, a Jewish Democrat, "received the highest number of votes legally cast."

By ERIC FINGERHUT / JTA
With its decision in favor of comedian Al Franken, the Minnesota Supreme Court has given the US Senate its first veteran of "Saturday Night Live" - and left the chamber with no Jewish Republican members. In a unanimous, unsigned decision - after eight months of recounts and legal challenges - the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that Franken, a Jewish Democrat, "received the highest number of votes legally cast" and is entitled "to receive the certificate of election as United States senator from the state of Minnesota," according to media reports. His Republican opponent, the incumbent Norm Coleman, then ended his legal battle, officially conceding the race. Coleman, who also is Jewish, said further litigation "would damage the unity of our state." With Coleman's defeat and the decision by Pennsylvania's Arlen Specter to join the Democratic caucus, the Senate now has no Jewish Republican members. The House of Representatives has one Jewish Republican, Minority Whip Eric Cantor of Virginia. During the court battle over the Minnesota vote, Coleman has been serving as a paid consultant to the Republican Jewish Coalition, an organization for which he often stumped during his years in the Senate. A former Democratic mayor of St. Paul who switched parties after two years in City Hall, Coleman served as a Republican poster child for efforts to recruit Jews to the GOP. Matt Brooks, the RJC's executive director, said his organization has an "open-ended agreement" with Coleman and "we're going to continue together for the foreseeable future," with Coleman serving either "as an ongoing consultant or as a leader involved in a volunteer capacity." "He has been extremely helpful to us and will continue to be going forward," Brooks said. "Americans, and certainly those in the Jewish community, have lost a great friend and a great leader by not having Norm Coleman in the US Senate." Brooks added that "we haven't seen the end of Norm Coleman on the public stage." Ira Forman, the National Jewish Democratic Council's executive director, called Tuesday "the end of an era" because for the first time in decades there is no Jewish Republican in the Senate. He said that's partly a reflection of the poor "state of the national GOP." Coleman's decision to concede immediately was "wise" if he wants to run for future office in the state, Forman said, because polls showed "he was a dead man" in Minnesota if he had continued to fight in court. The Jewish Democratic group, which had Franken as a featured speaker at its national conference last September, is "really excited" to have the Democrat in Washington, Forman said. Israel was not an issue in the Franken-Coleman campaign, but both candidates appeared at a pro-Israel rally at a Minneapolis Jewish community center in January during the Gaza operation. Franken said then that the U.S. relationship with Israel is a "pillar of our foreign policy" and that he would continue to uphold that commitment "as a United States senator." "Let us stand together to send a clear message to the Israeli people," he said. "In this complex and dangerous world, you do not stand alone." Franken's victory gives Democrats a 60-vote, filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. Franken, a former writer and performer on "Saturday Night Live," is expected to be sworn in next week. He brings to 13 the number of Jewish Democrats in the Senate. Franken said Tuesday that he was not going to Washington as the "60th Democratic senator" but as the "second senator from the state of Minnesota." He emphasized health care, education, renewable energy and renewing America's "standing in the world" as issues he was looking forward to working on after he takes his seat. Franken was ahead by 312 votes after a statewide recount, but Coleman had sued, arguing that the recount applied differing standards to ballots depending on the county.