Minnesota Senate leaders say they expect Sen. Nicole Mitchell to resign after burglary conviction

A growing chorus of lawmakers and political leaders is expecting Minnesota Sen. Nicole Mitchell to resign after she was found guilty Friday of two felonies.

Jurors in Detroit Lakes announced the verdicts on Mitchell’s charges of first-degree burglary and felony possession of burglary tools late Friday afternoon.

The charges stem from Mitchell’s 2024 arrest for breaking into her stepmother’s Detroit Lakes home. Mitchell is a first-term DFL senator from Woodbury. She told the jury she was trying to conduct a welfare check on her stepmother, Carol Mitchell, but prosecutors said she broke in to steal her late father’s mementos.

Mitchell told colleagues ahead of the verdict that she intended to resign if the jury found her guilty, Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy, DFL-St. Paul, said in a statement.

“I expect her to follow through on that pledge,” Murphy said.

DFL Gov. Tim Walz also expected Mitchell to resign after she was found guilty on Friday, according to the governor’s office, and he’s expected to call a special election for her seat if it becomes vacant.

DFL Party Chair Richard Carlbom said he hoped Mitchell would “hold to her promise and resign immediately.”

Defense attorneys said after the verdict was read that they plan to appeal the decision of the jury.

Mitchell’s attorney, Dane DeKrey, said whether she chooses to resign is a personal decision and said this is “not about politics.”

“That’s a personal decision that she and her party have to make,” DeKrey said.

Democrats in the Senate removed Mitchell from caucus meetings and committee work after she was charged with burglary. But they didn’t go as far as calling for her removal from the chamber, saying before the trial that Mitchell deserved due process.

“Sen. Mitchell has been afforded due process, a trial by a jury of her peers, and that jury has delivered a verdict. I am relieved to see the end of Sen. Mitchell’s trial. The case’s resolution brings clarity to the situation,” Murphy said Friday.

Mitchell will not be automatically expelled upon the felony conviction, but her Senate colleagues could vote to remove her from the chamber when the Legislature is in session if she doesn’t resign on her own accord.

Senate Republicans already attempted to expel Mitchell when her first-degree burglary charge was still pending, but Democrats ruled their motion out of order, avoiding a roll-call vote.

Republicans then lodged an ethics complaint because Mitchell cast a tie-breaking vote in her own favor on the issue, which they argued was a conflict of interest. The complaint also took aim at the underlying criminal charges.

But the Senate Subcommittee on Ethical Conduct deadlocked on the issue along partisan lines and punted until Mitchell’s trial.

Senate Minority Leader Mark Johnson, R-East Grand Forks, said in a statement Friday that the verdict “only confirms the fact that Sen. Mitchell’s actions failed to meet the level of ethical behavior we expect from elected officials.”

“Her continued participation in the Minnesota Senate leaves the body with a stain on its record for every time her vote was the deciding vote in passing legislation,” Johnson said. “Senate Republicans have been clear since day one that this conduct is unbecoming of a Senator and we expect her immediate resignation from the Senate. If she is unwilling to resign, she must be expelled as soon as possible to protect the integrity of the Senate.”

Mitchell won her seat representing a southwest metro district in 2022 with almost 59% of the vote.

If Mitchell vacates her seat, the Minnesota Senate will be deadlocked 33-33 pending a special election in Woodbury.