Republican Chris Madel announced his surprise withdrawal from the Minnesota governor’s race in protest of the Trump administration’s “retribution” campaign against his state.
The Minneapolis attorney made the announcement Monday, two days after a federal agent shot and killed 37-year-old Alex Pretti, and said the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s operation he had originally supported had “expanded far beyond its stated focus on true public safety threats,” reported the Star Tribune.
“[The national GOP’s] stated retribution on the citizens of our state, nor can I count myself a member of a party that would do so,” Madel said in his video announcement.
“United States citizens, particularly those of color, live in fear,” he added. “United States citizens are carrying papers to prove their citizenship. That’s wrong.”
The 59-year-old political newcomer was rattled that none of the other six GOP candidates mentioned the fatal shooting of 37-year-old Renee Good or the immigration operation in the state during last week’s debate.
“They didn’t ask one question about immigration but they asked about abortion,” he said. “It’s like, what are your priorities here?”
Madel is representing veteran ICE agent Jonathan Ross, who shot Good on Jan. 7 during an operation in Minneapolis, because he believes “the constitutional right to counsel is sacrosanct,” as he said in his video, but he has lost faith in the administration’s mission in the state.
“I can’t look my daughters in the eye and say I’m running as a Republican, when they’re pulling over Hispanics and Asians because of the color of the skin and what they look like,” Madel told the Wall Street Journal. “I did not sign up for that.”
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