Lt. Governor David Marston Clough became governor on January 31, 1895 when Governor Knute Nelson resigned to take a seat in the U.S. Senate. Senator Frank A. Day served as lieutenant governor from January 31, 1895 to January 5, 1897. While Sen. Day served as lieutenant governor, the Senate met in session from January 8, 1895 to April 23, 1895. According to an 1898 Minnesota Supreme Court case, Sen. Day acted as lieutenant governor while also acting and voting as a senator "with the tacit approval, at least, of the senate." Governor David M. Clough and Lt. Governor John L. Gibbs were elected to their respective offices in the 1896 election and took office in January 1897. When the legislature reconvened in 1897, both Sen. Day and Sen. Dunn, the latter of whom had been elected to fill Sen. Day's seat in a special election in November 1896, claimed the senate seat. Sen. Day is initially listed in the Journal of the Senate as holding the contested seat until a determination was made on January 23, 1897 that Sen. Dunn had been duly elected and was entitled to the seat. Sen. Dunn took the oath of office on January 26, 1897.
In 1898, the Supreme Court stated, "The undisputed facts as to this question are that Mr. Day was duly elected as a senator from the Sixth senatorial district of this state for the term of four years, commencing January, 1895. He qualified, entered upon the duties of the office, and on January 25, 1895, became president pro tempore of the senate. Six days thereafter, Gov. Nelson resigned, and Lieut. Gov. Clough became governor; and thereafter, and until the close of the Twenty-Ninth session of the senate, Mr. Day performed the duties of, and acted as, lieutenant governor. He also, until the close of the session, continued to act and vote as senator, with the tacit approval, at least, of the senate. Upon the opening of each day's session of the senate, and upon every call of the house, and upon all votes taken upon any bill or resolution, his name was regularly called as one of the senators." (State Ex Rel Marr v. Stearns, County Auditor, Minnesota Supreme Court, May 11, 1898)
Toensing, the Minnesota Journal of the Senate, March 12, 1929; and the Minnesota Legislative Manual, 1889 list his birth year as 1853. The Minnesota Legislative Manual, 1895; Progressive Men of Minnesota, 1897; and the Minnesota Historical Society's Governors of Minnesota list 1855. He's listed as being 25 years old in the Minnesota Legislative Manual, 1878.
He was born on a farm. He moved to Webster City, Iowa when he was 14 years old. He came to Fairmont, Minnesota in 1874.
He was listed as a Republican on the list of members posted after the 1877 election. ("The Next Legislature." St. Paul Pioneer Press, November 10, 1877)
He "has been a prominent figure in all the impoortant Republican gatherings in the state for a dozen years or more. In the campaign of 1896, however, Mr. Day, with Hon. John Lind, Hon. John Day Smith, Congressman C.A. Towne, State Senators D.F. Morgan, and S.B. Howard, and other men formerly prominent in the Republican party of the state, organized the free silver Republican party of Minnesota..." (Progressive Men of Minnesota, 1897, p. 505)
He ran unsuccessfully as the Free Silver Republican candidate for the United States House of Representatives in the 2nd Minnesota Congressional District in 1896. Without effort on his part, he was also endorsed by the Democratic, and Populist parties. (Progressive Men of Minnesota, 1897, p. 505)
He was listed as "politically a free lance." (The Minnesota Legislative Manual, 1927)
His funeral was held in Fairmont, Minnesota.