# John Burkel *American politician, member of the Minnesota House of Representatives (Republican)* John Burkel (born April 6, 1967) is a Republican member of the [[Minnesota House of Representatives]], where he has held the District 1A seat since 2021.[^1] He belongs to the [[Republican Party of Minnesota]]. His district lies in northwest [[Minnesota]] and takes in Thief River Falls along with portions of Kittson, Roseau, Marshall and Pennington Counties.[^1] Before entering the Legislature, Burkel farmed turkeys and served as vice chair of the National Turkey Federation. He won his House seat in 2020 and was returned in 2022.[^1] ## Early life, education, and career Burkel was raised in Greenbush, Minnesota, where he went to Greenbush High School, and farms as the fourth generation of his family to do so.[^1] He spent two years studying business and economics at North Dakota State University, then left before finishing the degree to work on the family turkey farm.[^1] A turkey of Burkel's named Popcorn received the presidential pardon from Barack Obama at the 2013 National Thanksgiving Turkey Presentation.[^1] He held the vice chair post at the National Turkey Federation. When avian flu struck in 2015, he gave testimony to the [[Minnesota Legislature]] on its effects on turkey producers.[^1] ## Minnesota House of Representatives Burkel won election to the House in 2020 and a second term in 2022.[^1] His first campaign followed the decision of Dan Fabian, the five-term incumbent, not to run again; Fabian urged Burkel to seek the seat.[^1] His committee assignments are Agriculture Finance and Policy; Environment and Natural Resources Finance and Policy; and the Property Taxes Division of the Taxes Committee.[^1] Following a 2022 avian flu outbreak, he backed passage of emergency funding.[^1] When legislation was proposed to restrict the movement of farmed deer as a check on chronic wasting disease, he called for the state to compensate farmers for the resulting financial losses.[^1] He has also contended that government backing of ethanol has hurt livestock producers who feed corn to their animals.[^1] Burkel and Representative Deb Kiel introduced bills to expand vocational education for high school students.[^1] He also introduced a bill changing county engineer residency requirements so that rural counties could fill the post more easily.[^1] During the [[COVID-19 pandemic]], he opposed mask mandates.[^1] ## Personal life Burkel has five children and makes his home in Badger, Minnesota, with his wife, Joni. His religion is Catholicism.[^1] ## Notes [^1]: Wikipedia contributors, *John Burkel* (revision 1365618459, retrieved 2026-10-26) — Burkel's birth date, office, district, party, early life, career, election history, committee assignments, legislative activity and personal life. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Burkel