Quotes from Tina Smith

Coming to serve in the Senate and also running for the Senate in a short time period is not for the faint of heart. But I am not fainthearted.

In politics and life, timing is everything.

I support the 2nd Amendment - and our sportsmen and sportswomen throughout Minnesota - and I also believe that we need to pass common sense reforms that keep guns out of the hands of criminals and dangerous people.

Cuba is in some ways a perfect trading partner for Minnesota because there's so little overlap between what they are good at and they produce and what Minnesota is good at and what we produce. So it's a natural trading relationship, especially because they're so close.

The Senate has a reputation as quite a collegial place, and I have found that to be true, especially with the women.

People have lots of different feelings about what happened when Sen. Franken made the really hard decision to resign. I have come to respect people have lots of different feelings, sometimes very strong feelings, and they're not all the same.

What I intend to do is be just a really fierce advocate for Minnesotans here in Washington, D.C.

I don't shy away from standing up against the president or other people who I think are taking us in the wrong direction.

As chief of staff, I was responsible for running a multibillion-dollar organization with over 34,000 employees, and working on everything from health care to transportation.

It's so important that we figure out a way of moving beyond the stigma that still exists around treatment for mental health.

I'll never have the seniority of lions of the Senate who've been in office for decades. What I do have is a lifetime of experience as a parent and activist, small business owner, and lieutenant governor of Minnesota.

I will be my own kind of senator using my own best judgment and my own experience.

In many parts of Minnesota outside of the big metro areas, and the college towns, and the regional centers like Duluth or Rochester, the state has a lot of people who work incredibly hard. I think that what happened is that Trump was able to connect with that sense of real concern.

With mental health, it's not like there's a box where you're healthy and another box where you've got a mental illness. You try to stay at the healthy end of the continuum, and watch as you move, and I've been able to do that.

The way elections are won in Minnesota is by talking to people and sharing what's on their minds. It sounds so simple, but it really is the thing that works.

I'm really focused on Minnesota and Minnesotans, and I will come to Washington, D.C., prepared to be a fierce advocate for Minnesotans, especially around economic opportunity and fairness.

Senator Franken was a strong voice for Minnesota and I'm also a strong voice for Minnesota.

High speed Internet access isn't a nice thing to have, it's a necessary thing to have.

I've learned in my life that I have to focus on the things that I can control and what I can control is what comes out of my mouth and how I respond to people.

Do not underestimate me. I believe that as a woman, a progressive, and a Minnesotan, I have a lot to contribute and I am so ready to do that work.

I think that women are often underestimated - our suggestions, our advice, our leadership style. I think one of the reasons that that happens is women are much less likely to blow their own horn and brag about everything that they've done.

Our democracy depends on a free and independent press. When politicians call reporting they don't like 'fake news,' they undermine trust in our civic organizations for their own political gain.

Being lieutenant governor is sort of like being invited into everyone's living room, and you just get an understanding of the state.