John Burkel (born April 6, 1967) is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

farmer and politician serving as a

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

member of the

Minnesota House of Representatives The Minnesota House of Representatives is the lower house of the Legislature of the U.S. state of Minnesota. There are 134 members, twice as many as the Minnesota Senate. Floor sessions are held in the north wing of the State Capitol in Saint Pa ...

for District 1A since 2021. The district includes all of Kittson,

Roseau Roseau (Dominican Creole: ''Wozo'') is the capital and largest city of Dominica, with a population of 14,725 as of 2011. It is a small and compact urban settlement, in the Saint George parish and surrounded by the Caribbean Sea, the Roseau Ri ...

, and

Marshall Marshall may refer to: Places Australia * Marshall, Victoria, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria Canada * Marshall, Saskatchewan * The Marshall, a mountain in British Columbia Liberia * Marshall, Liberia Marshall Islands * Marshall Islands, an i ...

as well as portions of Pennington counties in northwestern

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

Early life, education, and career

Burkel grew up in

Greenbush, Minnesota Greenbush is a city in Roseau County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 719 at the 2010 census. Minnesota State Highways 11 and 32 are two of the main arterial routes in the community. History The word Greenbush comes from "Sha ...

and attended Greenbush High School. He is a fourth generation

farmer A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, raising living organisms for food or raw materials. The term usually applies to people who do some combination of raising field crops, orchards, vineyards, poultry, or other livestock. A farmer mig ...

. He attended

North Dakota State University North Dakota State University (NDSU, formally North Dakota State University of Agriculture and Applied Sciences) is a public land-grant research university in Fargo, North Dakota. It was founded as North Dakota Agricultural College in 1890 as t ...

for two years to pursue a degree in business and economics but dropped out to work at his family's

turkey farm The domestic turkey (Meleagris gallopavo domesticus) is a large fowl, one of the two species in the genus '' Meleagris'' and the same species as the wild turkey. Although turkey domestication was thought to have occurred in central Mesoamerica a ...

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

pardonded Popcorn, a turkey belonging to Burkel, for the 2013

National Thanksgiving Turkey Presentation The National Thanksgiving Turkey Presentation is a ceremony that takes place at the White House every year shortly before Thanksgiving. The president of the United States is presented with a live domestic turkey by the National Turkey Federation ...

Minnesota House of Representatives

Burkel was first elected in 2020, succeeding Rep.

Dan Fabian Dan Fabian (born June 28, 1954) is an American politician who served as a Republican member of the Minnesota House of Representatives for District 1A from 2015 to 2019 and as Minority Whip from 2019 to 2021. He represented all of Kittson, Roseau ...

who had encouraged him to run.

Tenure

Burkel, along with Rep. Deb Kiel, introduced bills increasing

vocational education Vocational education is education that prepares people to work as a technician or to take up employment in a skilled craft or trade as a tradesperson or artisan. Vocational Education can also be seen as that type of education given to an ind ...

for

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

students. He also introduced legislation that would reform county engineer residency laws so rural counties could find one easier.

Committees

Burkel serves on the following committees: *Agriculture Finance and Policy *Human Services Finance and Policy *Industrial Education and Economic Development Finance and Policy

Electoral history

Personal life

Burkel lives with his wife Joni in

Badger, Minnesota Badger is a city in Skagen Township of Roseau County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 375 at the 2010 census. History A post office called Badger has been in operation since 1889. The city was named after nearby Badger Creek. Amos ...

. The two have five children. He is

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

References

External links

Rep. John Burkel Website

John Burkel Campaign Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Burkel, John 1967 births Living people People from Roseau County, Minnesota North Dakota State University alumni Republican Party members of the Minnesota House of Representatives 21st-century American politicians