Ana Marie Cox, host of Crooked Media’s “With Friends Like These” podcast, says she is “willing to vote” for Al Franken if he runs again after calling for his resignation.
Franken was ousted from the Senate after multiple allegations of sexual misconduct surfaced against him last year. His resignation came as Democrats were locked in a tight battle for the Alabama Senate seat vacated by Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
But Cox, who was a constituent of Franken’s, would support him if he “can do a credible kind of accounting of himself,” she told David Axelrod on “The Axe Files,” a podcast from the University of Chicago Institute of Politics and CNN.
Cox said it was necessary for Franken to step down because “it’s very important for the Democrats to have some credibility in the #MeToo movement. And they would have sacrificed that credibility, not just for the Alabama Senate race, but for a long time.”
For Cox, the consequences of failing to hold men like Franken to account can be seen in the Clarence Thomas hearings for his confirmation to the Supreme Court.
“That moment felt like this moment,” Cox said, comparing the energy surrounding the Thomas hearings to the #MeToo movement. “The momentum died when the Democratic Party decided to sacrifice (it) in order to save Bill Clinton.”