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

Minnesota House of Representatives The Minnesota House of Representatives is the lower chamber of the U.S. state of Minnesota's Minnesota Legislature, legislature. It operates in conjunction with the Minnesota Senate, the state's upper chamber, to write and pass legislation, whic ...

from 2011 to 2025. A member of the

Republican Party of Minnesota The Republican Party of Minnesota is the state affiliate of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party in Minnesota and the oldest active political party in the state. Founded in 1855, the party is headquartered in Edina, Minnesota, E ...

, Kiel represented District 1B in northwest

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

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

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 9th and 10th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norma ...

Polk DNA polymerase kappa is a DNA polymerase that in humans is encoded by the ''POLK'' gene. It is involved in translesion synthesis DNA repair is a collection of processes by which a cell (biology), cell identifies and corrects damage to the ...

Clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolinite, ). Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impuriti ...

and 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 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

and has been reelected every two years since. She defeated 13-term DFL incumbent Bernard Lieder. Kiel served as the minority lead of the Human Services Policy Committee and served on the Health Finance and Policy and Ethics Committees during her term. 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 people, Dakota and Sioux peoples. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minneso ...

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 an American nonprofit organization

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, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

and the

West Bank The West Bank is located on the western bank of the Jordan River and is the larger of the two Palestinian territories (the other being the Gaza Strip) that make up the State of Palestine. 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 women politicians Lutherans from Minnesota 21st-century members of the Minnesota Legislature