Nicole Mitchell (Courtesy of the Becker County Sheriff’s Office)
State Sen. Nicole Mitchell returned to the Capitol on Monday, a week after a burglary arrest threw her political career into doubt and also threatened to upend her party’s agenda.
She checked in as present as the Senate convened for the week. Last week, she didn’t appear in public. Mitchell declined to answer questions from reporters on Monday.
Mitchell, DFL-Woodbury, faces pressure to clear up the circumstances around a reported break-in at a relative’s home. Republicans have called on her to resign. Democrats have also moved to create some distance from her troubles, including moving her desk to a far corner of the chamber. A spokesperson for the Senate DFL said she was moved because her former desk neighbor is on an Ethics Committee that will review Mitchell’s conduct.
Mitchell, in a statement Thursday, said she doesn’t intend to resign from the Legislature.
This past weekend, DFL leaders announced that Mitchell would be barred from caucus meetings and committee hearings following her arrest. She will still be able to vote during floor sessions. Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy, DFL-St. Paul, said that her ability to participate remotely would be determined on a day-to-day basis.
A Senate subcommittee is set to weigh an ethics complaint against Mitchell next week. Murphy said that probe into Mitchell’s arrest is ongoing.
The first-term lawmaker, a former broadcast meteorologist and member of the Air National Guard, was arrested last week at her stepmother’s home in Detroit Lakes. According to a criminal complaint, she told police officers at the scene that she wanted to retrieve her late father’s ashes and other belongings. She has said that she and her stepmother aren’t speaking.
Mitchell is far from the only lawmaker to face legal trouble while in office. Five other sitting legislators have been arrested within the past five years, mostly on alcohol-related driving offenses.
But felony-level charges are rare, and the near-even state Senate only ups the stakes. Mitchell’s vote could be the difference between bills passing by a single vote and stalling on a tie vote.
The next court hearing in Mitchell’s case is scheduled for June 10.
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