Minnesota Senate Democrats today rejected a Republican motion to expel Senator Nicole Mitchell, the Democrat who is currently on trial for felony first-degree burglary. Senate Republicans also offered the motion to expel Sen. Mitchell during the 2024 legislative session, but it failed when every Democrat voted to rule it out of order.  

Senator Rich Draheim (R-Madison Lake) issued the following statement. 

“The Senate’s integrity was on the line today, and Democrats failed the test. Sen. Mitchell admitted she ‘did something wrong’ and is facing a felony burglary charge, yet Democrats voted to protect her instead of the institution. Minnesotans deserve better. Senators must be held to the highest possible ethical standards.  

Last year, Senator Mitchell and her Democrat colleagues used her upcoming trial as an excuse to delay action, including on an ethics violation. Now she is using the legislative session as an excuse to delay her trial. She continues to hide from justice. It is a complete double standard – no other regular citizen would be afforded the privilege that she is hiding behind. 

Today we had an opportunity to restore trust in the Senate, but Democrats chose partisan loyalty over accountability.” 

Senator Draheim will also soon be introducing a bill requiring that if an elected official is charged with a felony, any body camera footage involving the official becomes public 14 days after a criminal complaint is filed.   

Senator Draheim said, “When public officials are the subject of these felony cases, like Sen. Mitchell is, their constituents deserve full transparency. A fast and easy way for them to understand the whole story is to release the body camera footage as quickly as possible.”