The short answer: Not much. Minnesota governor Mark Dayton has announced that he will appoint current lieutenant governor Tina Smith to fill Senator Al Franken’s seat, after Franken promised to step down in the wake of several sexual-misconduct allegations against him. Smith will serve a one-year term, after which she will run in a special election to complete the last two years of Franken’s term.
Smith has been lieutenant governor of Minnesota since 2015 and before that served as Dayton’s chief of staff. According to the Mercury News, she managed Walter Mondale’s unsuccessful Senate campaign in Minnesota in 2002 and worked for Minneapolis mayor R. T. Rybak’s office before managing his campaign for governor. Smith also held a marketing position at General Mills, which is based in Minnesota, and founded her own public-relations firm.
She has had little time holding public office herself to give an indication of her political stances on most issues, although it’s reasonable to assume she’s fairly progressive, like Dayton and Franken. Interestingly, Smith served for several years as a vice president of Planned Parenthood’s affiliate covering Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota.
Meanwhile, Franken has not set an official date for his resignation.