Sen. Nicole Mitchell resigning, Senate control on the line in special election

State Sen. Nicole Mitchell is planning to resign from her seat soon, her attorneys said Monday, setting up a special election that will determine who controls the Minnesota Senate.

Mitchell, DFL-Woodbury, on Friday was found guilty of first-degree burglary and felony possession of burglary tools after her 2024 arrest for breaking into her stepmother’s home in Detroit Lakes.

“She’s going to tie up the loose ends related to her seat,” said Dane DeKrey of the Ringstrom DeKrey law firm.

Gov. Tim Walz is expected to call a special election once Mitchell resigns. Democrats control the Senate by a one-seat margin of 34-33, meaning whichever party wins will gain the majority. Mitchell, of Woodbury, won the east metro seat in 2022 with nearly 59% of the vote. The area’s political alignment has shifted toward Democrats in recent years, though it was seen not too long ago as a swing seat.

Democrats handily won two state House seats in Mitchell’s district last fall, but low-turnout special elections can be harder to predict. A special election to fill a vacant state Senate seat in the western Twin Cities suburbs last fall drew in millions in spending from outside groups trying to tip control of the chamber. Democrats won that seat.

DFL Rep. Amanda Hemmingsen-Jaeger, who represents part of Mitchell’s district in the House, said Monday she intends to run for the seat. If she were to win, another special election would be needed to fill her House seat.

Walz has already called a special election for September to fill another vacant House seat — that of slain DFL leader Melissa Hortman.

Another possible candidate to replace Mitchell is former Rep. Kelly Fenton, a Republican who held a nearby House seat in the late 2010s. She asked on X after Friday’s verdict, “Is now a good time to make a big announcement?”

Republicans, who have been calling for Mitchell to resign for more than a year, on Monday demanded she step down immediately.

“Senator Mitchell was convicted of two felonies; she doesn’t get to give the Senate two weeks’ notice,” the leading Senate Republican, Mark Johnson of East Grand Forks, said in a news release. “Democrats shielded Mitchell for 15 months to protect their political power, but a jury needed just three hours to confirm what was already clear: she shouldn’t be a senator. Not after April 22, 2024. Not in January of 2025. And not today.”

DeKrey declined to address Johnson’s comments directly, but said Mitchell kept her pledge to resign the seat if she were convicted.

“We put ... all our eggs all in the basket of winning a trial. We put on a case that we’re proud of. It didn’t go our way,” he said. “And this is a lesson that once a jury has spoken, you have to be a person of your word and a person of integrity. And I think she’s both of those things.”

DFL Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy said in a statement that “Nicole Mitchell has gotten the due process she is entitled to and was convicted by a jury of her peers.”

Democrats previously blocked attempts from Republicans to expel her, arguing she deserved due process.

DeKrey said Mitchell will wrap up her work at the Legislature over the next two weeks.

“She’s going to make sure it’s in good working order for the next person who sits in it, and she’s going to take care of the people that worked with her and her children, so that she can transition as smoothly as possible into being a private citizen.”

That means helping her staff find new employment and obtaining health insurance for her son, who was covered through her Senate job, he said. Mitchell will resign her seat by 5 p.m. on Aug. 4.

“I trust our justice system,” Walz said. “A jury of her peers found her guilty, and she made the right decision, and my hope is that both she and her family are able to heal from this and find a way forward.”