Minnesota Senate GOP will move to expel Sen. Justin Eichorn after underage prostitution arrest

Minnesota Republicans will push a vote on Thursday to expel three-term GOP Sen. Justin Eichorn from the chamber following his arrest in an underage prostitution sting.

The 40-year-old Eichorn of Grand Rapids was charged Wednesday with soliciting prostitution from a Twin Cities police detective posing as a 17-year-old girl. He remained jailed Wednesday without bail.

“There is no question that these charges merit expulsion,” said Senate Minority Leader Mark Johnson, R-East Grand Forks. “We owe it to the public to hold our members to the highest standards, and this violation of the public trust is so severe we must act.”

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz echoed that sentiment on Wednesday following a meeting with all four caucus leaders. He said elected officials should be held to a higher standard and Eichorn should resign.

“I hope people don’t use it for political leverage but use it as an opportunity to join together that you cannot prey on children and expect to get away with it,” Walz said.

Johnson, who called for Eichorn’s resignation shortly after his arrest, said earlier Wednesday that their caucus is even more “adamant” that he should step aside “based on the charges that we’ve seen today.”

Johnson had not spoken with Eichorn since before the arrest, he added.

The Minnesota Constitution allows the Legislature to punish members for “disorderly behavior” and expel them by a two-thirds vote. In the Senate, that means 45 senators would have to agree. Republicans would need DFL senators to join them in a vote to expel Eichorn.

Eichorn allegedly arranged to meet someone he thought was a teenage girl for prostitution and instead was arrested by Bloomington police officers. He arrived at the meetup location in a pickup truck and was arrested by a uniformed officer, authorities said.

According to the criminal complaint, Eichorn showed up with a condom and enough money to pay for what he believed would be a half hour of sex.

Eichorn is the second Minnesota state senator to face felony charges in the past year. Sen. Nicole Mitchell, DFL-Woodbury, is charged with two felonies in connection with breaking into her late father’s Detroit Lakes home last year. She’s pleaded not guilty to first-degree burglary and possession of burglary or theft tools.

Eichorn was first elected to the Senate in 2016. He is married with four children, according to his online legislative biography page.

In one of his most recent legislative acts, Eichorn co-sponsored a controversial bill seeking to classify “Trump derangement syndrome” (TDS), a term coined to describe a form of criticism of President Donald Trump as an official mental illness recognized under state statute.

In a statement announcing Eichorn’s arrest Tuesday, Bloomington Police Chief Booker Hodges called for stiffer penalties for offenses like the accusation against the state senator.

“We need our state Legislature to take this case and this type of conduct more seriously,” Booker said. Walz said Wednesday that he agreed.

“This is where the trafficking issue comes in,” Walz said. “This is where we’re preying on children. This is a very serious crime.”

House Republican leadership and the Minnesota DFL Party also called for his resignation.

Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy, DFL-St. Paul, stopped short of calling for Eichorn’s resignation on Tuesday, saying “the felony allegation against Senator Eichorn is deeply disturbing, and raises serious questions that will need to be answered by the court, as well as his caucus and constituents.”

Murphy appeared to be following the same precedent she’s applied to the case of Mitchell. Murphy and other Senate DFLers have argued that Mitchell deserves due process with her criminal trial still pending, while Republicans have called for her to be expelled from the chamber.

But other rank-and-file Democrats joined the chorus of lawmakers calling for him to resign, including Sen. Erin Maye Quade, DFL-Apple Valley, who said she’s never asked for another member to step down until now.

“I thank God there was no child involved in this arrest, but that does not mean there are no victims,” she said.

“Justin Eichorn should resign from the jail cell where he thankfully resides as soon as humanly possible.”