[1][2] In 1974, she was unanimously endorsed by the DFL as a candidate for the Minnesota House of Representatives from district 18-A, which covers parts of the counties of Benton, Sherburne, Millie Lacs, and Isanti.

[3] A month after the endorsement, she filed for office with the Secretary of State, emphasizing health care in rural Minnesota as a part of her platform.

[3] She won the November 5 general election that year with 5,516 votes, to Republican Mike Ives' 4,639,[4] thus securing her first term in the legislature one day before she turned 27.

Meier spoke out against an offered amendment which would have prohibited using state funds for family planning services, including contraception.

[8] Meier was also part of a group that proposed a bill prohibiting violation of the Ten Commandments, after being frustrated by other legislators who used moral and biblical arguments to allow the state to regulate the sexual practices of consenting adults.

Meier says that she has been active in politics since ninth grade;[5] she attended Osseo High School, the College of St. Scholastica, and the University of Minnesota, receiving a B.S.N.

[6][10] In 1975, Meier married 38-year-old Martin Volk, a longtime friend and business manager at a telephone co-op in Ray, North Dakota.