General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Al Franken Is Being Urged To Reverse His Resignation And Go Through With Ethics Investigation [View all]Lee-Lee
(6,324 posts)The scandal would have made him vulnerable to attacks on the issue come time for re-election. He may hve weathered that storm and won, but it would have done him no favors.
Now is you have the scandal, plus him resigning and then deciding to not resign after all, that doubles down on how this hurts him. It would be used to dogg him every step, anything he said Are you sure Senator Franken, or are you telling the people one thing and then changing your mind again?.
If he was going to stay, and I think he should have, he should have stayed and dealt with the accusations head on and directly. Now that hes announced his resignation he has damaged his brand enough that changing his mind would be political suicide come re-Election time.
And him resigning now and allowing a candidate who intends to run for the seat as an incumbent be appointed puts Democrats in a much stronger position to retain the seat than him finishing the term and not running again.