MINOT – Sen. Karen Krebsbach, R-Dis. 40, Minot, was rebuked by the District Executive Committee during a Tuesday evening meeting. Krebsbach has been in the State Legislature since 1989, earning a reputation of one of the most influential senators on the floor.
Jay Lundeen, Minot, District 40 chairman, told The Dakotan that the Executive Committee reviewed their legislators' actions at the recently concluded session of the State Legislature and voiced their displeasure with several votes cast by Krebsbach. Krebsbach, who was present at the meeting and offered explanations for her votes, was then censured by the district.
“Karen is so concerned with possible litigation and the loss of federal funding that, to her, that loss in funding is going to affect people,” said Lundeen. “She might not be wrong, but the problem we had in the district is we will sacrifice dollars to save our principles and values and way of life every day of the week and twice on Sunday’s.”
According to Lundeen, Krebsbach told the committee that she was not going to vote the way the District 40 wanted all the time and that not everybody is going to agree with the district’s wishes.
“We agreed with that, but disagree with her 90% of the time,” said Lundeen. “Karen is not a bad person. She’s brought a lot of money to our community. That's great, but the problem is that she’s a Democrat. She votes like a Democrat. She talks like a Democrat. She’s a Democrat. That doesn’t make her a bad person, but it makes her not a Republican.”
What particularly drew the committee’s ire was Krebsbach’s voting record on pronoun, transgender, and abortion-related bills. Lundeen said Krebsbach’s voted to “add validity, perpetuate, and help such bills grow.”
“The key for Republicans is, there is a line in the sand for pronouns, transgender, medical freedoms. These are fundamental foundations of us as party,” stated Lundeen. “If you break those things, those issues, you really change the fiber of our state and country. She votes to perpetuate it.”
District censurship falls short of expulsion. Lundeen described censorship as a formal rebuke from the district that they were not happy with the way Krebsbach was voting and the way she was representing District 40.
The action does not prohibit Krebsbach from running for another term when her current term expires in 2024.
