State Sen. Nicole Mitchell, D-Minn., appeared with an interest group on April 16 to promote “safer communities.”
Only six days later, Mitchell was arrested on suspicion of burglary.
“You just can’t make this stuff up,” one critic said.
Mitchell, a Woodbury resident, was arrested in Detroit Lakes, a faraway community in northwestern Minnesota, the region’s Police Chief Steve Todd told the Associated Press.
As of Monday afternoon, the 49-year-old senator was reportedly sitting in the nearby Becker County Jail. A former television meteorologist, Mitchell did not immediately return an AP reporter’s call left in the jailhouse’s voicemail box.
Mitchell worked as a meteorologist with the U.S. military and for KSTP-TV and Minnesota Public Radio. In 2022, she won a Senate election in a district outside St. Paul.
The police chief described a homeowner’s 911 call about “an active burglary in process at her residence” around 4:45 in the morning. Officers searched the home and arrested Mitchell.
He refrained from giving too many details about a case still under investigation. However, he said he anticipated hearing back from the county prosecutor’s office sometime on Tuesday, and he expected the authorities to file a complaint around that time.
According to a publicly available obituary for Mitchell’s late father, Mitchell’s stepmother lived on the same block of the same road in Detroit Lakes. The case is still developing.
Take a look —
BREAKING: Minnesota State Senator Nicole Mitchell (D) was just arrested for 1st-degree burglary.
This comes a few days after she publicly advocated for building "safer communities."
You just can't make this stuff up 🤣 pic.twitter.com/nccInYfGeg
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) April 22, 2024
Meaningful conversation today with @MomsDemand community members advocating for common sense gun reform & safer communities at #mnleg–as well as providing Minnesotans the mental health services they need to #EndGunViolence in our neighborhoods pic.twitter.com/QencA4RE1J
— Senator Nicole Mitchell (@Sen_NMitchell) April 16, 2024
What’s more, Mitchell was arrested at an awkward time for state Democrats. With only four weeks left in the legislative session, the Democrats hold only a narrow one-seat majority with four weeks left in the legislative session. In other words, the Senate Democrats would need Republican votes to pass nearly anything during Mitchell’s stint in jail.
Minnesota has recently emerged as a pickup opportunity for national Republicans headiung into the 2024 election, even though President Joe Biden won the state comfortably in 2020. Minnesota has been trending “redder” by the year.
“Simple RCP average has Minnesota closer than Michigan, Wisconsin or Pennsylvania. 538 has it more likely to flip than Michigan. Hillary only won it by 1.5%,” one commentator tweeted in August 2020. “It’s getting redder and is the one state Trump could flip from 2016.”
Mitchell’s arrested has surprised Senate leaders. The Senate Democratic Caucus said in a statement that it’s “aware of the situation and has no comment pending further information.”
Republican Senate Majority Leader Mark Johnson, of East Grand Forks, expressed his shock… and said he expected more details to come soon.
“The public expects Legislators to meet a high standard of conduct,” Johnson said in a statement. “As information comes out, we expect the consequences to meet the actions, both in the court of law, and in her role at the legislature.”
All week, the state Senate has been in recess for Passover, and it’s set to reconvene Wednesday.
Brian Covington, a reporter for The Horn News, and the Associated Press contributed to this article