John Burkel (born April 6, 1967) is an American politician serving 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 ...

since 2021. 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 ...

, Burkel represents District 1A 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 city of

Thief River Falls Thief River Falls, sometimes abbreviated as TRF, is a city and county seat of Pennington County in the northwest portion of the U.S. state of Minnesota. The population was 8,749 at the 2020 census. History Thief River Falls takes its name fro ...

and parts of Kittson,

Roseau Roseau (Dominican Creole French, Dominican Creole: ''Wozo'') is the capital and largest city of Dominica, with a population of 14,725 as of 2011. It is a small and compact urban settlement, in the Saint George Parish, Dominica, Saint George Pa ...

Marshall Marshall may refer to: Places Australia *Marshall, Victoria, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria ** Marshall railway station Canada * Marshall, Saskatchewan * The Marshall, a mountain in British Columbia Liberia * Marshall, Liberia Marshall Is ...

, and Pennington Counties.

Early life, education, and career

Burkel grew up in Greenbush, Minnesota, and attended Greenbush High School. He is a fourth-generation

farmer A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, raising living organisms for food or raw materials. The term usually applies to people who do some combination of raising field crops, orchards, vineyards, poultry, or other livestock. A farmer ...

. He attended

North Dakota State University North Dakota State University (NDSU, formally North Dakota State University of Agriculture and Applied Sciences) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Fargo, North Dakota, United States. It was ...

for two years to pursue a degree in business and economics but dropped out to work at his family's

turkey farm The domestic turkey (''Meleagris gallopavo domesticus'') is a large fowl, one of the two species in the genus '' Meleagris'' and the same species as the wild turkey. Although turkey domestication was thought to have occurred in central Mesoameric ...

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

pardoned Popcorn, a turkey belonging to Burkel, in the 2013

National Thanksgiving Turkey Presentation The National Thanksgiving Turkey Presentation is a ceremony that takes place at the White House every year shortly before Thanksgiving. The president of the United States is presented with a live domestic turkey by the National Turkey Federat ...

. Burkel was vice chair of the National Turkey Federation. During a 2015 outbreak of avian flu, he testified to the Minnesota Legislature about the flu's impact on turkey farmers.

Minnesota House of Representatives

Burkel was elected to the

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

and was reelected in

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

. He first ran after five-term incumbent Dan Fabian announced he would not seek reelection and encouraged Burkel to run. Burkel serves on the Agriculture Finance and Policy and Environment and Natural Resources Finance and Policy Committees and the Property Taxes Division of the Taxes Committee. In 2022 after an outbreak of avian flu, Burkel spoke in support of passing emergency funding. In response to legislation to limit the movement of farmed deer to prevent the spread of chronic wasting disease, he advocated that the state compensate farmers for their financial losses. Burkel has argued that the government's support of ethanol has harmed livestock farmers who use corn for feed. Burkel and Representative Deb Kiel introduced bills increasing

vocational education Vocational education is education that prepares people for a skilled craft. Vocational education can also be seen as that type of education given to an individual to prepare that individual to be gainfully employed or self employed with req ...

for high school students. He also introduced legislation to reform county engineer residency laws so rural counties could find one easier. Burkel opposed mask mandates during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Electoral history

Personal life

Burkel lives in

Badger, Minnesota Badger is a city in Skagen Township of Roseau County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 375 at the 2010 census. History A post office called Badger has been in operation since 1889. The city was named after nearby Badger Creek. Am ...

with his wife, Joni, and has five children. He is

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

References

External links

Official House of Representatives website

Official campaign website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Burkel, John 1967 births Living people People from Roseau County, Minnesota North Dakota State University alumni Republican Party members of the Minnesota House of Representatives 21st-century members of the Minnesota Legislature