Tina Smith

Christine Elizabeth Smith (née Flint, born March 4, 1958) is an American politician, retired Democratic political consultant, and former businesswoman serving as the junior United States senator from Minnesota since 2018.

She is a member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), an affiliate of the Democratic Party.

Smith was born on March 4, 1958, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the daughter of Christine, a teacher, and F. Harlan Flint, a lawyer.

She mostly grew up in Santa Fe, New Mexico, attending Manderfield and Acequia Madre Elementary.

She finished high school in Northern California.

Before going to college, Smith worked on the Trans-Alaskan Pipeline in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska.

She graduated from Stanford University with a degree in political science, and later earned a master's degree in business administration from Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College.

Born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Smith moved to Minnesota in the 1980s to work for General Mills and later became the vice president of Planned Parenthood of Minnesota.

She then began a career as a political consultant and organizer for Democratic candidates.

In 1984, Smith moved to Minnesota for a marketing job at General Mills.

She later started her own marketing firm, where she consulted with businesses and nonprofits.

In the early 1990s, Smith became involved in local politics, volunteering for DFL campaigns in Minneapolis.

Smith managed Ted Mondale's unsuccessful bid for governor of Minnesota in 1998 and Walter Mondale's unsuccessful last-minute campaign in the 2002 United States Senate election in Minnesota after incumbent senator Paul Wellstone died in a plane crash 11 days before the election.

After Walter Mondale lost, Smith served as chief of staff to Mayor of Minneapolis R. T. Rybak.

She managed Ted Mondale's unsuccessful 1998 campaign for governor.

After Minnesota's U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone died in a plane crash weeks before the 2002 election, Smith managed former U.S. Vice President Walter Mondale's campaign for the seat.

After Mondale lost a narrow election to Norm Coleman, Smith began working as the vice president of external affairs at Planned Parenthood of Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota.

In 2006, Smith left her job at Planned Parenthood to serve as chief of staff to Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak.

She then helped run Mark Dayton's successful campaign for Governor of Minnesota in 2010.

After his extremely close victory, Dayton named Smith his chief of staff.

In 2010 she was picked to manage Rybak's gubernatorial campaign, which ended after Margaret Anderson Kelliher won the DFL endorsement.

Smith then joined the campaign of Mark Dayton, who skipped the endorsing convention and eventually won the DFL primary.

After Dayton defeated Republican Tom Emmer in the general election, Smith was named a co-chair of the transition.

When Dayton took office in January 2011, he appointed Smith his chief of staff.

Later, for Dayton's reelection campaign in the 2014 election, Smith was named as Dayton's pick for lieutenant governor.

When Lieutenant Governor Yvonne Prettner Solon announced she would not seek reelection, Dayton selected Smith as his running mate in the 2014 gubernatorial election.

He cited Smith's work on passing legislation for new Minnesota Vikings Stadium, as well as her support for the Destination Medical Center project with the Mayo Clinic in Rochester.

Smith stepped down as Dayton's chief of staff to campaign for lieutenant governor.

After being nominated by acclamation at the DFL state convention, and facing only token opposition in the DFL gubernatorial primary, Dayton and Smith defeated Republicans Jeff Johnson and Bill Kuisle in the general election.

After winning her first election to public office, Smith served as the 48th lieutenant governor of Minnesota from 2015 to 2018.

Smith took office as lieutenant governor on January 5, 2015, and served until she was appointed to represent Minnesota in the U.S. Senate on January 2, 2018.

During her tenure Smith was described by many political observers as having a much higher profile and playing a much more significant role in legislative negotiations than her predecessors.

She spent a significant amount of time traveling the state in support of the priorities of Dayton's administration, including funding for optional preschool for all four-year-olds, transportation infrastructure, and rural broadband internet access.

In 2016 Roll Call named Smith to its "America's Top 25 Most Influential Women in State Politics" list, citing her high-profile role in the Dayton administration.

She also served as chair of the Destination Medical Center board until her resignation in December 2017.

Despite widespread speculation to the contrary, Smith announced in March 2017 that she would not run for governor in the 2018 election.

On December 13, 2017, Governor Dayton announced Smith as his pick to fill the United States Senate seat held by Al Franken, who had announced he would resign amid allegations of sexual misconduct.

Dayton appointed her to fill the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Al Franken's resignation in 2018.

She won the 2018 special election and was elected to a full term in 2020.

Democrats in the state immediately united around Smith as the party's candidate in the November 2018 special election to fill Franken's term.