Karin Housley

Housley was selected by her colleagues to serve as an assistant majority leader for the 2019 and 2020 legislative sessions.

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. She ultimately decided against it, instead announcing she will seek a third term in the Minnesota Senate.

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. 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. Housley won the Republican primary and was defeated by Smith, the Democratic incumbent, in the general election.

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

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. Housley was instrumental in the creation of a first-ever Minnesota Senate committee on aging, which she currently chairs. 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.

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

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. Karin and Phil have four children, each graduates of Stillwater Area High School, and two grandchildren. They reside in St. Marys Point. Housley owns a real estate business in Stillwater.

Housley is the author of Chicks Laying Nest Eggs: How 10 Skirts Beat the Pants Off Wall Street...And How You Can Too!, a book aimed at helping women invest in the stock market. The book was published by Random House in 2001.

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. She enrolled at the State University of New York at Buffalo, where she graduated in 1987 with a B.A. in communication studies. After earning her degree, Housley worked as a news producer for WGRZ and WKBW in Buffalo until 1991.

Karin Housley (née Locke; born January 20, 1964) is a Minnesota politician, businesswoman, and member of the Minnesota Senate. A Republican, she represents Forest Lake, Stillwater, and the surrounding St. Croix Valley. Housley ran unsuccessfully as the Republican nominee in Minnesota's 2018 special election for the United States Senate.