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U.S. Sen. Tina Smith (D) shook up the state’s political landscape next week, announcing she won’t seek re-election when her seat is up in 2026.
Smith, 66, said she wanted to spend more time with family and will end a career in public service that also included a stint as the state’s lieutenant governor under former Gov. Mark Dayton.
Dayton appointed Smith to the Senate in 2018, following the resignation of former U.S. Sen. Al Franken, and she won both a special election later that year, and then a six-year term with a 2020 victory over Republican Jason Lewis.
But with 2026 and another election approaching, Smith said is opting out of politics.
“IhavelovedmyjobasUnited States Senator, and also, after 20 years of hard and rewarding work in the public sector, I’m ready to spend more time with my family,” Smith said in a video announcing her decision. “This decision is not political, it is entirely personal, but it’s not lost on me that our country is in need of strong progressive leadership right now, maybe more than ever.”
Smith said she would put her all into the final two years of the term and expressed confidence that a fellow Democrat from a “deep bench of political talent” in Minnesota would take her place after the next election.
And though election day is still more than a year-anda- half away, the jockeying for Smith’s seat has already begun.
Within an hour of Smith’s announcement, current Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan announced she would run for the Senate seat.
Gov. Tim Walz is also reportedly considering a bid, along with U.S. Rep. Angie Craig and Secretary of State Steve Simon.
Smith won re-election by about five percentage points in 2000, while the Democratic presidential ticket of former Vice President Kamala Harris and Walz carried the state by less than three percent.
That has boosted hopes on the Republican side, although no Republican has won a statewide race since Gov. Tim Pawlenty in 2006.
Among the Republicans touted as potential candidates include former television sports personality Michelle Tafoya.
As the dust settles over the next several months, both the Democrats and Republicans are expected to have contested races for the Senate seat.
Smith had taken several trips to Ely during her tenure, including last September when she toured Happy Days Learning Center, as part of an hour-long visit to the renovated building in Ely’s business park, which was repurposed and subsequently reopened in August.
Now owned by the Ely Area CommunityFoundation,theformer Minnesota Department of Revenue building has now been remodeled to serve several tenants, including the childcare operation.
Smith was instrumental in helping to land a federal appropriation of $1.2 million to remodel the building, as it transformed from a space with dozens of office cubicles to one that now houses a workout center, offices, gathering space and Happy Days, which has room for up to 46 children.
The grant was one of many topics Smith addressed with Happy Days officials and representatives of the EACF during the stop.
