 Franken ran for the U.S. Senate from Minnesota in 2008 and , after a close race , he trailed incumbent Norm Coleman by 215 votes . After a statewide manual recount , required because of the closeness of the election , Franken was declared the winner by a margin of 312 votes . After an election contest and subsequent lawsuit by Coleman , the Minnesota Supreme Court unanimously upheld Franken 's victory on June 30 , 2009 . Franken was sworn into the U.S. Senate on July 7 , 2009 . He was re @-@ elected to a second term in office in 2014 . 
