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.^[2] She enrolled at the State University of New York at Buffalo, graduating in 1987 with a B.A. in communication studies.^[3] Housley then worked as a news producer for WGRZ and WKBW in Buffalo until 1991.^[4]

Housley has represented Forest Lake, Stillwater, and communities along the St. Croix Valley in the Minnesota Senate since 2013. As a state senator, she is best known for her work on issues related to aging and long-term care and veterans.^[5] Housley was instrumental in creating the first Minnesota Senate committee on aging, which she chaired.^[6][7] In 2019, Housley authored "landmark" legislation to provide enhanced protections for elderly and vulnerable adults in senior care facilities and licensed assisted living facilities in Minnesota for the first time.^[8][9]

Housley was selected by her colleagues to serve as an assistant majority leader in both the 91st and 92nd sessions of the Minnesota Legislature.^[10][11]

In her first campaign for public office, Housley ran for the Minnesota Senate in 2010 and narrowly lost to DFL incumbent Katie Sieben.^[12] After redistricting placed Housley's residence in a new district, she was elected to the Senate in 2012, defeating her opponent by 1% of the vote.^[13] She was reelected in 2016 by more than 20 points.^[14][15] Housley was reelected again in 2020 and 2022.^[16]

In 2014, Housley was selected by Republican gubernatorial candidate Scott Honour, a businessman from Orono, to be his candidate for lieutenant governor of Minnesota.^[17] They lost the 2014 Republican primary to Jeff Johnson.^[18]

In December 2017, Housley announced her candidacy for 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.^[15] Governor Mark Dayton appointed Lieutenant Governor Tina Smith to fill the vacancy, and Smith announced her candidacy for election to the seat.^[19] Housley comfortably won the Republican primary but lost to Smith in the general election.^[20][21] Housley was criticized during the campaign for a 2009 Facebook post in which she made a comparison between then-First Lady Michelle Obama's posture and the chimpanzee in Bedtime for Bonzo.^[22]

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.^[23] She ultimately decided against it, instead announcing she would run for reelection to the Minnesota Senate.^[24]

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.^[25] Karin and Phil have four children, all graduates of Stillwater Area High School, and four grandchildren.^[26] They reside in Stillwater, where Housley also owns a real estate business.^[27][28] She is Lutheran.^[29]