After Minnesota Democrats took control of the State Legislature and the governor’s mansion in 2022, they passed a trove of legislation, including measures legalizing marijuana and expanding abortion rights, with the help of a mere one-seat majority in the Senate.
So when one of their freshman lawmakers, Senator Nicole Mitchell, was charged with burglary in the final weeks of this year’s legislative session, party leaders resisted an effort by Republicans to remove her immediately. Her vote, after all, was essential to passing the Democrats’ last-minute bills.
But with the Legislature adjourned for the season, Democratic leaders, too, have begun urging Senator Mitchell to step down. With control of the statehouse at stake, Democrats say they regard putting forward a new candidate on November’s ballot as the safest way to maintain control of the Senate and put a politically damaging ordeal behind them.
“Now that her constituents have had full representation through the end of the legislative session, it is time for her to resign to focus on the personal and legal challenges she faces,” Ken Martin, the chairman of Minnesota’s Democratic Party said in a statement issued on Thursday morning.
Senator Mitchell, a meteorologist and commander in the Air National Guard, indicated through her lawyer on Thursday that she did not intend to resign. As for the burglary charge, Senator Mitchell has said that she could not publicly address specifics of the charge on the advice of her legal team, but has indicated that the allegations involve the house of a close relative who has Alzheimer’s disease.
“I entered a home I have come and gone from countless times in the past 20 years, where my son even once had his own room,” she wrote on Facebook after she was charged with burglary in April. “Unfortunately, I startled this close relative, exacerbating paranoia, and I was accused of stealing, which I absolutely deny.”
Bruce Ringstrom Jr., her lawyer, said in a statement on Thursday that Senator Mitchell “has heard from many in her community who support her work and believe in her right to due process under the law.”
Senator Mitchell, 49, was regarded as a hard-working and talented lawmaker when the burglary charge in late April became the talk of the Capitol.
In a charging document, the police said they found Senator Mitchell in the basement of her stepmother’s home after the stepmother called 911 around 4:45 a.m. on April 22 to report that someone had broken into her house. Senator Mitchell was dressed in black, the police said, and held a flashlight that was covered with a black sock to limit its brightness.
Senator Mitchell told officers that she had been collecting items of “sentimental value” after the death of her father, including his ashes. “I know I did something bad,” Senator Mitchell told officers, according to the charging document. Prosecutors charged her with first degree burglary, a felony.
The stepmother did not respond to requests for an interview, but in a local television news station interview, the woman, who said she had been diagnosed with early-stage Alzheimer’s disease, said that she remained fearful after the break-in.
Senator Mitchell, who represents Woodbury, a suburb of Minneapolis, won her seat by a sizable margin in 2022 and is not up for re-election until 2026.
Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, told The Star Tribune on Thursday that he thought Senator Mitchell should resign, calling it “the right decision.”
Mark T. Johnson, the Republican minority leader in the State Senate, criticized Democrats for having stood with the senator until now. “Anyone paying attention could see this coming,” he said in a statement. “Now that they no longer need her vote, they are ready to cast her aside.”
If Senator Mitchell were to resign before June 8, an open seat could be included in a primary election in August and then a general election in November. If she were to resign later, filling a seat would require calling a special election, leaving uncertainties about the future of partisan control of the chamber.
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