Karin Housley

Housley was born and raised in South St. Paul, Minnesota. She graduated from South St. Paul High School in 1982 and briefly attended Augsburg College before moving to Buffalo, New York after her high school sweetheart, Phil Housley, was drafted by the Buffalo Sabres.[1] She enrolled at the State University of New York at Buffalo, where she graduated in 1987 with a B.A. in communication studies.[2] After earning her degree, Housley worked as a news producer for WGRZ and WKBW in Buffalo until 1991.[3]

Housley has represented Forest Lake, Stillwater, and communities along the St. Croix Valley in the Minnesota Senate since 2013. As a state senator, Housley is best known for her work on issues related to aging and long-term care and veterans.[4] Housley was instrumental in the creation of a first-ever Minnesota Senate committee on aging, which she currently chairs.[5][6] In 2019, Housley was the author of "landmark" legislation that provided enhanced protections for elderly and vulnerable adults in senior care facilities and licensed assisted living facilities in Minnesota for the first time.[7][8]

Housley was selected by her colleagues to serve as an assistant majority leader in both the 91st and 92nd sessions of the Minnesota Legislature.[9][10]

Housley speaking at Minnesota's 8th Congressional District nomination convention in Park Rapids in 2018

In 2010, her first run for public office, Housley was narrowly defeated by DFL incumbent Katie Sieben for election to the Minnesota Senate.[11] After redistricting placed Housley's residence in a new district, she was elected to that seat in 2012, defeating her opponent by one percent.[12] She was re-elected in 2016, defeating her opponent by more than 20 percent.[13][14] In 2020, Housley was re-elected to a third term.[15]

In 2014, Housley was selected by Republican gubernatorial candidate Scott Honour, a businessman from Orono, to be his candidate for lieutenant governor of Minnesota.[16] The pair was defeated in the 2014 Republican primary.[17]

In December 2017, Housley announced she intended to seek the Republican nomination in the 2018 special election for United States Senate. The seat was vacated by Al Franken, who resigned amid allegations of sexual misconduct.[14] Tina Smith, then the lieutenant governor, was appointed by Governor Mark Dayton to fill Franken's vacancy, and announced she intended to seek election to the seat.[18] Housley won the Republican primary and was defeated by Smith, the Democratic incumbent, in the general election.[19][20]

In March 2019, Housley registered a political action committee to assist conservative candidates running for office in Minnesota, fueling speculation that she would run for the same U.S. Senate seat again in 2020.[21] She ultimately decided against it, instead announcing she would run for re-election to the Minnesota Senate.[22]

After living in Buffalo, Winnipeg, St. Louis, Calgary, New Jersey, Washington, D.C., Chicago, Toronto, and Phoenix during Phil's National Hockey League career, the Housleys moved back to Minnesota in 2003.[23] Karin and Phil have four children, each of them graduates of Stillwater Area High School, and two grandchildren.[24] They reside in St. Marys Point.[25] Housley owns a real estate business in Stillwater.[26]

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Karin Housley

• Karin Housley at Minnesota Legislators Past & Present
• Senator Karin Housley official Minnesota Senate website
• Karin Housley for Senate official campaign website
• Profile at Vote Smart
• Financial information (federal office) at the Federal Election Commission
• Senator Karin Housley official Minnesota Senate Republican Caucus website