Minnesota U.S. Senator Al Franken won a resounding re-election victory Tuesday, defeating his Republican challenger, businessman Mike McFadden.
“I am so honored and so humbled and so grateful to the people of Minnesota, ” Franken told a chanting, cheering crowd at a downtown Minneapolis election party, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported. “Thank you for taking a chance on me six years ago. And thank you for giving me the chance to keep working for you in Washington.”
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Franken’s easy victory was quite different from his 2008 312-vote win against former GOP Senator Norm Coleman, following an eight-month recount and a margin of just.
Minnesota Democratic party Chairman Ken Martin called Franken’s win “a really sweet victory, to be able to go to bed tonight and not have to wake up to a recount, knowing that he’s going to be a U.S. senator again.”
Franken’s win came against a background of Republican victories across the country Tuesday night, giving the GOP clinched control of the U.S. Senate.
“It’s going to be different, ” Franken said, acknowledging he is now part of the Senate minority. “But I’ve also received a couple of calls from Republican colleagues saying let’s work together.”
Franken said he hopes that the change in Senate control will not mean more gridlock in Washington, according to the Star Tribune.
“I hope that we can get things done, ” Franken said. “There are lots of things that we have to work on that really shouldn’t be partisan.”
