WOODBURY Minn. — State Senator Nicole Mitchell, convicted last week of felony burglary, confirmed she will resign her Senate seat. The resignation will be effective August 4 so she can wind up remaining Senate projects and constituent services. What’s next for the 50-year-old Mithell? Sentencing hasn’t been scheduled, but she faces a mandatory minimum of 180 days in jail. Her biography is rich: She had been an on-air meteorologist at KSTP television in Minneapolis and Minnesota Pubic Radio. Earlier she was at WCBS in New York City and WFOR in Miami. She also did weather at Duluth, the Weather Channel, and Al-Jazeera America. She returned to her home state of Minnesota in 2017. She was a lieutenant colonel in the Minnesota Air National Guard. She commanded the 126th Weather unit but has since been relieved. She holds a communication degree from the University of Minnesota and a law degree from Georgia State. Under Minnesota law her conviction doesn’t preclude her from seeking election to public office again. She was in the Senate from District 47, which includes the east St. Paul suburbs of Woodbury and Maple Grove. She is a Democrat. She won the District 47 seat in 2022 by 17 points, 58% to 41%.
Mitchell. She burgled her stepmother’s home in Detroit Lakes to retrieve keepsake mementos of her late father.
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Alex Plechash, state Republican chair: “Instead of doing the right thing and stepping down immediately, she now plans to stick around for another two weeks — just long enough to collect another taxpayer-funded paycheck. Let’s be clear: This is not public service. It’s self-serving and disgraceful.”