Tina Smith

With mental health, it's not like there's a box where you're healthy and another box where you've got a mental illness. You try to stay at the healthy end of the continuum, and watch as you move, and I've been able to do that.

I ask myself: What do I need to do to stay healthy? And I do that all the time. And it's stuff like meditation, making sure I get good exercise, all the things we know.

The chance to talk to so many people and understand what they're thinking about and why it matters is really, really so interesting. When you're doing that, you have to truly listen to what people are saying. You can't just pretend to listen.

People are so much more interested in making connections, and finding common ground, and sharing experiences than sometimes their governments are.

We need to create a fair immigration process that ensures the wellbeing of all families and prevents the wrong people from coming to this country, that includes reforming ICE and immigration enforcement.

The Senate has a reputation as quite a collegial place, and I have found that to be true, especially with the women.

I'm wary when legislators say the solution to school shootings is mental health care, because it suggests that people who are mentally ill are violent, and that's just not true.

Coming to serve in the Senate and also running for the Senate in a short time period is not for the faint of heart. But I am not fainthearted.

High speed Internet access isn't a nice thing to have, it's a necessary thing to have.

The way elections are won in Minnesota is by talking to people and sharing what's on their minds. It sounds so simple, but it really is the thing that works.

I want to go places where there are really well-meaning people doing work that is interesting and seems to really matter and where everybody looks like at least once a day they have a really good laugh.

Do not underestimate me. I believe that as a woman, a progressive, and a Minnesotan, I have a lot to contribute and I am so ready to do that work.