A member of the Republican Party of Minnesota, she represented District 47, which included portions of Carver County in the southwestern Twin Cities metropolitan area.

Ortman replaced Sen. Geoff Michel, who lost his position in a shake-up of Republican leadership following the resignation of former Majority Leader Amy Koch.

On August 3, 2013, Ortman announced her candidacy in the 2014 United States Senate election in Minnesota.

[2] On February 21, 2008, Ortman requested that the Subcommittee on ethics determine whether she had a conflict of interest as chief author of two bills, SF294 and SF2984, due to her employment as the Finance Director in the Office of the Hennepin County Sheriff.

The Subcommittee considered the issue on March 6, 2008, and concluded that she did not have a conflict of interest as the chief author of either of the two bills.