By Nora Hertel
It will be tough to top her birthday this year, said Michelle Fischbach on Thursday.
Fischbach turned 55 on Tuesday and won a bid for the U.S. House against 15-term incumbent Collin Peterson. She also had birthday cake with her family.
Fischbach, a Republican who lives just outside Paynesville, was the first woman to serve as president of the Minnesota Senate in 2011. Now she's one of a record number of women headed to Washington, D.C., to serve in Congress.
"Most of the GOP new freshman class are women," Fischbach said. "I hope to meet all of them at the orientation next week."
The Associated Press declared Fischbach the winner of the Congressional District 7 race after midnight on Wednesday. Fischbach was ahead by more than 13 percentage points Friday morning, and ballots will continue to be accepted through Nov. 10 if postmarked by Election Day.
Through her campaign, Fischbach had the support of President Donald Trump. He won the 7th District with a 30-point lead, even as Democrat Joe Biden won Minnesota.
"The jury's still out on what's going to happen with the presidential (race)," Fischbach said Thursday to the St. Cloud Times, mentioning potential recounts. "I guess I would have liked to see him win and that still remains to be seen."
On Friday, Fischbach reflected Trump's skepticism of the U.S. election process during an appearance on "Fox & Friends."
"You know, I pray that it will be handled correctly and that President Trump will win because I believe he did win," Fischbach said. "They didn't win the votes of the American people, they're just finding votes at this point."
The president has claimed without any evidence that Democrats are trying to steal the election.
'Always looked out for her constituents'
As a high school student Fischbach spent a summer in Washington as a intern for St. Cloud's then-Congressman Vin Weber.
"I did enjoy it," Fischbach said. "I didn't know that I would ever be going back as a member."
She started her university education at the College of St. Benedict and finished it at St. Cloud State University, graduating about five days after she had her son, Fischbach recalled. She then spent some time as a stay-at-home mother.
Fischbach joined the Paynesville City Council in the mid-1990s and ran for state Senate in a special 1996 election, according to the Legislative Reference Library.
Fischbach stayed in the Minnesota Senate for more than 20 years, resigning in 2018 and serving as lieutenant governor for much of that year. The previous lieutenant governor, Tina Smith, had been appointed to the U.S. Senate to fill the seat vacated when Al Franken resigned.
In the meantime, Fischbach earned her law degree from Mitchell Hamline in 2011.
During Tim Pawlenty's 2018 gubernatorial bid, Fischbach ran to be his lieutenant, but Gov. Tim Walz ultimately won.
When Fischbach resigned from the Senate she asked Jeff Howe to run for the seat. The two had worked together in the Legislature. Howe, R-Rockville, was the state representative in the area and did win her Senate seat in a special 2018 election. He won re-election this week.
"She always looked out for her constituents," Howe said. "She would go to the mat to try and get things done for the people that she represented."
In 2015, that meant securing funding for a water treatment system in Paynesville when an underground petroleum spill contaminated the city's drinking water, Howe recalled.
"That was a knock-down, drag-out fight," Howe said. "I've never seen her work so hard."
The two stayed in touch since Howe replaced her in the Senate and he helped campaign for her congressional bid.
"I think she'll do very well in Congress," Howe said. "She'll continue to make those relationships in Congress, that'll help her bridge those gaps."
What's next?
Fischbach does have a challenge before her. She'll be a junior member of the minority party, replacing veteran Agriculture Committee Chair Collin Peterson.
"Her first step is she needs to get on the Ag Committee. I'm sure that will be one of her top priorities," said Steven Schier, a professor of political science at Carlton College. "And then it's a matter of working your way up and seniority and eventually getting majority status in order to improve your policy clout, and that takes a long time."
Fischbach does plan to request a position on that committee, she said Thursday. And she has worked on agricultural issues in the state Senate, she said, including work on the delisting of wolves from endangered species status. Biofuels will be an issue going forward as well as keeping food processors open during the pandemic, she said.
Fischbach wants to work on manufacturing and workforce issues, she said.
She has experience working in the majority and minority under executives who were Democrats, Republicans and Independents, Fischbach said.
"I learned how to get things done in all of those situations," Fischbach said. "My goal is to get things done, and I will work with the people that I need to do that."
