(Adds Politico's comment on replacing Franken in paragraph 9)
By Makini Brice
WASHINGTON, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Democrat Al Franken faced intense pressure from members of his own party on Wednesday to resign from the U.S. Senate over accusations of sexual misconduct.
Minnesota Public Radio reported Franken would resign on Thursday. Franken's office said in an email that no final decision had been made and that the senator was still discussing the issue with his family.
After accusations began surfacing three weeks ago, Franken said he would remain in office and work to regain the trust of voters in Minnesota, the state he represents.
But on Wednesday, calls for him to resign came from the majority of his Democratic colleagues in the Senate, including Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and almost all of the Democratic women in the chamber, putting great pressure on him to quit.
"I consider Senator Franken a dear friend and greatly respect his accomplishments, but he has a higher obligation to his constituents and the Senate, and he should step down immediately," Schumer said in a statement.
Franken said on Twitter that he would make an announcement on Thursday, but he offered no details.
In its report, Minnesota Public Radio cited a Democratic official who had spoken to the senator and aides.
Late on Wednesday, news website Politico reported that Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton was expected to appoint Democratic Lieutenant Governor Tina Smith to take Franken's seat if he resigned. She would hold the seat until a special election in 2018.
That move would leave the Minnesota race wide open because Smith would not run in the special election to finish Franken's term, which goes through 2020, Politico said, citing people familiar with Dayton's thinking.
Franken is one of a number of prominent American men in politics, media and entertainment who have been accused in recent months of sexual harassment and misconduct.
Another accusation against Franken surfaced on Wednesday when Politico reported that a congressional aide said Franken had tried to forcibly kiss her in 2006, before he was first elected as a senator. Franken denied the allegations, Politico reported.
Franken's office did not reply to a request for comment on the report.
The calls on Wednesday marked the first time Franken's Democratic colleagues had publicly pressed for him to step down since the accusations surfaced. The party's chairman, Tom Perez, also pressed for him to resign.
Schumer called Franken immediately after the Politico story was published and told him that he needed to relinquish his Senate seat, according to a person familiar with the situation.