Rapid City Senator Julie Frye-Mueller stripped of committee assignments

Annie Todd, Sioux Falls Argus Leader
·1 min read
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PIERRE — Rapid City Sen. Julie Frye-Mueller was stripped of her two committee assignments Wednesday afternoon during a meeting of the Senate.

The action was taken at the beginning of the meeting and the decision came from Watertown Republican Sen. Lee Schoenbeck, President Pro Tempore of the Senate.

Schoenbeck would not comment on what led to the action.

Frye-Mueller sat on Senate Local Government and Senate Health and Human Services. Within moments of the announcement, her committees disappeared from the South Dakota Legislature website.

Sen. Julie Frye-Mueller, R-Rapid City, was stripped of her committee assignments on Wednesday, Jan. 25.
Sen. Julie Frye-Mueller, R-Rapid City, was stripped of her committee assignments on Wednesday, Jan. 25.

Frye-Mueller had been in Senate Health and Human Services Wednesday morning, where she had voted on four bills being heard by the committee.

She would not respond to reporters' questions.

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Sen. Casey Crabtree, R-Madison, who is the Majority Leader, refused to comment on the situation and said more information would be released in the future after he was asked if he would answer questions during the GOP press conference with reporters, scheduled for Thursday morning.

This is Frye-Mueller's second term in the Senate. She previously served in the House of Representatives from 2017 to 2021. She narrowly won her primary election in 2022 with less than 40 votes.

This story is developing. Check back for more.

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: South Dakota Senator Julie Frye-Mueller loses committee assignments