Summary
Current Position: US Senator
Affiliation: Democrat
Candidate: 2023 US Senator
Former Position: Retired United States Navy vice admira
Michael Thane Franken (born November 8, 1957) is an American retired United States Navy vice admiral.[1] His final posting was as deputy director of military operations for the United States Africa Command. Franken is the Democratic nominee for the 2022 United States Senate election in Iowa.
Franken was a Democratic candidate in the 2020 United States Senate election in Iowa, but lost the June 2 primary to Theresa Greenfield.
OnAir Post: Michael Franken
About
Source: Campaign page
Mike grew up working in his father’s small machine shop where he ran a lathe, did welding, and helped with general implement repair. He was a hired hand for neighboring farms until, at the age of 17, he began a three-year-stint working at a slaughterhouse in Sioux Center, Iowa. He obtained a Navy scholarship in 1978 and graduated in engineering from the University of Nebraska. He saw sea duty in four navy destroyers, a destroyer squadron, and an aircraft carrier.
He deployed frequently to the world’s hotspots and was the first commanding officer of the USS WINSTON S CHURCHILL. He has significant Pentagon experience beginning with a legislative tour with Senator Edward Kennedy, and then in multiple strategy, policy, and planning positions involving the Indo-Pacific, the Middle East, Europe, and Africa.
In these uncertain times with our democracy under attack, Iowans need Admiral Mike Franken in the US Senate. Through his work in the US Navy and at the Pentagon, Mike knows the global challenge of Russian aggression, and the propaganda and disinformation tactics used by Vladmir Putin.
His life in Lebanon, Iowa has taught him the values of community, family, faith, and rural life, which guides his efforts to invest and build in rural Iowa.
As the father of a child with disabilities, he has seen how inconsistent care can be in years where he was transferred 17 different times. She would have great support in one community and the next there would be no support. For his daughter and for veterans who were injured, he seeks to pick up the banner of former Senator Tom Harkin as a disability advocate.
Web
Campaign Site, Twitter, LinkedIn, Wikipedia
Politics
Source: none
Wikipedia
Michael Thane Franken (born November 8, 1957) is an American retired United States Navy vice admiral.[1] His final posting was as deputy director of military operations for the United States Africa Command. Franken was a Democratic candidate in the 2020 United States Senate election in Iowa, but lost the June 2 primary to Theresa Greenfield. Franken was the Democratic nominee for the 2022 United States Senate election in Iowa, which he lost to Republican incumbent Chuck Grassley.
Early life and education
Franken was born in Sioux Center, Iowa. He attended Morningside College and the Naval Science Institute before graduating on an ROTC scholarship from the College of Engineering at the University of Nebraska and entering the United States Navy in 1981.[2] He is a graduate of the Naval Postgraduate School's college of physics, MIT Seminar XXI, the University of Virginia school of executive education, the Brookings Institution's legislative affairs curriculum, and Babson College's business leadership program. His early operational assignments were in guided missile destroyers.[2]
Navy career
Franken was the first commanding officer of USS Winston S. Churchill (DDG 81). He previously served on the USS King (DDG-41), USS Dahlgren (DDG-43) and USS Barry (DDG-52). As commodore, he commanded Destroyer Squadron 28 and Task Group 152.0 for the Eisenhower Strike Group.[1] Franken also served as the United States Africa Command's deputy for military operations, the United States Central Command's flag officer responsible for plans and strategy for three years, the chief of staff at U.S. Third Fleet, and as executive assistant to Commander, Fleet Forces Command.[3]
From 2011 to 2012, Franken commanded the Combined Joint Task Force – Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA) in Djibouti, Africa, responsible for the U.S. military activity throughout East Africa and in the islands of the Indian Ocean.
In Washington, D.C., he served a fellowship in congressional affairs for the Office of the Secretary of the Navy; as the political-military chair in the Chief of Naval Operations' Executive Panel, in Navy's Plans and Strategy Deep Blue staff; in the Assessments Division in support of Navy's representation in the Joint Requirements Oversight Council and in the Joint Staff's Joint Operations Division overseeing U.S. Pacific Command operations. He presented the worldwide orders book to Secretary Donald Rumsfeld from 2003 to 2005 and was the first military officer to serve as a legislative fellow for Senator Ted Kennedy.[1]
Starting in January 2015, Franken was the first director of the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency when it was created through the merger of the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, the Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office, and parts of the Air Force's Life Sciences Lab.[4] The Defense POW/MIA Accounting agency is an 800-person defense agency which oversees the location and retrieval of the remains of American veterans of foreign wars.[2]
U.S. Senate campaigns
2020
On August 26, 2019, Franken announced that he would be running for the Democratic Party nomination for United States Senate in Iowa for the seat held by Joni Ernst, a member of the Republican Party.[5][6]
Franken was one of a number of Democrats who competed in the primary election held on June 2. The winner, Theresa Greenfield,[7] lost to incumbent Ernst in the November 3 general election.
2022
On October 14, 2021, Franken confirmed that he would be seeking the Democratic Party nomination for United States Senate in Iowa for the seat held by Chuck Grassley, a member of the Republican Party.[8] He defeated former U.S. Representative Abby Finkenauer in the primary election in a major upset.[9][10] Grassley defeated him 56%-44% in the general election,
Personal life
Franken was born the youngest of nine children in rural Sioux County, Iowa. His father was a machinist and blacksmith, while his mother was a school teacher. Franken joined the U.S. Navy at the age of 22 at the urging of an older brother.[11]
In 1989, he married his wife Jordan. Together, they have two children.[12] Franken lives in downtown Sioux City, Iowa.[13]
References
- ^ a b c Wielenga, Renee (September 2, 2017). "Naval officer retires from military". The N'West Iowa REVIEW. Iowa Information Publishers and Printers. Retrieved May 18, 2020.
- ^ "Franken nominated to take over AFRICOM post". Stars and Stripes. March 25, 2015. Retrieved October 10, 2019.
- ^ "Statement from Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel on Personnel Accounting Reorganization" (Press release). U.S. Department of Defense. January 9, 2015. Retrieved May 18, 2020.
- ^ Harris, Eli (September 4, 2019). "Retired U.S. Navy admiral seeks Democratic nod for Senate in race against Joni Ernst". Iowa State Daily. Archived from the original on October 10, 2019. Retrieved October 10, 2019.
- ^ Pfannenstiel, Brianne (August 26, 2019). "Retired Navy Admiral Michael Franken to run for U.S. Senate, challenge Joni Ernst". The Des Moines Register. Retrieved October 10, 2019.
- ^ "Theresa Greenfield wins Iowa Democratic Senate primary, will face Joni Ernst". The Des Moines Register. Retrieved June 8, 2022.
- ^ "Michael Franken launches US Senate campaign challenging Chuck Grassley". We Are Iowa. October 14, 2021. Retrieved October 14, 2021.
- ^ "Michael Franken to challenge Chuck Grassley in November 2022 election". Desmoinesregister.com. Retrieved June 8, 2022.
- ^ Pfannenstiel, Brianne. "Mike Franken wins Democratic US Senate primary; to take on Chuck Grassley in November". The Des Moines Register. Retrieved August 21, 2022.
- ^ McNett, Jared (January 17, 2020). "A conversation with U.S. Senate candidate Mike Franken". Globe Gazette. Mason City, Iowa. Retrieved May 14, 2020.
- ^ Wielenga, Renee (September 2, 2017). "Naval officer retires from military". The N'West Iowa REVIEW. Retrieved May 14, 2020.
- ^ McNett, Jared (June 4, 2022). "In U.S. Senate race, Sioux Cityan Mike Franken lets people know who he is". News-Press NOW. St. Joseph, MO. Archived from the original on June 8, 2022. Retrieved June 8, 2022 – via Sioux City (Iowa) Journal.
- Attribution
This article incorporates public domain material fromVICE ADMIRAL MICHAEL T. FRANKEN. United States Navy.
External links
- Franken for Iowa Archived June 8, 2022, at the Wayback Machine campaign website
- Appearances on C-SPAN
