30 May 2024
ST. PAUL — The chair of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party on Thursday morning, May 30, called for the resignation of a DFL state senator charged with burglary last month.
The call came after the close of the Minnesota legislative session in which Sen. Nicole Mitchell, DFL-Woodbury, provided the party the one-vote advantage to get many priority spending bills and policies across the finish line. Republicans at the Capitol had called for her to step down almost immediately following news of her arrest at her stepmother’s home in Detroit Lakes.
DFL Party Chair Ken Martin said in a news release that Mitchell should be held accountable.
“While Sen. Mitchell is entitled to her day in court, her continued refusal to take responsibility for her actions is beneath her office and has become a distraction for her district and the Legislature,” he wrote. “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.”
DFL Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy reiterated her stance that Mitchell deserves a chance to defend herself in court and in ethics proceedings. She said she wouldn’t call for her colleague’s resignation now, but didn’t close the door to doing so in the future.
“This is a serious matter,” Murphy, DFL-St. Paul, said in a phone interview. “Senator Mitchell has an important decision in front of her. I have a lot of respect and empathy for what she’s going through. I do. But my job as the leader of the caucus is to make sure we’re in a strong position to govern for the people of Minnesota.”
There is some urgency around the call for Mitchell’s resignation now. If she resigns by the end of next week, it would put the special election on November’s ballot, aligned with the regular election. That would mean higher turnout than special elections typically produce, for a winner-take-all race for the Senate majority.
In a statement last month, Mitchell said she would not resign, saying all the facts about the alleged break-in were not known. She said in a social media post at the time that she was trying to retrieve items of her late father’s, including his ashes.
Her attorney, Bruce Ringstrom Jr., filed in court Wednesday to have the next hearing in her criminal case postponed to July 1 due to a scheduling conflict on his part. It was previously scheduled for June 10. Attorneys for the state agreed, according to the court filing.
Ringstrom Jr. didn’t immediately return a request for comment Thursday morning.
Mitchell also faces ongoing ethics complaint proceedings in the Senate. Those were set to move forward days after the June court hearing but could be postponed. She has also been barred from committee and DFL caucus assignments but was allowed to cast floor votes in the final weeks of the legislative session.
Republican Senate Minority Leader Mark Johnson panned Martin for waiting as long as he did to seek the senator’s resignation.
“Democrats abused their political majority and embraced Sen. Mitchell because it served their political purposes instead of working in a bipartisan way for Minnesotans,” Johnson, R-East Grand Forks, said in a written statement. “Anyone paying attention could see this coming — now that they no longer need her vote, they are ready to cast her aside.”
Martin’s statement on Thursday was issued a day before the start of the DFL’s state convention in Duluth.
Other top leaders have nudged Mitchell toward resignation without explicitly asking for it.
Gov. Tim Walz said on last week’s “Politics Friday” show on MPR News that the incident involving Mitchell is “disturbing.”
“It’s disturbing for the family. There are legal questions that need to be answered. I, for one, think that public servants need to be held to a higher standard,” he said. “She certainly has due process coming. I think if it was me, I would focus on my personal stuff and leave this to someone else.”
MPR News political reporter Clay Masters contributed to this report.
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