The rare move highlighted deep political and legal tensions over immigration enforcement that have thrust the Midwestern state and its largest city into the international spotlight.
Chris Madel, a Minneapolis attorney known for defending law-enforcement officers, had been seeking the Republican nomination in a crowded field, but criticised his party’s response in the resignation video posted to social media.
“I cannot support the national Republicans’ stated retribution on the citizens of our state,” he said, signalling a profound break with the party establishment.
“Nor can I count myself a member of a party that would do so.”
Madel drew widespread attention recently for providing legal counsel to Jonathan Ross, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who fatally shot Renee Good, a 37-year-old Minneapolis woman, on Jan 7.
Madel ended his campaign after the killing of nurse Alex Pretti, also 37, who was documenting federal activity in Minneapolis when he was set upon by Border Patrol agents, wrestled to the ground and shot dead.
‘Nearly impossible’
Like Good, Pretti was a US citizen and his death intensified criticism of the deployment of thousands of federal immigration agents under “Operation Metro Surge,” prompting legal challenges and political backlash.
Madel had presented himself as a defender of public safety and the rule of law, often emphasising his work representing officers in high-profile cases.
Yet he argued that the federal immigration operation ordered by President Donald Trump had broadened far beyond its original focus on serious criminal threats, creating fear among US citizens, especially people of colour, and eroding civil liberties.
“National Republicans have made it nearly impossible for a Republican to win a statewide election in Minnesota,” Madel said.
Following Good’s death, vice president JD Vance asserted that the ICE officer had “absolute immunity.”
Madel’s withdrawal underscores rising internal divisions within the party over immigration policy and federal intervention.
Some Republican lawmakers have begun calling for investigations or for a pause in the surge of agents into Minnesota, reflecting discomfort even among the party’s ranks over recent tactics.
Democratic Minnesota governor Tim Walz announced he would not seek reelection earlier in January, leaving the field open.