21 March 2025
ST. PAUL — Minnesota Sen. Justin Eichorn served roughly eight years in the Minnesota Senate before resigning Thursday as he faces a felony charge of soliciting sex from a minor.
Eichorn, a Grand Rapids Republican serving District 6, was charged Wednesday for soliciting a minor following his reported arrest in a sting operation on Monday, March 17. Eichorn resigned from the Senate in a letter to Gov. Tim Walz on Thursday.
Until his resignation, Eichorn represented parts of Itasca, Cass, and Crow Wing Counties, where he first pursued a spot in the Minnesota Legislature just over a decade ago.
Failed first run before victory
Eichorn first entered the public office sphere when he unsuccessfully ran in 2014 for House District 5B, according to the Secretary of State’s office. Pegged against incumbent Rep. Tom Anzelc, Eichorn took 43% of the vote against the DFLer’s 56.5%.
The 32-year-old Eichorn made another run for the Legislature in 2016, this time for Senate District 5, which covered a large swath of Itasca County along with parts of Beltrami, Cass and Hubbard counties. Eichorn secured a victory in the 2014 Republican primary, besting Lavern “Pedie” Pederson, who died in 2018, to earn a spot on the November ballot
Eichorn faced off against DFL Incumbent Tom Saxhaug, a veteran legislator seeking his fifth term. Campaigning on job development and local opportunities for young people in the area, Eichorn won the 2016 election, taking 50% of the vote to Saxhaug’s 49%.
First-term policy, pushback
In his first term in the Senate, Eichorn authored three bills that were signed into law. One narrowed the scope of Taconite Economic Development funding to more specifically benefit
T
aconite-centered companies and projects.
The second bill created a penalty for misrepresentation of a service animal, according to Legislative records. It became law in August of 2018.
During the 2020 Legislative session, Eichorn authored a bill to allow surplus funds from local libraries in his district to be reallocated to their respective county, according to Legislative records. It was signed by the governor in May of 2020.
In 2018, Eichorn was one of five lawmakers who wrote to Gov. Tim Walz in support of permitting a PolyMet mine near Hoyt Lakes and Babbitt. DFL lawmakers, responding to public concern over potential environmental impact and reported “procedural irregularities,” had written to the governor calling for the project’s permits to be suspended.
In May of 2020, Eichorn faced public backlash for a video he posted to Twitter, now X, of a homeless encampment. In the later-deleted Tweet, posted weeks after the coronavirus pandemic hit Minnesota, Eichorn called on Walz to open up campgrounds amid COVID-19 stay-at-home orders.
“We have a nice little tent city set up here. Unfortunately, in Greater Minnesota, Gov. Walz has campgrounds shut down,” Eichorn said in the video. “If you’re OK with this, we should certainly be OK with our resorts and campgrounds being open. We can do it safely.”
Bemidji Mayor Rita Albrecht, Eichorn’s opponent for the 2020 election, publicly criticized Eichorn for using the “homeless as a prop for a political video.”
First and second reelection
In 2020’s general election, District 5 campaigns focused heavily on response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Eichorn authored a bill in 2020 to support re-opening small businesses, but the bill didn’t pass in the House.
Albrecht, Eichorn’s opponent on the ballot, encouraged adhering to state COVID-19 guidelines that restricted operations. In the end, incumbent Eichorn won District 5 with 55% of the vote against Albrecht’s 37%.
In 2021, Eichorn authored a bill to make the murder of an unborn child a felony punishable by a minimum 30-year sentence. The bill did not pass the Senate or House, according to the Minnesota Senate Republican Caucus.
Eichorn ran for office again in 2022, this time in District 6 following statewide redistricting. The change put Eichorn against Republican Sen. Carrie Ruud, R-Breezy Point, a longtime lawmaker who had been in the Senate since 2013. After Eichorn received the GOP endorsement, Ruud announced in May of 2022 that she wouldn’t seek another term.
Riding on the GOP endorsement and the public backing of law enforcement, Eichorn secured his third term in the 2022 general election. Eichorn won 65% of the vote over DFL candidate Steve Samuelson and was sworn into office on Jan. 3, 2023.
Recent work and leadership roles
Eichorn was elected assistant minority leader for the Senate Republican caucus in November of 2022.
During 2023’s DFL trifecta, Eichorn wrote an op-ed to the Bemidji Pioneer outlining his concerns with the DFL’s gun control and energy agenda.
In the 2023 session, Eichorn secured funding in a larger infrastructure for Grand Rapids and Brainerd water treatment facilities, as well as funding for Central Lakes College, according to the Senate Republican Caucus
In March of 2023, Eichorn was elected to serve as vice-chair of the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation board, an Minnesota economic development agency that reinvests local taconite production taxes back into northeastern Minnesota,” according to the IRRR website. Eichorn has served on the board since taking office in 2017.
Eichorn was unanimously elected as chair to the IRRR board in February 2025.
For the duration of the Senate’s 33-33 tie in 2025, Eichorn served as co-chair of the Senate Environment, Climate, and Legacy Committee under the chamber’s power-sharing agreement. He also served on committees for education policy, finance, rules and state government.
Eichorn was a co-author of a bill introduced Monday to classify “Trump Derangement Syndrome” as a mental illness in Minnesota. The bill has not received a hearing.
Eichorn also recently chief-authored a bill to speed up Minnesota’s environmental permitting process, but the legislation has not received a hearing in the Senate.
Eichorn sent a letter of resignation to Gov. Tim Walz Thursday morning just minutes before Senate Republicans allegedly planned to push a motion to expel him.
“I am resigning my seat in the Minnesota Senate for District 6 effective immediately,” Eichorn said in the letter, sent three days after his Monday arrest. “I must focus on personal matters at this time. It has been an honor to serve in the Minnesota Senate.”
His departure will call for the third special election in Minnesota’s Legislature this year.
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