Michael Thane Franken (born November 8, 1957) is an American retired

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

vice admiral Vice admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, usually equivalent to lieutenant general and air marshal. A vice admiral is typically senior to a rear admiral and junior to an admiral. Australia In the Royal Australian Navy, the rank of Vice ...

. His final posting was as deputy director of military operations for the

United States Africa Command The United States Africa Command (USAFRICOM, U.S. AFRICOM, and AFRICOM) is one of the eleven unified combatant commands of the United States Department of Defense, headquartered at Kelley Barracks, Stuttgart, Germany. It is responsible for ...

. Franken was a Democratic candidate in the

2020 United States Senate election in Iowa The 2020 United States Senate election in Iowa was held on November 3, 2020, to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the Iowa, State of Iowa, concurrently with the 2020 United States presidential election, 2020 U.S. preside ...

, but lost the June 2 primary to Theresa Greenfield. Franken was the Democratic nominee for the

2022 United States Senate election in Iowa The 2022 United States Senate election in Iowa was held on November 8, 2022, to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the U.S. state, State of Iowa. Incumbent Republican Party (United States), Republican Senator Chuck Grassle ...

, which he lost to Republican incumbent

Chuck Grassley Charles Ernest Grassley (born September 17, 1933) is an American politician serving as the president pro tempore of the United States Senate since 2025, a role he also held from 2019 to 2021. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Re ...

Early life and education

Franken was born in

Sioux Center, Iowa Sioux Center is a city in Sioux County, Iowa. The population was 8,229 at the time of the 2020 census. Sioux Center is notable for its Dutch heritage, agribusiness, and as the location of Dordt University. Geography Sioux Center is located at ...

. He attended Morningside College and the Naval Science Institute before graduating on an

ROTC The Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC; or ) is a group of college- and university-based officer-training programs for training commissioned officers of the United States Armed Forces. While ROTC graduate officers serve in all branches o ...

scholarship from the

College of Engineering Engineering education is the activity of teaching knowledge and principles to the professional practice of engineering. It includes an initial education ( Dip.Eng.)and (B.Eng.) or ( M.Eng.), and any advanced education and specializations tha ...

at the

University of Nebraska–Lincoln The University of Nebraska–Lincoln (Nebraska, NU, or UNL) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Lincoln, Nebraska, United States. Chartered in 1869 by the Nebraska Legislature as part of the M ...

and entering the

in 1981. He is a graduate of the

Naval Postgraduate School Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) is a Naval command with a graduate university mission, operated by the United States Navy and located in Monterey, California. The NPS mission is to provide "defense-focused graduate education, including clas ...

's college of physics,

MIT Seminar XXI ''MIT Seminar XXI'' is an educational program for national security professionals run by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Originally for military leaders when begun in 1986, leaders from various government, non-government, and p ...

, the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...

school of executive education, the

Brookings Institution The Brookings Institution, often stylized as Brookings, is an American think tank that conducts research and education in the social sciences, primarily in economics (and tax policy), metropolitan policy, governance, foreign policy, global econo ...

's legislative affairs curriculum, and

Babson College Babson College is a Private university, private business school in Wellesley, Massachusetts, United States specializing in entrepreneurship education. Founded in 1919 by Roger Babson, the college was established as the Babson Institute in his We ...

's business leadership program. His early operational assignments were in

guided missile destroyer A guided-missile destroyer (DDG) is a destroyer whose primary armament is guided missiles so they can provide anti-aircraft warfare screening for the fleet. The NATO standard designation for these vessels is DDG, while destroyers which have a pr ...

Navy career

Franken was the first commanding officer of . He previously served on the , and . As commodore, he commanded

Destroyer Squadron 28 Destroyer Squadron 28 (DESRON 28), is a squadron of warships of the United States Navy. It is an operational component of Carrier Strike Group Eight Commander, Carrier Strike Group 8, abbreviated as CCSG-8 or COMCARSTRKGRU 8, is one of five ...

and Task Group 152.0 for the Eisenhower Strike Group. Franken also served as the

'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. From 2011 to 2012, Franken commanded the

Combined Joint Task Force – Horn of Africa Combined Joint Task Force – Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA) is a joint task force of United States Africa Command (AFRICOM). The U.S. War on terror begun after the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001. In October 2002, headquarters elements of th ...

(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 The Secretary of the Navy (SECNAV) is a statutory officer () and the head (chief executive officer) of the United States Department of the Navy, Department of the Navy, a military department within the United States Department of Defense. On Mar ...

; as the political-military chair in the

Chief of Naval Operations The chief of naval operations (CNO) is the highest-ranking officer of the United States Navy. The position is a statutory office () held by an Admiral (United States), admiral who is a military adviser and deputy to the United States Secretary ...

' 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 Part of the United States Department of Defense acquisition process, the Joint Requirements Oversight Council (JROC) reviews programs designated as JROC interest and supports the acquisition review process in accordance with law (). The JROC accomp ...

and in the

Joint Staff The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) is the body of the most senior uniformed leaders within the United States Department of Defense, which advises the president of the United States, the United States Secretary of Defense, secretary of defense, ...

's Joint Operations Division overseeing

U.S. Pacific Command The United States Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM) is the unified combatant command of the United States Armed Forces responsible for the Indo-Pacific region. It is the oldest and largest of the unified combatant commands. Its commander, ...

operations. He presented the worldwide orders book to Secretary

Donald Rumsfeld Donald Henry Rumsfeld (July 9, 1932 – June 29, 2021) was an American politician, businessman, and naval officer who served as United States Secretary of Defense, secretary of defense from 1975 to 1977 under President Gerald Ford, and again ...

from 2003 to 2005 and was the first military officer to serve as a legislative fellow for Senator

Ted Kennedy Edward Moore Kennedy (February 22, 1932 – August 25, 2009) was an American lawyer and politician from Massachusetts who served as a member of the United States Senate from 1962 to his death in 2009. A member of the Democratic Party and ...

. Starting in January 2015, Franken was the first director of the

Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) is an agency within the U.S. Department of Defense whose mission is to recover and identify unaccounted Department of Defense personnel listed as prisoners of war (POW) or missing in action (MIA) fro ...

when it was created through the merger of the

Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command The Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (often referred to as JPAC) was a joint task force within the United States Department of Defense (DoD) whose mission was to account for Americans who are listed as Prisoners of War (POW), or Missing in Acti ...

, the Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office, and parts of the Air Force's Life Sciences Lab. 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.

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 The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...

for the seat held by

Joni Ernst Joni Kay Ernst (née Culver; born July 1, 1970) is an American politician and retired military officer serving since 2015 as the Seniority in the United States Senate, junior United States Senate, United States senator from Iowa. A member of the ...

, a member of the Republican Party. Franken was one of a number of Democrats who competed in the primary election held on June 2. The winner, Theresa Greenfield, 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

for the seat held by

, a member of the Republican Party. He defeated former

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

Abby Finkenauer Abby Lea Finkenauer (born December 27, 1988) is an American politician who served as the United States Special Envoy for Global Youth Issues within the U.S. Department of State from 2022 to 2025. Finkenauer previously served as the U.S. represe ...

in the primary election in a major upset. Grassley defeated him 56%-44% in the general election.

Personal life

Franken was born the youngest of nine children in rural

Sioux County, Iowa Sioux County is a county located in the U.S. state of Iowa. As of the 2020 census, the population was 35,872. Its county seat is Orange City. Its largest city is Sioux Center. History Sioux County was formed on January 15, 1851. It has bee ...

. 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. In 1989, he married his wife Jordan. Together, they have two children. Franken lives in downtown

Sioux City, Iowa Sioux City () is a city in Woodbury County, Iowa, Woodbury and Plymouth County, Iowa, Plymouth counties in the U.S. state of Iowa. The population was 85,797 in the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in Iowa, fo ...

References

; Attribution

External links

* campaign website * {{DEFAULTSORT:Franken, Michael T. 1957 births Candidates in the 2020 United States Senate elections Candidates in the 2022 United States Senate elections Iowa Democrats Living people Military personnel from Iowa Naval Postgraduate School alumni People from Sioux Center, Iowa United States Navy vice admirals University of Nebraska–Lincoln alumni