Sen. Smith on the Shutdown, Democrats’ Future, and Retiring Early

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At age 67, Sen. Tina Smith (D, MN) is doing something that’s still rather rare for senators: retiring at a relatively young age, after just one full term in office. Smith’s open Senate seat is one of five Democrats will have to defend in next year’s midterm elections, in what’s shaping up to be a tough cycle. But with a little more than a year left in office, she still has to work on the big problems facing the Democratic Party, and the nation more broadly, including a rise in political violence and this week’s looming government shutdown. In a live conversation recorded Saturday at the annual MinnPost Festival in downtown Minneapolis, Kara and Smith talk about why she thinks Democrats…