Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

Court Rules in Favor of Franken; Coleman Concedes

Al Franken has won the Minnesota Senate race after eight months of recounts and legal challenges.

In a unanimous, unsigned decision, the Minnesota Supreme Court on Tuessday ruled that Jewish Democrat Franken “received the highest number of votes legally cast” and is entitled “to receive the certificate of election as United States senator from the state of Minnesota,” according to media reports. His Republican opponent, Norm Coleman, then ended his legal battle, officially conceding the race. He said further litigation “would damage the unity of our state.”

With Coleman’s defeat and the decision by Pennsylvania’s Arlen Specter to join the Democratic caucus, the Senate now has no Jewish Republican members. The House of Representatives has one Jewish Republican: Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.).

During the court battle over the Minnesota vote, Coleman has been serving as a paid consultant to the Republican Jewish Coalition, an organization that he often stumped for during his years in the Senate.

Franken was ahead by 312 votes after a statewide recount, but Coleman had sued, arguing that the recount applied differing standards to ballots depending on the county.

The Franken victory gives Democrats a 60-vote filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. Franken, a former writer and performer on “Saturday Night Live,” is exepcted to be sworn in next week.

President Obama welcomed the news.

“I look forward to working with Senator-Elect Franken to build a new foundation for growth and prosperity by lowering health care costs and investing in the kind of clean energy jobs and industries that will help America lead in the 21st century,” said the president.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.