Democratic Minnesota lawmaker stripped of committee assignments but survives disqualification attempt

Democratic state Sen. Nicole Mitchell was stripped of her committee assignments in the Minnesota Senate after she was charged with first-degree burglary earlier this month, but she has survived a GOP-lead effort to bar her from voting.

Mitchell was arrested and charged with the crime after being caught sneaking into her stepmother’s house through a window in all-black attire, according to a police complaint. Democratic state Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy announced that while an investigation into Mitchell continues, she will be stripped of her committee assignments and not permitted to participate in Democratic caucus meetings.

“This is a tragic situation, and there are still questions that need to be answered. The legal investigation is ongoing, and last week, we referred her case to the Senate Subcommittee on Ethical Conduct,” Murphy said in a statement on Sunday. “While the case is under review both in the Senate and in the courts, Senator Mitchell will be relieved of her committee assignments and removed from caucus meetings.” 

On Monday, Republicans in the state Senate made two attempts to bar her vote from voting while she faces first-degree burglary charges. Democrats in the chamber currently have a 34-33 majority.

The first attempt on Monday, which would have barred senators currently charged with a crime of violence from voting until the conclusion of an investigation by the Senate Ethics Committee, failed on party lines. The second attempt would have prohibited the vote of a senator under those same circumstances from being registered and recorded by the secretary of the Senate. It also failed on party lines.

“Allowing a Senator charged with a felony to cast the tiebreaking vote undermines the trust in our legislative process and brings into question the legitimacy of our work,” Republican state-Sen. Rich Draheim said in a statement on Monday.

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Democrats defended their votes by arguing that not allowing Mitchell to vote in the chamber would disenfranchise the voters in her district who elected her.

“The attempt to do so is an attack on all the voters in the Senate district that elected the senator and sent that person here to vote on their behalf,” Democratic state Sen. Ron Latz said on Monday, according to the Minnesota Reformer.