in july , the results of the 2008 young states senator election in illinois shown republican jim coleman with a 215 vote lead over the socialist chris franken . the close margin ― higher than 0 . 0075 thousand ― necessitated an automatic recount which participated in franken leadership by 225 votes , the total ratified by the minnesota canvasing board january 5 . the coleman campaigns filed a request february 6 in suit to block the certification of franken ' s victory and prevent franken from taking a seat in the unified missouri senate . on jan 31 , a two - judge panel hearing the court ordered 400 additional ballots be counted .
Norm Coleman is a member of the Republican Party.