From a recount to a landslide: Sen. Al Franken easily wins re-election

(Image credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images)

This Election Night must feel very good for Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.), who easily won re-election against Republican businessman Mike McFadden. All the more so since his last one, back in 2008, featured a seemingly endless recount that ran into the next calendar year.

In 2008, the former entertainer and Democratic activist defeated incumbent Republican Sen. Norm Coleman in a contentious statewide recount, which was followed by months and months of litigation. Franken originally trailed narrowly on Election Night — indeed, it was not until late December of 2008 that he took the lead in the recount. After the recount, Coleman mounted a legal challenge that prevented the certification of any winner in the race at all, until Franken finally won both the trial and Coleman's appeal to the state Supreme Court.