Keeler worked at North Dakota State University as an assistant director of multicultural recruitment and volunteered in the Moorhead school district. While working with the school district, she served on the human rights advisory committee and as vice chair of Moorhead's Human Rights Commission.[1][4]
She serves as vice chair of the Children and Families Finance and Policy Committee and also sits on the Education Policy and Human Services Finance Committees.[1] From 2021 to 2022 she served as vice chair of the Preventing Homelessness Division of the Housing Committee. Keeler is a member of the People of Color and Indigenous (POCI) Caucus.[7]
Native American issues
Keeler has been an outspoken advocate of Native American human rights issues and for more native voices to be heard at the state legislature.[3][8] In 2021, she authored legislation that created an office of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives and carried subsequent efforts to increase funding.[9][10] Indigenous women make up one percent of the state's population but eight percent of women and girls murdered.[9]
Along with State Senators Mary Kunesh and Jen McEwen, Keeler authored a letter calling on the Biden administration to stop Line 3, a tar sands pipeline proposed to cut through Minnesota tribal lands.[11] She proposed legislation that would replace Minnesota's existing Columbus Day with Indigenous People's Day.[12] In March 2023, the chair of the Republican Party of Minnesota criticized Keeler after she posted on Facebook about the adoption of native children by white families and wrote, "White saviors are the worst!"[13][14]
Other political positions
Keeler has supported efforts to increase the number of teachers of color in Minnesota.[15] In 2023, she authored legislation that passed with unanimous support to fund emergency food shelves in the midst of rising visits to food shelves.[16]
Electoral history
2020 DFL Primary for Minnesota State House - District 4A[17]
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