Tina Smith ... is the junior Senator from Minnesota. Tina Smith was born on March 4, 1958 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and grew up in Santa Fe. In 1980, she graduated from Stanford University and in 1984, earned an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College.

Tina then moved to Minnesota to work at General Mills and raise a family with her husband, Archie. They've been married for more than 30 years and have two sons, Sam and Mason.

Tina left General Mills to start her own small business. Since then, she has dedicated her career to working on behalf of Minnesotans to improve lives and ensure that the state government works better for the people it serves. She's served as Chief of Staff to both Minneapolis Mayor RT Rybak and Governor Mark Dayton.

In 2014, Tina Smith was elected to serve as Minnesota’s 48th Lieutenant Governor.^[1]

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. 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 RT Rybak. 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.

Netroots Nation 2021/Packing the Court

REBALANCING THE SUPREME COURT: WHY PROGRESSIVES MUST TAKE BACK THE [STOLEN] COURT TO SAVE OUR DEMOCRACY Plenary; Fri, 10/08/2021 - 05:00pm (Eastern)

When Republicans stole two Supreme Court seats in an unprecedented power grab, progressives knew our most basic rights were at risk—and that expanding the Supreme Court was the necessary solution. In less than a year since the GOP seized a supermajority on the high court, our fears have come true: The right-wing court has gutted the Voting Rights Act and allowed Texas to ban abortion and place a bounty on the heads of doctors and others who help women exercise their rights.

The Republican Party has controlled the Supreme Court for more than 50 years, despite losing the popular vote in 7 of the last 8 presidential elections. And it uses the Court to govern via minority rule, rigging elections to help them win despite popular opposition, and legislating from the bench when they lose. It’s no surprise that new polling shows job approval for the Supreme Court at an all-time low, with a majority of Americans disapproving of the Supreme Court.

The need for reform is undeniable — and progressives are meeting the moment. Earlier this year, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, Courts Subcommittee Chairman Hank Johnson, Rep. Mondaire Jones, and Sen. Ed Markey introduced the Judiciary Act of 2021 to rebalance the court by adding four seats. The bill now has dozens of cosponsors and the Senate bill is supported by progressive champion Sen. Tina Smith of Minnesota, and more than 80 organizations have announced their support for court expansion.

Co-hosted by Take Back The Court Executive Director Sarah Lipton-Lubet and Rep. Mondaire Jones, this keynote panel featuring Sen. Tina Smith will discuss the urgent need to rebalance the stolen Supreme Court in order to protect democracy and preserve the essential rights of all Americans. You’ll also hear from Rep. Barbara Lee, who will speak about this critical intersection between protecting our democracy and passing progressive policy, with a special welcome from Netroots Nation Board Member Arshad Hasan.

Led by: Arshad Hasan

Panelists: Mondaire Jones, Rep. Barbara Lee, Sarah Lipton-Lubet, Sen. Tina Smith

PRO ACT

Advocates of organized labor held rallies outside the offices of U.S. senators in Fargo and Moorhead Wednesday, July 21, 2021 calling for passage of the PRO Act, proposed legislation backers say would create sweeping changes to federal labor laws and reduce barriers to organizing unions.

Labor leaders and activists made a tour Wednesday of downtown Fargo and Moorhead, holding rallies at each of the four U.S. senate offices in the metro area.

Backers of proposed federal legislation that would remove barriers to union organization hold a rally in Moorhead Wednesday morning, July 21, thanking U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar for her support of what is known as the PRO Act.

Labor advocates call for passage of bill aimed at strengthening right to unionize

Events outside the Fargo offices of Sens. Kevin Cramer and John Hoeven, both Republicans, took the form of a call to action on the PRO Act, as neither has indicated support for the bill.

Gatherings outside the Moorhead offices of Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith, both Democrats, were essentially thank-you events that acknowledged support the senators have shown for the legislation, which Mark Froemke, president of the Western Minnesota Area Labor Council, described as good for all working people, "union or not."

At one event Wednesday, Froemke read from a statement provided by Smith, a co-sponsor of the Protecting the Right to Organize Act.

Smith's statement said in part that the legislation would "inject some badly needed reform into our labor laws in order to strengthen the right to join a union and collectively bargain for improvements in the work place."

Froemke also read from a statement provided by Klobuchar, who described the PRO Act as "the bold action we need to protect and strengthen workers' rights to organize so they can achieve the economic and workplace security they've earned."

Brad Lehto, secretary-treasurer of the Minnesota AFL-CIO, said the PRO Act would stop anti-union actions by employers because it would ensure "real consequences" for employers who violate labor laws.^[2]

Council for a Livable World

In 2018 and 2020 Tina Smith was endorsed by Council for a Livable World.^[3]

The Council for a Livable World endorsed Tina Smith in her 2020 bid for the US senate from Minnesota.

Last year, Senator Tina Smith won a special election to the U.S. Senate after being appointed in January 2018. She had less than 10 months to set up her office, prepare for a new set of issues, and win in November 2018.

Since getting to the Senate, Smith has co-sponsored important legislation, including a bill to prevent the President from launching a nuclear first strike without a declaration of war by Congress. She has also vigorously criticized the President’s decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear agreement.

She won the 2018 special election against state senator Karin Housley 53%-42%. Now she is running for her first full term, and Republicans think that they can give her a tough fight.

Hillary Clinton carried the state by only one and a half percent in 2016, and Minnesota could again become a battleground in the 2020 presidential election.

We need to keep her in the Senate, and she needs our support.

Muslim Left connections

MAS meeting

MAS MN - Muslim American Society of Minnesota April 2, 2019 · Meeting with Senator Tina Smith. We discussed the importance of extending the DED status of Liberians, the need to protect the Uighur Muslims of China and the bank de-risking that is negatively impacting Muslim non profits and Somali money transfer organizations.

Opposing Haspel

Yasmine Taeb May 9, 2018:

Today, the Center for Victims of Torture was proud to co-lead w/ U.S. Senator Tina Smith and Congresswoman Barbara Lee a press briefing opposing Gina Haspel for CIA Director. Thank you also to Rep. Jan Schakowsky, Congressman Hank Johnson and all our partners for joining us.

Nihad Awad was also there.

#StopPompeo

NIAC April 12, 2018 · NIAC Action is proud to stand alongside U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, Senator Brian Schatz , U.S. Senator Tina Smith, Rep. Ro Khanna​, and Congresswoman Barbara Lee​ to demand that the U.S. Senate block the confirmation of Mike Pompeo. #StopPompeo

Thank you to MoveOn.org and all the other amazing organizations and grassroots activists for this event! We're lucky to have allies like Indivisible Guide​, J Street, Center for Victims of Torture, Win Without War​, Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights​, CAIR​, and many, many more!!!

Yasmine Taeb also spoke.

Support for the Council on American Islamic Relations

Tina Smith wrote a letter of support to the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) on the occasion of their 24th anniversary in September 2018.^[4]

Muslim Leaders Meet Dayton and Smith

CAIR-MN, Minnesota Muslim Leaders Meet Governor Dayton and Lt. Governor Smith.

July 2016 Executive Director of the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MN) will join other Muslim community leaders at a meeting with Governor Mark Dayton and Lt. Governor Tina Smith.

The meeting will focus on concerns facing the Minnesota Muslim Community as well as providing an opportunity for Muslim leaders to thank the Governor and Lt. Governor for their leadership on critical issues of interest to that state's Muslims.

Honoring Wellstone

It has been 17 years since we lost Paul Wellstone. As I visit a great Minnesota school today, and keep up the fight to make sure no Minnesota student goes hungry, I’m thinking of Paul Wellstone and his fight to remind us that we all do better when we all do better.

Honoring Wellstone/Domenici Act

October 9, 2018 WASHINGTON- U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith (both D-MN) introduced a resolution recognizing the tenth anniversary of the enactment of the Paul Wellstone and Peter Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA). The MHPAEA ensures that health insurance companies don’t impose less favorable limitations on mental health or substance abuse use disorder benefits than on medical or surgical benefits, and in so doing greatly expanded Americans’ access to treatment for mental illness.

“Paul Wellstone was a crusader, an inspiration and a friend. He was a passionate champion for those suffering from mental illness, always fighting for better care, better services and better representation for patients. In 2008, the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act was enacted and named in his honor, finally bringing mental health parity to health insurance coverage,” Klobuchar said. “With this resolution, we honor Paul’s legacy and this landmark legislation that has changed the lives of millions of Americans living with mental illness who faced unfair discrimination in their access to affordable health care treatment.”

“Throughout his life, Paul Wellstone always stood up for people who were powerless and often forgotten,” Smith said. “His groundbreaking efforts to make life better for those with mental health issues are a major part of his legacy, and his bipartisan work on mental health parity has helped millions of people in Minnesota and across the country get the help they need and deserve. I’m proud to hold his seat, and I’m proud to honor his work with this resolution.”^[5]

References

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