# Deb Kiel

Debra L. Kiel (/kiːl/ KEEL; born August 31, 1957) is an American politician who served in the Minnesota House of Representatives from 2011 to 2025. A member of the Republican Party of Minnesota, Kiel represented District 1B in northwest Minnesota, which includes the cities of Crookston and East Grand Forks and Norman, Polk, Clay and Red Lake Counties.

## Early life, education, and career

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.

## Minnesota House of Representatives

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 served as the minority lead of the Human Services Policy Committee and served on the Health Finance and Policy and Ethics Committees during her term. 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.

### Health care and long-term care

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. 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, 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. She co-authored an op-ed arguing that employers need to "hold on" to older workers to solve workforce shortage issues.

#### Abortion

Kiel 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".

### Other political positions

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. She visited Israel and the West Bank in 2019 with a bipartisan delegation from the Minnesota legislature.

## Electoral results

2010 Minnesota State House - District 1B :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Republican | Debra "Deb" Kiel | 6,528 | 50.48 |
| | Democratic (DFL) | Bernie (Bernard) L. Lieder (incumbent) | 6,397 | 49.47 |
| | Write-in | Write-in | 7 | 0.05 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 12,932 | 100.00 |
| | Republican gain from Democratic (DFL) | Republican gain from Democratic (DFL) | Republican gain from Democratic (DFL) | Republican gain from Democratic (DFL) |
2012 Minnesota State House - District 1B :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Republican | Debra "Deb" Kiel (incumbent) | 9,401 | 51.90 |
| | Democratic (DFL) | Marc Demers | 8,685 | 47.95 |
| | Write-in | Write-in | 27 | 0.15 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 18,113 | 100.00 |
| | Republican hold | Republican hold | Republican hold | Republican hold |
2014 Minnesota State House - District 1B :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Republican | Debra "Deb" Kiel (incumbent) | 7,176 | 55.61 |
| | Democratic (DFL) | Eric Bergeson | 5,721 | 44.34 |
| | Write-in | Write-in | 6 | 0.05 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 12,903 | 100.00 |
| | Republican hold | Republican hold | Republican hold | Republican hold |
2016 Minnesota State House - District 1B :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Republican | Debra "Deb" Kiel (incumbent) | 11,895 | 64.75 |
| | Democratic (DFL) | Michael "Mike" Moore | 6,458 | 35.15 |
| | Write-in | Write-in | 19 | 0.10 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 18,372 | 100.00 |
| | Republican hold | Republican hold | Republican hold | Republican hold |
2018 Minnesota State House - District 1B :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Republican | Debra "Deb" Kiel (incumbent) | 10,026 | 65.94 |
| | Democratic (DFL) | Brent Lindstrom | 5,173 | 34.02 |
| | Write-in | Write-in | 6 | 0.04 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 15,205 | 100.00 |
| | Republican hold | Republican hold | Republican hold | Republican hold |
2020 Minnesota State House - District 1B :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Republican | Debra "Deb" Kiel (incumbent) | 13,904 | 70.90 |
| | Democratic (DFL) | Cindy Ansbacher | 5,687 | 29.00 |
| | Write-in | Write-in | 19 | 0.10 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 19,601 | 100.00 |
| | Republican hold | Republican hold | Republican hold | Republican hold |
2022 Minnesota State House - District 1B :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Republican | Debra "Deb" Kiel (incumbent) | 10,878 | 71.13 |
| | Democratic (DFL) | Cindy Ansbacher | 4,399 | 28.76 |
| | Write-in | Write-in | 16 | 0.10 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 15,293 | 100.00 |
| | Republican hold | Republican hold | Republican hold | Republican hold |

## Personal life

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.
Kiel's great-grandfather, John Perry, a Crookston farmer, represented Polk County in the Minnesota House during the 1921-22 biennium.