Mike Freiberg (born September 23, 1976) 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 2013. A member of the

Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party The Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL) is a political party in the U.S. state of Minnesota affiliated with the national Democratic Party. The party was formed by a merger between the Minnesota Democratic Party and the Minneso ...

(DFL), Freiberg represents District 43B in the central

Twin Cities Twin cities are a special case of two neighboring cities or urban centres that grow into a single conurbation – or narrowly separated urban areas – over time. There are no formal criteria, but twin cities are generally comparable in stat ...

metropolitan area, which includes the cities of Golden Valley and Robbinsdale and parts of

Hennepin County Hennepin County ( ) is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Minnesota. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 1,281,565, and was estimated to be 1,273,334 in 2024, making it the List of counties in ...

Early life, education and career

Freiberg was raised in

Golden Valley, Minnesota Golden Valley is a western and first-ring suburb of Minneapolis in Hennepin County, Minnesota, Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 22,552 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The city is mostly residential an ...

. He has Jewish ancestry. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in government and

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

from

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...

and a

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

from the

William Mitchell College of Law William Mitchell College of Law was a private law school from 1956 to 2015 in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. Accredited by the American Bar Association (ABA), it offered full- and part-time legal education in pursuit of the Juris Doctor (J. ...

. Freiberg was a legislative aide to U.S. Representative

Jim Oberstar James Louis Oberstar (September 10, 1934 – May 3, 2014) was an American politician and Congressman who served in the United States House of Representatives from 1975 to 2011. Hailing from Minnesota and a member of the state's local Minnes ...

from 1999 to 2001. From 2005 to 2006, he was a committee administrator for the

Minnesota Senate The Minnesota Senate is the upper house of the Minnesota Legislature, Legislature of the U.S. state of Minnesota. At 67 members, half as many as the Minnesota House of Representatives, it is the largest upper house of any State legislature (Unite ...

. He was elected to the Golden Valley City Council in 2007 and served until his election to the state legislature. Freiberg has worked as an

adjunct professor An adjunct professor is a type of academic appointment in higher education who does not work at the establishment full-time. The terms of this appointment and the job security of the tenure vary in different parts of the world, but the term is gen ...

for

. He is an attorney for the Public Health Law Center in

Saint Paul, Minnesota Saint Paul (often abbreviated St. Paul) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ramsey County, Minnesota, Ramsey County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, ...

Minnesota House of Representatives

Freiberg was elected to the

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

, and has been reelected every two years since. He first ran for an open seat created by legislative redistricting. In 2018, Freiberg endorsed fellow state representatives

Erin Murphy Erin Margaret Murphy (born June 17, 1964) is an American actress, who is best known for her role as young Tabitha Stephens in the television sitcom ''Bewitched'', in 103 episodes from the show's third season (in 1966) to the last original episo ...

in the DFL gubernatorial primary and

Ilhan Omar Ilhan Abdullahi Omar (born October 4, 1982) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for since 2019. She is a member of the Democratic Party. Before her election to Congress, Omar served in the Minnesota House of Represen ...

for

Minnesota's 5th congressional district Minnesota's 5th congressional district is a geographically small urban and suburban congressional district in Minnesota. It covers eastern Hennepin County, Minnesota, Hennepin County, including the entire city of Minneapolis, along with parts ...

. Freiberg chairs the Elections Finance and Policy Committee and sits on the Commerce Finance and Policy, State and Local Government Finance and Policy, and Ways and Means Committees. He was an assistant minority leader from 2017 to 2018. From 2019 to 2020 Freiberg chaired the Government Operations Committee, and from 2021 to 2022 he chaired the Preventative Health Division of the Health Finance and Policy Committee.

Election policy

Freiberg sponsored legislation for Minnesota to join the

National Popular Vote Interstate Compact MD, NJ, IL, HI, WA, MA, DC, VT, CA, RI, NY, CT, CO, DE, NM, OR, MN, ME AZ, KS, PA, SC, VA, TX, MT The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (NPVIC) is an agreement among a group of U.S. states and the District of Columbia to award all t ...

, under which it would award its electoral votes to whichever presidential candidate wins the most popular votes nationwide; the compact goes into effect only when states that together have a majority of electoral votes have joined it. He has argued that the

Electoral College An electoral college is a body whose task is to elect a candidate to a particular office. It is mostly used in the political context for a constitutional body that appoints the head of state or government, and sometimes the upper parliament ...

has "become less and less representative". Freiberg authored legislation to close campaign finance disclosure loopholes, including increasing campaign finance reporting requirements for local and municipal elections. Freiberg supports legislation that would raise the threshold for major-party status in Minnesota, saying the current system is "susceptible for mischief". The bill faced opposition from third parties as well as former Governor

Jesse Ventura Jesse Ventura (born James George Janos; July 15, 1951) is an American politician, political commentator, actor, media personality, and retired professional wrestler. After achieving fame in the WWE, World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE), he ...

, who ran under the Reform Party in 1998.

Health care policy

In 2015, Freiberg wrote a bill requiring parents to talk to a doctor before parents opt their children out of vaccinations for diseases such as measles and chickenpox. The bill was supported by doctors from the

Mayo Clinic Mayo Clinic () is a Nonprofit organization, private American Academic health science centre, academic Medical centers in the United States, medical center focused on integrated health care, healthcare, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science ...

, but failed to move forward during Republican control of the House. He also authored legislation that would support outreach programs to teach communities about the value of vaccinations and combat misinformation. Freiberg has authored "

right to die The right to die is a concept rooted in the belief that individuals have the Self-ownership, autonomy to make fundamental decisions about their own lives, including the choice to Suicide, end them or undergo voluntary euthanasia, central to the b ...

" legislation that allows Minnesotans facing terminal illnesses to have medical aid in dying. The bill was modeled on an

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

state law that has been in place for over 20 years.

Cannabis legalization

In 2019, Freiberg was the lead House author of legislation that would legalize

cannabis ''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae that is widely accepted as being indigenous to and originating from the continent of Asia. However, the number of species is disputed, with as many as three species be ...

by 2022, introduced as House File 420. The bill would legalize the drug for those over 21 and direct the Department of Health to regulate it and mitigate negative consequences, including researching and addressing physical and mental health issues related to the drug. The proposal was supported by Governor

Tim Walz Timothy James Walz (; born April 6, 1964) is an American politician who has served since 2019 as the 41st governor of Minnesota. He was the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic nominee for Vice President of the United States, vice pre ...

, but faced opposition in the Republican-controlled State Senate, where it was carried by fellow DFLer

Melisa Franzen ''Melisa'' is a genus of moths in the family Erebidae The Erebidae are a family (biology), family of moths in the superfamily Noctuoidea. The family is among the largest families of moths by species count and contains a wide variety of well ...

Other political positions

Freiberg wrote legislation in 2019 to lock Minnesota on daylight saving time. In 2022, he authored legislation to put Minnesota on permanent

standard time Standard time is the synchronization of clocks within a geographical region to a single time standard, rather than a local mean time standard. Generally, standard time agrees with the local mean time at some meridian that passes through the r ...

, saying, "I just want to get rid of the clock change. I don't care which one we go on." The U.S. government has banned states from adopting permanent

daylight saving time Daylight saving time (DST), also referred to as daylight savings time, daylight time (Daylight saving time in the United States, United States and Daylight saving time in Canada, Canada), or summer time (British Summer Time, United Kingdom, ...

. Freiberg supported legislation to crack down on the use of "deep-fake" technology in pornography and campaign materials. Freiberg supported legislation that studied a redesign of Minnesota's

state flag In vexillology, a state flag is either the flag of the government of a sovereign state, or the flag of an individual federated state (subnational administrative division). Government flag A state flag is a variant of a national flag (or occas ...

, which had been criticized for its design and depiction of Native Americans. He also wrote legislation that would create a "companion animal board" aimed at curbing cruelty to animals and neglect.

Electoral results

Personal life

Freiberg has been married to his wife, Lauren, since 2006. They have two children and reside in

. Freiberg plays keyboard and has done so in the Minnesota State Band, the last state band in the nation. Freiberg is agnostic, and co-founded Minnesota's "Secular Government Caucus".

References

External links

Rep. Mike Freiberg
''official Minnesota House of Representatives website''
Rep. Mike Freiberg
''official campaign website'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Freiberg, Mike Living people People from Golden Valley, Minnesota Georgetown University College of Arts & Sciences alumni William Mitchell College of Law alumni Democratic Party members of the Minnesota House of Representatives 1976 births United States congressional aides 21st-century members of the Minnesota Legislature