Al Franken, a comedian who served as Minnesota'due south Democratic U.South. senator before resigning due to sexual misconduct allegations, has said that he considers the possibility of running for Senate once more "tempting."

In a recent interview, Washington Post reporter Jonathan Capehart asked Franken if he would e'er run for office again.

"I don't know," Franken answered. "I certainly loved my fourth dimension in the Senate. I loved the job. I got a lot done. I was able to accomplish things I couldn't reach anywhere else, I don't remember. So, aye, it would be tempting to effort to practice that again."

"At some point?" Capeheart asked.

Franken responded, "Perhaps. I'm simply 70." Franken then noted that Republican Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley is also running for re-election at 88 years old.

Capeheart responded, "Well, yous've got all the time in the earth."

"Yes, I do," Franken responded, laughing.

Al Franken considers running for Senate again
Al Franken, a former 'Saturday Dark Live' comedian who served every bit a Autonomous U.S. senator for Minnesota, has said he considers the possibility of running for Senate again "tempting." In this photo, Franken speaks to the crowd during a gathering on November four, 2008, at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in St. Paul, Minnesota. Cory Ryan/Getty

In response to Franken's comment, Occupy Democrats, a grassroots political organization with over 251,400 Twitter followers, asked its followers to retweet their postal service if they supported Franken running over again. After virtually one hour, the organization's post had over iii,300 retweets. The post's 206 commenters felt alternately delighted and opposed to Franken'south possible return to politics.

"Every video I saw of him while property that seat, he appeared thorough, prepared and remarkably sharp," Twitter user @MichaelStreiter wrote. "He should never accept resigned and would be a existent benefit to all Democrats to take him dorsum."

Another Twitter user, @TIFFLS, wrote, "Non sure. I didn't/don't call up he should accept resigned. But, I lost a lot of respect for/trust in him when he did, and I'm non sure I want him back."

Franken resigned from his Senate seat on Jan 2, 2018, afterwards eight women defendant the senator of sexual misconduct. His resignation occurred near the start of the #MeToo motility, when women began making sexual harassment allegations against other high-contour men, such as film producer Harvey Weinstein, comedian Louis C.Yard., Television set announcer Matt Lauer and hip-hop producer Russell Simmons.

The showtime accusation against Franken came from Leeann Tweeden, a conservative talk-radio host, who posted a 2006 image of Franken making grabbing hands toward her breasts as she slept in military fatigues and a bulletproof vest. At the fourth dimension, she and Franken were co-starring in a two-week United Services Organization (USO) bear witness for war machine service members. She accused Franken of inappropriately tongue kissing her during a rehearsal for one of their sketches.

Tweeden, a Trump follower who supported the "birther" conspiracy theory calling on sometime President Barack Obama to publicly reveal his nascence document, broke the news on a right-fly conservative radio station after because the possibility of having Fox News help break her story.

In his apology to Tweeden, Franken wrote, "There'due south no alibi, and I understand why you could feel violated by that photograph. I remember that rehearsal differently, just what'southward important is the bear upon it had on you—and y'all felt violated by my deportment, and for that I apologize."

Tweeden accepted his amends, and said that she wasn't asking him to resign. Nonetheless, 7 more women—three who remained unnamed—came forrad presently later on, accusing Franken of inappropriate touching and attempting to kiss them without their consent.

3 dozen Autonomous senators demanded Franken's resignation, New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand being among the first.

"Senator Franken was accused credibly by 8 women of groping and forceable kissing," Gillibrand said. "All were corroborated in real fourth dimension. Ii of them were since he was a senator. And the last one that came to light was a congressional staffer."

Not all of the accusations were corroborated, according to PolitiFact.

Ricki Seidman, a Autonomous communications consultant who worked with Anita Hill as she brought sexual harassment claims to calorie-free during Clarence Thomas' Supreme Court confirmation hearings, criticized Gillibrand for demanding Franken's resignation.

"Equally a victim of sexual assault, y'all are cheapening my experience by leading a call for Senator Franken, who has been a champion for women, to stride down based on the flimsy accounts that accept come up to light to date," Seidman wrote. "Knowing of far worse behavior in the Senate, and FAR worse behavior amidst Republicans similar Donald Trump and Roy Moore, the fact that you are equating Senator Franken with them, I find abhorrent and INSULTING to women."

9 current and former senators who demanded his resignation have since said that they were incorrect to exercise and then, according to Jane Mayer, a reporter for The New Yorker.

Most of the senators mentioned by Mayer said the allegations against Franken should take had been scrutinized by the Senate Ethics Committee or at least been subject to a fuller test by an independent investigative body.

Franken said that Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer told him he needed to resign or else he would be censured and stripped of committee assignments. Schumer and his Democratic colleagues denied him the privilege of due procedure, he continued, calculation that major publications didn't vet his accusers' stories before repeating them.

In a statement to The New Yorker, Schumer said, "Al Franken's determination to step down was the correct decision—for the expert of the Senate and the expert of the state. I regret losing him equally a colleague simply given the circumstances, it was inevitable."

Newsweek has reached out to Al Franken for comment.