Amy Klobuchar’s Senate seat: Who comes next?

Waking up with Fox 9 Morning News. Welcome back. What a week in politics. And while the so-called blue tidal wave definitely included Minnesota, there are still some very close races that are undecided that we are following closely. Joining us now is Fox 9 political analyst Boyce Olson, who's been very busy and joined us quite a bit this week. Good morning, Boyce. Good morning, Leah. Let's start with Governor-elect Amy Klobuchar. I'm getting used to saying that instead of, you know, she's still Senator Klobuchar. But there's some delicate options surrounding the timing and the decisions that need to be made for her Senate seat. She's indicated she'll choose an interim successor. But walk us through this process, what to expect, and who you think is on the short list. One of the things we have to know, especially now that she's governor-elect, is that Amy Klobuchar has a plan for a plan for a plan. So she's going to have a plan on the timing of this and how it goes. And so I think we should look for this to happen towards the end of the year. I think it'll be timed that she will resign her Senate seat, be sworn in as governor, and name her successor. I don't think that there's another way in which to do it unless she resigns maybe a day early and then gives it to Governor Walz. The two names... Still are at the top of the list are Secretary of State Steve Simon, who would not require a special election because she would appoint his successor, and 3rd District Congresswoman Kelly Morrison. That would require another special election, which might just be a lot more work for Democrats than she wants to put in. Okay, we'll be watching that toward the end of the year. What about in Congressional District 1? Jake Johnson collected just a little over 320 votes more than incumbent Brad Finstad. What do you expect here? How long do you expect this process to take? I think it'll be an orderly recount. I think once the votes are certified, they'll look at them. The lawyers will start to look at process, ballots, ballot rolls, make sure that there's no big differences. Congressman Finstad's not the kind of person who's going to Claim that this election was stolen or anything like that. But when an election's that close and that much is at stake and it's under 0.25%, you let the process go forward. Overall, I mean, this brings up the question, too. I mean, while Democrats this week with these results locally, nationally, Democrats are doing cartwheels in the streets in a lot of ways. The blue wave hitting so many places. How do Republicans move forward, regroup? What happens in the short term and the long term here? You know, I think at the local level, they're really going to try to figure that out. They elected Jordan Rasmussen as their new leader in the Senate. Harry Niska, who had been the Republican leader behind Speaker Lisa Demuth in the House. And they're going to do it, one seat at a time, two seats at a time, one issue at a time. I think the tone and tenor is going to be interesting. The other big thing to think about as they organize is, how are Democrats going to organize? When you see a big wave like this... It's sometimes harder than when there's tight majorities in a legislature or Congress. For instance, in Congress, Hakeem Jeffries, if he would add a tight... Majority, it would have been maybe easier because everybody would have been unified. Now he's gonna have more factions within his caucus, etc. But I ultimately think Republicans need to find some populist issues before the presidential race. And both parties have the opportunity to find the future of their party with who they nominate for president just in two years. Yeah, I mean, to that point, it's only two years away, which may sound like a lot of time, but really, in the political world, it's not, right? It's not. And these are historic margins by which Democrats won. We haven't seen these numbers since the Watergate era. And we know that after that, there was a more of a stable system, a stable tone to our politics. And I think that's what most Americans are looking for. OK, real quick before we let you go. Spring Lake Park, the mayor's race is tied and tomorrow they are going to pull a name essentially out of a hat. This is wild. It is wild, but that's the way the law works in Minnesota. Now, somebody could call for a recount there as well, but when it's a city council race, the stakes aren't as high. Heads or tails, Leah, pick your side of your coin. There you are. Yep, 1,401 votes, and they both have indicated that they'll call for a recount, depending on. But our cameras will be there, seeing whose name comes pulled out of that hat, so to speak. All right, boys, I'll send a thank you for all your time and everything and continued expertise this week. We appreciate it. Get some rest, because you've been talking with us a lot. We got some good sleep this weekend. Good. All right, thanks, boys.