A Minnesota lawmaker is expected to resign from the state Senate after being criminally convicted of burglary on July 18.
Democratic state Sen. Nicole Mitchell’s departure will dissolve the party’s one-seat majority in the upper chamber and comes after months of Republican criticism regarding her criminal record.
“Senator Mitchell’s constituents deserve for her legislative projects to be finalized or ready to hand off to her successor before she resigns,” her attorney Dane DeKrey said in a statement to USA Today.
“Mitchell’s constituents also deserve to have their outstanding issues handled before her resignation. … It was the honor of her lifetime to serve her District and the State of Minnesota,” he added.
She’s slated to resign “no later than Aug. 4.”
Dekrey did not immediately respond to The Hill’s request for comment on the matter.
Mitchell, a former lieutenant colonel in the Air National Guard and a meteorologist, was arrested last year while visiting her estranged stepmother to collect her deceased father’s belongings.
She used burglary tools to enter the home in the Detroit Lakes area.
Minnesota Senate Republican Leader Mark Johnson (R), in a statement, once again condemned Mitchell’s actions, stating “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.”
Mitchell’s resignation comes weeks after two Democratic lawmakers in the Minnesota Legislature were shot at their respective homes. Rep. Melissa Hoffman (D) died due to gunshot wounds, as did her husband and Golden Retriever.
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