Michelle Fischbach is Minnesota’s 49th Lieutenant Governor. She was first elected to the Minnesota Senate in 1996, representing portions of Benton and Stearns Counties. From 2011 to 2013, Fischbach served as President of the Minnesota Senate, the first woman in state history to serve in this position. Fischbach was again elected President of the Senate in 2017. Before serving in the Minnesota Senate, she served on the Paynesville City Council.
During the 2017 Legislative Session, Fischbach chaired the Senate Higher Education Finance and Policy Committee during the 2017 Session. In this role, Fischbach was chief author of the Higher Education Omnibus Bill, which invested $36 million in the Minnesota State Grant Program, which ensures lower- and middle-income families receive direct financial aid to help afford college and career training.
In addition, Fischbach served on the Senate Health and Human Services Finance and Policy Committee, which was instrumental in passing legislation providing health insurance premium relief, making health care more affordable for Minnesotans shopping on the individual market.
In 2013, Fischbach authored legislation to rename an 11-mile portion of State Highway 23 for Cold Spring Police Officer Tom Decker who was killed in the line of duty. In 2017, she also sponsored legislation to rename a different section of State Highway 23 for Kenneth L. Olson who posthumously received the Medal of Honor for throwing himself upon a grenade in 1968, sacrificing his own life, while saving his fellow soldiers.
Lt. Governor Fischbach grew up in Woodbury, Minnesota. She earned a B.A. from Saint Cloud State University, and a J.D. from William Mitchell College of Law. Lt. Governor Fischbach and her husband, Scott, live in Paynesville. They have two grown children and three grandchildren.
