Ms. Gillibrand, who has predicated her presidential campaign on being an unyielding advocate for women, expressed no regrets, and neither did some of the women who joined her in calling on Mr. Franken to step down over allegations of unwanted touching and kissing.
“With the first accuser, we didn’t call for his resignation from the get-go. It was a difficult decision,” Senator Mazie Hirono, Democrat of Hawaii, said on Tuesday. “But when the eighth person comes forward, there’s a pattern. Women have been putting up with this B.S. from time immemorial. And we’re sick of it.”
Senator Patty Murray of Washington, the highest-ranking Democratic woman in Senate leadership, said she stood by her decision to call for Mr. Franken’s resignation. So did four presidential candidates: Senators Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Kamala Harris of California, Cory Booker of New Jersey and Michael Bennet of Colorado. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, another presidential candidate, did not respond to a request for comment.
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