Housley was the party's nominee in Minnesota's 2018 United States Senate special election, which she lost to then-Lieutenant Governor and interim appointee Tina Smith.

[8][9] Housley was selected by her colleagues to serve as an assistant majority leader in both the 91st and 92nd sessions of the Minnesota Legislature.

[10][11] In her first campaign for public office, Housley ran for the Minnesota Senate in 2010 and narrowly lost to DFL incumbent Katie Sieben.

[18] In December 2017, Housley announced her candidacy for the Republican nomination in the 2018 special election for United States Senate.

[20][21] Housley was criticized during the campaign for a 2009 Facebook post in which she made a comparison between then-First Lady Michelle Obama's posture and Ronald Reagan's character in Bedtime for Bonzo.

[24] After living in Buffalo, Winnipeg, St. Louis, Calgary, New Jersey, Washington, D.C., Chicago, Toronto, and Phoenix during Phil's National Hockey League career, the Housleys moved back to Minnesota in 2003.