Representative Deb Kiel Contact information

Debra L. Kiel, known as Deb Kiel, is an American politician who has been serving in the Minnesota House of Representatives since 2011. She is a member of the Republican Party of Minnesota and represents District 1B in northwest Minnesota. This district includes the cities of Crookston and East Grand Forks and Norman, Polk, Clay, and Red Lake Counties.

Deb was born on August 31, 1957, and raised on a farm south of Crookston, Minnesota. After graduating from Crookston High School, she attended Concordia College in Moorhead. She was a member of the Crookston School Board for seven years, serving as its chair and treasurer. Deb and her husband are sugar beet farmers.

In 2010, Deb was elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives, defeating 13-term DFL incumbent Bernard Lieder. She 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.

Deb has 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. She opposed increasing the state tobacco tax, saying people in her district would drive to North Dakota to buy cigarettes. As chair of the subcommittee on aging, Deb 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.

Deb opposes abortion rights and has sponsored legislation to increase inspection requirements at abortion facilities and require them to be specially licensed. She has called for audits of Planned Parenthood and said it should be able to show it is “not marketing baby parts”.

On January 12, 2024, Deb announced she would not seek re-election to the Minnesota House of Representatives District 1B. Her current term ends on January 7, 2025.