Quotes from Tina Smith

I ask myself: What do I need to do to stay healthy? And I do that all the time. And it's stuff like meditation, making sure I get good exercise, all the things we know.

Anybody who knows the voters of Minnesota knows that they can't be told what to do.

I was appointed to the Senate, and it has been my job to serve in the Senate and then to earn the vote of Minnesotans.

I will join the fight for the DREAM Act that will create a pathway to citizenship for our Dreamers.

All I can do is pay attention, listen to what people in Minnesota are saying and do everything I can to bring that voice to Washington.

I'm wary when legislators say the solution to school shootings is mental health care, because it suggests that people who are mentally ill are violent, and that's just not true.

I came to Washington understanding what the Senate is capable of accomplishing and knowing that I'd have myriad opportunities as a senator to get things done.

I had always heard that Mitch McConnell was a master legislator and a true loyalist to this institution. But in the 18 months I've been in the Senate, what I've seen is an astonishingly limited vision for what the Senate can and should accomplish. What a waste.

These efforts to defund Planned Parenthood fail because one out of five American women have used Planned Parenthood at one time or another in their life. It's just a bad idea.

I believe that my work extending health care to women through Planned Parenthood is something that most people will respect and do respect.

Every day, I talk to Democratic and Republican colleagues with lots of ideas about the work we should be doing.

I've always found that if you listen to people you can find common ground.

I went to college and majored in political science.

When women are empowered to contribute more fully, we all benefit.

I want to go places where there are really well-meaning people doing work that is interesting and seems to really matter and where everybody looks like at least once a day they have a really good laugh.

We need to create a fair immigration process that ensures the wellbeing of all families and prevents the wrong people from coming to this country, that includes reforming ICE and immigration enforcement.

We need to prioritize ending the influence of corporate special interests and secret money on politicians by limiting the amount of money they can spend on political campaigns.

When the extreme right-wing... charges forward with a defund Planned Parenthood, anti-Planned Parenthood focused message, what happens is that people rally even more around Planned Parenthood.

You know, sometimes I think people in politics are always looking for the next job and the next opportunity. And frankly, that's just not the way I'm wired.

I have always been surrounded by strong women and thoughtful men.

People are so much more interested in making connections, and finding common ground, and sharing experiences than sometimes their governments are.

Nobody has a cakewalk to become governor.

When I was a kid, I wanted to be a hairdresser.

I don't have a horror story to share like the ones we have heard from so many women in the #MeToo movement... But when you really listen to women, you begin to understand the million little ways in which all women are made less and denied the opportunity to contribute to their communities and their country.