Michelle Fischbach

Fischbach noted a memo from the Senate's nonpartisan counsel, which cited an 1898 decision by the Minnesota Supreme Court as legal precedent for her to hold both offices.

She also said the lieutenant governor's duties are largely ceremonial and she would have no difficulty holding both offices.

She declined the lieutenant governor's salary, opting to receive only the pay of a state senator.

Michelle Louise Helene Fischbach (born November 3, 1965) is an American attorney and politician who is the U.S. representative from Minnesota's 7th congressional district.

The district, which is very rural, is Minnesota's largest congressional district and includes most of the western area of the state.

An advisory opinion from state attorney general Lori Swanson disputed the legality of Fischbach's holding both offices at once, citing a constitutional amendment passed in 1972, and other historical precedents.

The potential outcomes were seen as having potentially significant ramifications on Minnesota politics, as Republicans held only a two-vote majority in the state Senate.

After graduating from Woodbury High School, she attended the College of St. Benedict in St. Joseph from 1984 to 1986; she later transferred to St. Cloud State University, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science and economics in 1989.

In 1994, Fischbach became the first woman elected to the Paynesville City Council, where she served until she was elected to the Minnesota Senate in 1996.

Fischbach was a member of the Minnesota Senate from 1996 to 2018.

Fischbach was elected to the Minnesota Senate in 1996 in a special election held after the resignation of DFL Senator Joe Bertram, who had recently pleaded guilty to shoplifting.

Fischbach was reelected months later in the 1996 general election, and in 2000, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2012, and 2016.

She served as an assistant minority leader from 2001 to 2002 and from 2007 to 2008, and as a deputy minority leader from 2009 to 2010.

Fischbach also served as the chair of the Senate's higher education committee.

During her tenure, she was the President of the Minnesota Senate from 2011 to 2013 and from 2017 to 2018.

When Dayton appointed Tina Smith to the U.S. Senate after Al Franken’s resignation, Fischbach became the lieutenant governor of Minnesota under the Minnesota Constitution.

She served as lieutenant governor under Governor Mark Dayton.

Fischbach earned her Juris Doctor from William Mitchell School of Law in Saint Paul in 2011.

She first got involved in politics as an intern to Rudy Boschwitz, then a U.S. senator for Minnesota.

In 2011, after an election in which Senate Republicans won a majority for the first time since party designation, Fischbach's colleagues elected her the first female president of the Minnesota Senate, a post she held until Republicans lost their majority in 2013.

After Republicans regained a majority following the 2016 election, Fischbach was again elected Senate president on January 3, 2017.

On December 13, 2017, Governor Mark Dayton appointed his lieutenant governor, Tina Smith, to the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Al Franken, who resigned over allegations of sexual misconduct.

In December 2017, to avoid a potential tie should Fischbach resign her Senate seat, Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka and House Speaker Kurt Daudt sent Dayton a letter requesting a special legislative session to temporarily elect a Democratic president of the Senate.

Dayton and legislative Democrats immediately rejected the idea, with Senate Minority Leader Tom Bakk indicating he would file a lawsuit to attempt to force Fischbach out of the Senate should she attempt to serve in both offices, saying the senate's "balance of power [...] will be up for grabs."

A Republican, Fischbach served as the 49th lieutenant governor of Minnesota from 2018 until 2019.

As of 2024, she is the most recent Republican to have held statewide office in Minnesota.

While serving as the incumbent lieutenant governor of Minnesota, Fischbach was former Governor Tim Pawlenty's nominee for lieutenant governor in the Minnesota Republican Party primary during the 2018 Minnesota gubernatorial election.

Pawlenty and Fischbach lost in a contentious primary election.

Smith resigned to accept the appointment on January 2, 2018.

Per Article V of the Minnesota Constitution, as president of the State Senate, Fischbach automatically ascended as lieutenant governor.

Fischbach acknowledged that she was now lieutenant governor, but maintained she would retain her Senate seat, calling herself "acting lieutenant governor."

The constitutionality of holding two offices at once was disputed.

In January 2018, a constituent and local DFL activist filed suit against Fischbach, asking a Ramsey County District Court judge to remove her from the state Senate.

In February 2018, a judge dismissed the suit, ruling it had been prematurely filed.

On May 25, 2018, Fischbach resigned from the Senate and was sworn in as lieutenant governor.

In May 2018, former Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty announced Fischbach as his running mate in his bid for a third term.

Pawlenty and Fischbach were defeated in the Republican primary by Jeff Johnson and Donna Bergstrom.

Fischbach was succeeded as lieutenant governor by Democratic State Representative Peggy Flanagan, who ran on a ticket with Tim Walz.

In the 2020 U.S. House elections, Fischbach defeated 30-year DFLer incumbent Collin Peterson.

Fischbach grew up in Woodbury, Minnesota.