| Deb Kiel | |
| State: | Minnesota |
| State House: | Minnesota |
| District: | 1B |
| Term Start: | January 4, 2011 |
| Preceded: | Bernard Lieder |
| Constituency: | 1B (2011-present) |
| Party: | Republican |
| Birth Date: | 31 August 1957 |
| Birth Place: | Crookston, Minnesota, U.S. |
| Education: | Concordia College |
| Spouse: | Lonn |
| Children: | 4 |
| Residence: | Crookston, Minnesota, U.S. |
Debra L. Kiel (born August 31, 1957) is an American politician serving in the Minnesota House of Representatives since 2011. A member of the Republican Party of Minnesota, Kiel represents District 1B in northwest Minnesota, which includes the cities of Crookston and East Grand Forks and Norman, Polk, Clay and Red Lake Counties.[1] [2]
Kiel was born and raised on a farm south of Crookston, Minnesota. 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.
Kiel was elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives in 2010 and has been reelected every two years since. She defeated 13-term DFL incumbent Bernard Lieder.
Kiel serves as the minority lead of the Human Services Policy Committee and serves on the Health Finance and Policy and Ethics Committees. 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.[3]
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.[4] [5] [6] She opposed increasing the state tobacco tax, saying people in her district would drive to North Dakota to buy cigarettes.[7]
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.[8] [9] She co-authored an op-ed arguing that employers need to "hold on" to older workers to solve workforce shortage issues.[10]
Kiel opposes abortion rights and has sponsored legislation to increase inspection requirements at abortion facilities and require them to be specially licensed.[11] [12] [13] She has called for audits of Planned Parenthood and said it should be able to show it is "not marketing baby parts".[14]
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.[15] [16] She visited Israel and the West Bank in 2019 with a bipartisan delegation from the Minnesota legislature.[17]
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.[18]
Kiel's great-grandfather, John Perry, a Crookston farmer, represented Polk County in the Minnesota House during the 1921-22 biennium.[19]