Debra L. Kiel (born August 31, 1957) is an American politician serving in the

Minnesota House of Representatives The Minnesota House of Representatives is the lower house of the Legislature of the U.S. state of Minnesota. There are 134 members, twice as many as the Minnesota Senate. Floor sessions are held in the north wing of the State Capitol in Saint ...

since 2011. A member of the

Republican Party of Minnesota The Republican Party of Minnesota is the oldest active political party in the U.S. state of Minnesota. The Minnesota Republican Party’s platform is relatively moderate. The party’s main issues are economic growth, education, healthcare, civ ...

, Kiel represents District 1B in northwest

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over t ...

, which includes the cities of Crookston and East Grand Forks and Norman,

Polk Polk may refer to: People * James K. Polk, 11th president of the United States * Polk (name), other people with the name Places * Polk (CTA), a train station in Chicago, Illinois * Polk, Illinois, an unincorporated community * Polk, Missour ...

Clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay pa ...

and

Red Lake Red Lake may refer to: Lakes Australia * Red Lake (Western Australia) Croatia * Red Lake (Croatia) (Crveno jezero) Romania *Red Lake (Romania) (Lacul Roşu) United States * Red Lake (Arizona–New Mexico) * Red Lake (Orlando), Florida *Red Lake ...

Counties.

Early life, education, and career

Kiel was born and raised on a farm south of

Crookston, Minnesota Crookston is a city in the U.S. state of Minnesota. It is the county seat of Polk County. The population was 7,482 at the 2020 census. It is part of the "Grand Forks, ND- MN Metropolitan Statistical Area" or "Greater Grand Forks". Crookst ...

. She graduated from Crookston High School and attended Concordia College in Moorhead. Kiel was a member of the Crookston School Board for seven years, serving as its chair and treasurer. She and her husband are sugar beet farmers.

Minnesota House of Representatives

Kiel was elected to the

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

and has been reelected every two years since. She defeated 13-term DFL incumbent Bernard Lieder. Kiel serves as the minority lead of the Human Services Policy Committee and serves on the Health Finance and Policy and Ethics Committees. From 2015 to 2016, she served as an assistant majority leader, and from 2017 to 2018 she chaired the Subcommittee on Aging and Long-Term Care, a subcommittee of the Health and Human Services Reform Committee.

Health care and long-term care

Kiel supported increasing funding for student loan forgiveness for doctors who agree to practice in rural areas, and increasing that program to include nurses, dentists, and mental health workers. She opposed increasing the state tobacco tax, saying people in her district would drive to

North Dakota North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minnesota to the east, ...

to buy cigarettes. As chair of the subcommittee on aging, Kiel introduced legislation to better protect seniors from retaliation when they report elder abuse and establish work groups to review crimes against vulnerable adults like those with dementia. She co-authored an op-ed arguing that employers need to "hold on" to older workers to solve workforce shortage issues.

Abortion

Kiel opposes abortion rights and has sponsored legislation to increase inspection requirements at abortion facilities and require them to be specially licensed. She has called for audits of

Planned Parenthood The Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc. (PPFA), or simply Planned Parenthood, is a nonprofit organization that provides reproductive health care in the United States and globally. It is a tax-exempt corporation under Internal Reve ...

and said it should be able to show it is "not marketing baby parts".

Other political positions

In 2011, Kiel was one of four Republican representatives to vote against roughly $1 billion in budget cuts to local government aid and higher education. She visited

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

and the

West Bank The West Bank ( ar, الضفة الغربية, translit=aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah; he, הגדה המערבית, translit=HaGadah HaMaʽaravit, also referred to by some Israelis as ) is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

in 2019 with a bipartisan delegation from the Minnesota legislature.

Electoral results

Personal life

Kiel married her husband, Lonn, in 1977. They have four children and 12 grandchildren. Kiel is active at her home church, Our Savior’s Lutheran. Lonn ran three unsuccessful campaigns against Bernard Lieder before Deb unseated him. On March 20, 2023, Kiel announced she had a stroke while at the State Office Building, and returned home to recover. Kiel's great-grandfather, John Perry, a Crookston farmer, represented Polk County in the Minnesota House during the 1921-22 biennium.

References

External links

Official House of Representatives website

Official campaign website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kiel, Debra 1957 births Living people People from Crookston, Minnesota Republican Party members of the Minnesota House of Representatives Women state legislators in Minnesota Concordia College (Moorhead, Minnesota) alumni 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American women politicians Lutherans from Minnesota