Anybody who knows the voters of Minnesota knows that they can't be told what to do.
— Tina Smith
Senator Franken was a strong voice for Minnesota and I'm also a strong voice for Minnesota.
When women are empowered to contribute more fully, we all benefit.
With mental health, it's not like there's a box where you're healthy and another box where you've got a mental illness. You try to stay at the healthy end of the continuum, and watch as you move, and I've been able to do that.
In politics and life, timing is everything.
I think there are some people in Washington who are pretty out of step with what people want, certainly what Minnesotans want.
I don't shy away from standing up against the president or other people who I think are taking us in the wrong direction.
People are so much more interested in making connections, and finding common ground, and sharing experiences than sometimes their governments are.
When the extreme right-wing... charges forward with a defund Planned Parenthood, anti-Planned Parenthood focused message, what happens is that people rally even more around Planned Parenthood.
Being lieutenant governor is sort of like being invited into everyone's living room, and you just get an understanding of the state.
I had always heard that Mitch McConnell was a master legislator and a true loyalist to this institution. But in the 18 months I've been in the Senate, what I've seen is an astonishingly limited vision for what the Senate can and should accomplish. What a waste.
Our democracy depends on a free and independent press. When politicians call reporting they don't like 'fake news,' they undermine trust in our civic organizations for their own political gain.
We need to prioritize ending the influence of corporate special interests and secret money on politicians by limiting the amount of money they can spend on political campaigns.
I think that women are often underestimated - our suggestions, our advice, our leadership style. I think one of the reasons that that happens is women are much less likely to blow their own horn and brag about everything that they've done.
When I was a kid, I wanted to be a hairdresser.
The chance to talk to so many people and understand what they're thinking about and why it matters is really, really so interesting. When you're doing that, you have to truly listen to what people are saying. You can't just pretend to listen.
Coming to serve in the Senate and also running for the Senate in a short time period is not for the faint of heart. But I am not fainthearted.
It's so important that we figure out a way of moving beyond the stigma that still exists around treatment for mental health.
I don't have a horror story to share like the ones we have heard from so many women in the #MeToo movement... But when you really listen to women, you begin to understand the million little ways in which all women are made less and denied the opportunity to contribute to their communities and their country.
Do not underestimate me. I believe that as a woman, a progressive, and a Minnesotan, I have a lot to contribute and I am so ready to do that work.
I'm wary when legislators say the solution to school shootings is mental health care, because it suggests that people who are mentally ill are violent, and that's just not true.
I will join the fight for the DREAM Act that will create a pathway to citizenship for our Dreamers.
You know, sometimes I think people in politics are always looking for the next job and the next opportunity. And frankly, that's just not the way I'm wired.
People have lots of different feelings about what happened when Sen. Franken made the really hard decision to resign. I have come to respect people have lots of different feelings, sometimes very strong feelings, and they're not all the same.
Nobody has a cakewalk to become governor.
I believe that my work extending health care to women through Planned Parenthood is something that most people will respect and do respect.
The way elections are won in Minnesota is by talking to people and sharing what's on their minds. It sounds so simple, but it really is the thing that works.
I came to Washington understanding what the Senate is capable of accomplishing and knowing that I'd have myriad opportunities as a senator to get things done.
We need to create a fair immigration process that ensures the wellbeing of all families and prevents the wrong people from coming to this country, that includes reforming ICE and immigration enforcement.
I want to go places where there are really well-meaning people doing work that is interesting and seems to really matter and where everybody looks like at least once a day they have a really good laugh.
The Senate has a reputation as quite a collegial place, and I have found that to be true, especially with the women.
What I intend to do is be just a really fierce advocate for Minnesotans here in Washington, D.C.
These efforts to defund Planned Parenthood fail because one out of five American women have used Planned Parenthood at one time or another in their life. It's just a bad idea.
I will be my own kind of senator using my own best judgment and my own experience.
I've learned in my life that I have to focus on the things that I can control and what I can control is what comes out of my mouth and how I respond to people.
I have always been surrounded by strong women and thoughtful men.
I ask myself: What do I need to do to stay healthy? And I do that all the time. And it's stuff like meditation, making sure I get good exercise, all the things we know.
I want people to know: At every point in my life that I needed help, it was right there.
All I can do is pay attention, listen to what people in Minnesota are saying and do everything I can to bring that voice to Washington.
I was appointed to the Senate, and it has been my job to serve in the Senate and then to earn the vote of Minnesotans.
Cuba is in some ways a perfect trading partner for Minnesota because there's so little overlap between what they are good at and they produce and what Minnesota is good at and what we produce. So it's a natural trading relationship, especially because they're so close.
Take what women say seriously. That hasn't always happened in this country.
In many parts of Minnesota outside of the big metro areas, and the college towns, and the regional centers like Duluth or Rochester, the state has a lot of people who work incredibly hard. I think that what happened is that Trump was able to connect with that sense of real concern.
Every day, I talk to Democratic and Republican colleagues with lots of ideas about the work we should be doing.
I'll never have the seniority of lions of the Senate who've been in office for decades. What I do have is a lifetime of experience as a parent and activist, small business owner, and lieutenant governor of Minnesota.
I support the 2nd Amendment - and our sportsmen and sportswomen throughout Minnesota - and I also believe that we need to pass common sense reforms that keep guns out of the hands of criminals and dangerous people.
I've always found that if you listen to people you can find common ground.
I went to college and majored in political science.
High speed Internet access isn't a nice thing to have, it's a necessary thing to have.
As chief of staff, I was responsible for running a multibillion-dollar organization with over 34,000 employees, and working on everything from health care to transportation.
