Michael Franken

Michael Franken (Democratic Party) ran for election to the U.S. Senate to represent Iowa. He lost in the general election on November 8, 2022.

Biography

Michael Franken was born in Lebanon, Iowa. Franken served in the U.S. Navy from 1970 to 2017 and reached the rank of three-star admiral. He earned a bachelor's degree in engineering and a master's degree from the Naval Postgraduate School. Franken's career experience includes working in the U.S. Department of Defense and as a bar manager, a math tutor, a bouncer, and a civil engineer with a law firm.^[1]^[2]^[3]

Elections

2022

General election

General election for U.S. Senate Iowa

Incumbent Chuck Grassley defeated Michael Franken in the general election for U.S. Senate Iowa on November 8, 2022.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Chuck Grassley (R)	56.0	681,501
	Michael Franken (D)	43.8	533,330
	Other/Write-in votes	0.1	1,815

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 1,216,646
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. Senate Iowa

Michael Franken defeated Abby Finkenauer and Glenn Hurst in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate Iowa on June 7, 2022.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Michael Franken	55.2	86,527
	Abby Finkenauer	39.9	62,581
	Glenn Hurst	4.8	7,571
	Other/Write-in votes	0.1	158

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 156,837
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Bob Krause (D)
Dave Muhlbauer (D)

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. Senate Iowa

Incumbent Chuck Grassley defeated Jim Carlin in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate Iowa on June 7, 2022.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Chuck Grassley	73.3	143,634
	Jim Carlin	26.5	51,891
	Other/Write-in votes	0.2	312

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 195,837
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Andrew Foster (R)

Campaign finance

This section contains campaign finance figures from the Federal Election Commission covering all candidate fundraising and spending in this election.^[4] It does not include information on fundraising before the current campaign cycle or on spending by satellite groups. The numbers in this section are updated as candidates file new campaign finance reports. Candidates for Congress are required to file financial reports on a quarterly basis, as well as two weeks before any primary, runoff, or general election in which they will be on the ballot and upon the termination of any campaign committees.^[5] Click here to view the reporting schedule for candidates for U.S. Congress in 2022.

U.S. Congress campaign reporting schedule, 2022
Report	Close of books	Filing deadline
Year-end 2021	12/31/2021	1/31/2022
April quarterly	3/31/2022	4/15/2022
July quarterly	6/30/2022	7/15/2022
October quarterly	9/30/2022	10/15/2022
Pre-general	10/19/2022	10/27/2022
Post-general	11/28/2022	12/08/2022
Year-end 2022	12/31/2022	1/31/2023

Name	Party	Receipts*	Disbursements**	Cash on hand	Date
Abby Finkenauer	Democratic Party	$4,204,898	$4,186,967	$17,931	As of December 31, 2022
Michael Franken	Democratic Party	$11,468,780	$11,417,544	$51,236	As of December 31, 2022
Glenn Hurst	Democratic Party	$134,843	$105,982	$28,626	As of December 31, 2022
Source: Federal Elections Commission, "Campaign finance data," 2022. This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC). * According to the FEC, "Receipts are anything of value (money, goods, services or property) received by a political committee." ** According to the FEC, a disbursement "is a purchase, payment, distribution, loan, advance, deposit or gift of money or anything of value to influence a federal election," plus other kinds of payments not made to influence a federal election.

Endorsements

See also: Ballotpedia: Our approach to covering endorsements

Click the links below to see official endorsement lists published on candidate campaign websites for any candidates that make that information available. If you are aware of a website that should be included, please email us.

2020

United States Senate election in Iowa, 2020 (June 2 Democratic primary)

United States Senate election in Iowa, 2020 (June 2 Republican primary)

General election

General election for U.S. Senate Iowa

Incumbent Joni Ernst defeated Theresa Greenfield, Rick Stewart, and Suzanne Herzog in the general election for U.S. Senate Iowa on November 3, 2020.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Joni Ernst (R)	51.7	864,997
	Theresa Greenfield (D)	45.2	754,859
	Rick Stewart (L)	2.2	36,961
	Suzanne Herzog (Independent)	0.8	13,800
	Other/Write-in votes	0.1	1,211

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 1,671,828
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. Senate Iowa

Theresa Greenfield defeated Michael Franken, Kimberly Graham, Eddie Mauro, and Cal Woods (Unofficially withdrew) in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate Iowa on June 2, 2020.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Theresa Greenfield	47.7	132,001
	Michael Franken	24.9	68,851
	Kimberly Graham	15.0	41,554
	Eddie Mauro	11.0	30,400
	Cal Woods (Unofficially withdrew)	1.2	3,372
	Other/Write-in votes	0.2	514

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 276,692
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. Senate Iowa

Incumbent Joni Ernst advanced from the Republican primary for U.S. Senate Iowa on June 2, 2020.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Joni Ernst	98.6	226,589
	Other/Write-in votes	1.4	3,132

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 229,721
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Paul Rieck (R)

Campaign themes

2022

Ballotpedia survey responses

Michael Franken did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.

Campaign advertisements

May 18, 2022

May 3, 2022

April 18, 2022

View more ads here:

YouTube

Campaign website

Franken's campaign website stated the following:

“

FIGHTING FOR DEMOCRACY AT HOME AND ABROAD

Democracy creates opportunity. Authoritarianism destroys opportunity. With our voting rights under attack and our civil liberties threatened on a daily basis, we cannot sit back and watch our democracy crumble amidst GOP lies and false propaganda.
The crisis in Ukraine and the courageous Ukrainian people are an example to all of us of the vital importance of defending democracy. In Mike Franken, we have a military leader who understands the importance of diplomacy and might. We must work together to protect our democracy. It is the responsibility of the people and their elected leaders to do this. Franken will protect our democracy in the halls of the US Senate where there are Republicans who seek to silence the majority through suppression of voter access. He will work actively to reign in the influence of special interests, particularly through campaign finance reform.
January 6th set a dangerous precedent that we as a nation condone political violence. There are elected GOP Members of Congress who continue to perpetuate the Big Lie in their quest to destroy free and fair elections. For instance, Senator Grassley blocked efforts to protect our democracy when he voted no to form a bipartisan commission to investigate the attack. He needs to explain his actions to Iowans and the nation. Iowans deserve a leader who will speak truth to power. They deserve a Senator who will represent every Iowan and use leadership to help heal the divisiveness between us.

THE FRANKEN AGENDA TO ENHANCE THE LIVES OF OLDER IOWANS

When I’m elected to the United States Senate, I will work with Democrats and Republicans to address the challenges and concerns of older Iowans and the families who love, support, and often worry about them.

My priorities are to:

Keep Social Security Solvent for this and Future Generations

Currently, workers and the self-employed are required to make a Social Security contribution only on the first $147,000 of earnings. We need to make all earnings subject to the Social Security tax. Removing that earnings cap will increase revenue and bring greater fairness to the system.

Expand Medicare

Make Medicare available to everyone. Iowans deserve a health care system like the one I had in the military; one that provides high quality and affordable health care. A big first step is to make Medicare available starting at age 50.
Add coverage for vision, hearing, and dental care. Medicare has been part of the fabric of American life since its passage in 1965. It can be improved by adding coverage for basic, essential vision, hearing, and dental services. Adding this vital coverage will greatly improve the health and quality of life for older Iowans.

Lower the Cost of Prescription Drugs

High drug prices are putting too many Iowans at risk. Many skip getting needed prescriptions filled, cut their pills in half, or take them less often than required. To drive down the cost, Medicare needs to do what the Veterans Administration does – use its national purchasing power to negotiate prices with drug companies. We have a system in place that works. Let’s expand it to benefit everyone.

Improve Long-Term Care Services, While Expanding Ways to Pay for Them

Long-term care services can be hard to find, the quality spotty, and the costs enormous. Congress must act with policies and programs that

Help people age-in-place by providing more services where they want them, in their homes,
Pay for quality of long-term care services rather than volume,
Ensure that jobs for those providing care offer good pay and benefits,
Establish paid leave to help family caregivers juggling their careers and caregiving responsibilities, and
Help pay for services by establishing new public programs and expanding private insurance options.

How do we pay for all of this? We can pay for any additional costs with a simpler and fairer tax system where every American, including the wealthy and big corporations, pays their fair share. The first step is to eliminate the Trump tax cuts that benefit the wealthiest Americans.

THE BOTTOM LINE: Senator Ted Kennedy taught me to dream big but to be pragmatic. We can’t talk about things forever; we have to take action and get results. I did that as an Admiral in the Navy, I’ll do that for older – and all – Iowans as their Senator.

A COMMITMENT TO FAIRNESS AND EQUALITY

As a principle, this nation was founded on the idea of fairness, with the words, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” There was recognition that unfairness exists in part of our Constitution, “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. Mike Franken lives by these principles.
Our criminal justice system is not and has not been fair for many reasons. There are different standards built into the system that penalize black and brown communities. Franken will fight to make our criminal justice system work fairly for everyone, not just the wealthy, connected, and wily.
Fairness means that everyone has the right to make their own personal health decisions. Admiral Franken supports a woman’s right to full autonomy when it comes to her health and her body. As a nation, we fail the test of fairness when we hold women to a different standard than men.
Fairness also means equal pay for equal work. There can be no double standard for women or men. Both need to have paid family leave and sick leave and end sexual discrimination, as well as workplace sexual harassment.
Week after week, we are witness to violent attacks in communities of every size – in our grocery stores, in our preschools, in our places of worship. We are witness to hate crimes, to accidental shootings of children in their own homes, to domestic violence. And after each attack, we perform the same charade, while nothing changes. It won’t stop. It won’t stop until our government leadership and our society make it stop through structural transformation. I refuse to sit by and watch while innocent Americans – a disproportionate number of people of color – are hunted and murdered while white supremacists and hate-filled killers are propped up by Fox News and the GOP. Statements are empty. It’s time to act. It’s time to elect leaders who are urgently committed to doing whatever it takes to pass gun control and to advance policies that create equity. As a U.S. Senator, I pledge to do both.

KEEPING US SAFE AND GLOBAL THREATS

Keeping us safe requires a steady hand and swift, shrewd decision-making. Admiral Franken has the right balance of leadership and experience to navigate complex situations to keep us safe at home and abroad. After serving as a top military advisor to the late Senator Ted Kennedy and as a three-star Admiral under President Barack Obama, Admiral Franken knows how to remain cool, calm, and collected in times of crisis. If elected, Franken would be the highest-ranking military officer to ever serve in the U.S. Senate.
The information wars are a global threat with local consequences. Franken chaired a high technology task force assigned to explore how an adversary could use cyber, media, space-based assets, and other disrupting means on the United States or its allies. Admiral Franken knows how to keep us safe. He’s been doing it for years.
Climate change is the most clear and direct threat to the survival of our planet and the future of our children and grandchildren. With a highly decorated background in science, Admiral Franken is serious about tackling climate change and will implement the necessary measures to reduce greenhouse gas emission and our overall carbon footprint. This is a global threat that we can no longer ignore. He will work across the aisle because the fate of our planet should not be a partisan issue. Iowa can be a leader in combating climate change.

A HEALTHIER IOWA

Iowans deserve a healthcare system designed to provide quality, single payer healthcare – for everyone. Our current healthcare system is staffed by the world’s best health care providers, the best equipment, the best facilities, but too often, it puts profits over people. It’s inordinately hard to navigate and far too expensive. That’s why Admiral Franken supports universal healthcare for everyone unlike Senator Grassley who repeatedly blocks efforts to correct Medicare drug pricing.
As a cancer survivor, Mike Franken knows how fortunate he was to receive high quality health care and coverage as a member of the U.S. military. Franken believes that every family should receive the same quality of care he and his family received as a member of the military, including mental and dental health. And as a native of NW Iowa, he understands how much our rural hospitals are hurting and lack the necessary resources for basic patient care. We also need more rural hospitals, so no Iowan has to travel great distances for urgent care.
Too many Iowans are one accident or one medical malady away from bankruptcy or insurmountable debt. Admiral Franken supports a public healthcare option to lower costs and cover everyone. Healthcare is a fundamental right that every Iowan deserves, as a US Senator, Mike Franken will work to make healthcare accessible for all and fight to lower prescription drug costs for seniors.
If the Supreme Court moves forward with overturning Roe, it follows a clear and consistent Republican effort to end the right to abortions. We must elect leaders who will unwaveringly commit to codifying Roe and to upholding the fundamental right for women to make their own health care decisions. If elected, I will make codifying Roe a top priority if it remains undone in 2022. If Roe is officially overturned, over 26 states are positioned to ban abortion – taking away health care for millions of people. Iowa could be one of those states by 2024. It is more urgent than ever to work to defeat Chuck Grassley, who has consistently, shamefully, and dishonestly voted to take away abortion rights. Not only do I pledge to codify Roe, I believe this is a gloves off, bare-fisted moment in history, necessitating that the filibuster must go, as well. Minority rule has become a barrier to progress and we are in a fight for our lives, our rights, and our Democracy.^[6]

”

—Michael Franken's campaign website (2022)^[7]

2020

Michael Franken completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Franken's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I'm a retired vice admiral running for United States Senate to defeat Joni Ernst. I was born in rural Iowa.

I spent the 80s and sea, the 90s in Washington D.C, and the 2000s fighting our wars on terror from the field and the capitol. I have a career of leading and succeeding around the world.

In 2002, I was the only member of the Iraq War planning board to vote no on that war. That was a bad war then, and it remains one. If there had been courage in that room, perhaps our history would be different.

When Donald Trump was elected, I retired because I did not want to work for Donald Trump. And in 2018, I knew I had to run for office because if he wins again, we had best own the Senate. I'm running to provide principled, experienced leadership for Iowans and Americans.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

Ensure every American has the quality of healthcare than an admiral enjoys
Enlist Iowa's farmers to beat climate change in this generation
Roll back the special interests that captured Joni Ernst

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Addressing the problems with healthcare is my day one issue. The problems are clear: Iowans and Americans pay too much for healthcare that is often inaccessible and of poor quality for the very people who have proven essential during this crisis.

I support improving and fully implementing the Affordable Care Act and adding a Medicare option to the exchange - that includes mental, dental, and preventative care. Every American should enjoy the quality of healthcare that an admiral does.

We also have to lower drug costs, ending the current crazy system. The
government should the government negotiate costs directly with companies,
capping prices when necessary. This is the only country where drug companies get
to simply charge what they want in monopolistic situations.

We need to strengthen rural hospitals and further improve telemedicine of particular importance in rural areas.

What do you perceive to be the United States’ greatest challenges as a nation over the next decade?

Besides fixing healthcare and beating climate change, one of greatest challenges is repairing our reputation abroad. Our allies do not trust America's word. They do not trust us to lead.

This has severe consequences. When we withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord, we waste valuable time while the earth continues to burn. We also teach our allies an important lesson: America is too occupied with ignorance and political squabbles to be proper stewards of our planet.

Similarly, when we withdraw from the Iran deal, we made ourselves less safe. We created more instability in the region and left our allies to pursue their own. That doesn't just jeopardize our interests, that jeopardizes American lives.

We have become an international pariah. This will take leadership and experience to fix. I've authored over 22 international agreements - whether between warring tribes in Africa or on important policy issues. Donald Trump's presidency shows what happens when we trust our international policy to amateurs. Let's not make the same mistake again.

Do you believe that it’s beneficial for senators to have previous experience in government or politics?

It's not just beneficial that senators have previous experience, it's necessary! What happened when we last sent an amateur, Joni Ernst, to the Senate? While she was looking for the light switch, special interests and party bosses completely captured her. Now, there's no daylight between her, special interests, Mitch McConnell, and Donald Trump - she votes with them over 90% of the time. I'm worried Iowans are gearing up to making the same mistake.

We need experienced, principled leadership in Washington. Unlike my opponents, I spent time in legislative affairs; between my years working for Ted Kennedy and as chief of legislative affairs for the U.S. Navy, I have more years on Capitol Hill than even Joni Ernst does. Electing a candidate with legislative experience will mean that Iowans have a principled, independent voice in Washington. Anything less than that will fail us.

And my experience is not just legislative. I started the federal agency that locates, retrieves, and identifies the remains of POW/MIA American soldiers. I led all the troops on the continent of Africa. I coordinated disaster relief after Hurricanes Hugo and Katrina. I helped bring piracy down to zero in Africa. I even fought against the Ebola virus during that time. Yes, this is my first election, but it is not my first pandemic.

If you are not a current senator, are there certain committees that you would want to be a part of?

I'd like to be on all of them.

As the highest ranking military officer to ever run for U.S. Senate, I am uniquely qualified to serve on the Senate Armed Services Committee. I'd like to use that seat to modernize the Department of Defense - stop fighting today's war's with 20th century weapons, invest in cyber security to protect our elections and privacy, and gear the U.S. military to lead the fight against climate change. That means carbon neutrality high-tech environmental research, and a redefinition of our national mission.

I also want to be on the Finances Committee. I am a budget guy - I did this work for the U.S. Navy as chief of legislative affairs and as the strategy and policy chief. I have experience drafting and getting approved budgets. So I know this: when you control the pursestrings, you control power and policy. That job should run through Iowa. We are the nation's bread basket, we lead in green technology, and we are the nation's heartland.

Finally, the Senator from Iowa must sit on, even lead, the Agriculture Committee. Iowa farmers must have an ally in the U.S. Senate - to help lift them up but also to lead them forward. Beating climate change presents enormous opportunity for Iowa farmers. We can offer them federal grants for environmental stewardship and reward soil conservation. We must invest massively in carbon sequestration technology which will help the farmers as much as it helps the planet.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

External links

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Candidate

U.S. Senate Iowa

Personal

Footnotes

↑ Ballotpedia staff, "Email communication with Jordan Overstreet," September 3, 2019
↑ Admiral Mike Franken for Iowa, "Meet Mike," accessed July 28, 2022
↑ LinkedIn, "Michael Franken," accessed July 28, 2022
↑ Fundraising by primary candidates can be found on the race's respective primary election page. Fundraising by general election candidates can be found on the race's general election page.
↑ Federal Election Commission, "2022 Quarterly Reports," accessed March 2, 2022
↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
↑ Admiral Mike Franken for Iowa, “Issues,” accessed July 28, 2022

[show]

Iowa's current delegation to the United States Congress

Senators

Joni Ernst (R)

Chuck Grassley (R)

Representatives

District 1

Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R)

District 2

Ashley Hinson (R)

District 3

Zach Nunn (R)

District 4

Randy Feenstra (R)

Republican Party (6)

[bio-1] Ballotpedia staff, "Email communication with Jordan Overstreet," September 3, 2019

[bio2-2] Admiral Mike Franken for Iowa, "Meet Mike," accessed July 28, 2022

[bio3-3] LinkedIn, "Michael Franken," accessed July 28, 2022

[4] Fundraising by primary candidates can be found on the race's respective primary election page. Fundraising by general election candidates can be found on the race's general election page.

[5] Federal Election Commission, "2022 Quarterly Reports," accessed March 2, 2022

[quotedisclaimer-6] Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.

[7] Admiral Mike Franken for Iowa, “Issues,” accessed July 28, 2022

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Michael Franken

Biography

Elections

2022

General election

General election for U.S. Senate Iowa

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. Senate Iowa

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. Senate Iowa

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Campaign finance

Endorsements

2020

General election

General election for U.S. Senate Iowa

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. Senate Iowa

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. Senate Iowa

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Campaign themes

2022

Ballotpedia survey responses

Campaign advertisements

Campaign website

2020

See also

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