Al Franken

Smith's appointed term will run through January 2019. She will also be running in a special election next year to serve out the remainder of Franken's term, which ends in 2020.

With the resignation of Minnesota's Al Franken, Republicans may have just been handed a possible takeover opportunity in a state President Trump lost by just 40,000 votes.

The Minnesota Democrat said he would be stepping down amid allegations of sexual misconduct and calls for his resignation by his colleagues.

An official who has spoken to the Minnesota senator and key aides tells Minnesota Public Radio that Franken will step down on Thursday. Franken's office says that "no final decision has been made."

The Minnesota Democrat, speaking to reporters on Capitol Hill for the first time since multiple accusations of sexual harassment, said he is sorry but reiterated he would not give up his Senate seat.

A woman told CNN that Democratic Sen. Al Franken inappropriately touched her in 2010 while taking a photo at the Minnesota State Fair.

The Minnesota Democrat put out a statement apologizing for the 2006 incident, in which he is accused of forcibly kissing a woman while on a USO tour and later groping her while she was sleeping.