​On March 17, 2025, Minnesota Republican State Senator Justin Eichorn, a 40-year-old with a wife and four children, was arrested in Bloomington for allegedly soliciting a minor for prostitution.

Bloomington Police Department detectives, posing as a 17-year-old girl, communicated with Eichorn and arranged a meeting near the 8300 block of Normandale Blvd. Upon his arrival, Eichorn was arrested and booked into the Bloomington Police Department jail. He is currently held at the Hennepin County Adult Detention Center.

In response to the arrest, many leaders have called for Eichorn’s immediate resignation. Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy (DFL-St. Paul) said, “The felony allegation against Sen. Eichorn is deeply disturbing, and raises serious questions that will need to be answered by the court, as well as his caucus and constituents.”

Republican leadership agree that Eichorn should resign, but are singing a slightly different tune. On Tuesday, March 18th, Minnesota Senate Republican leadership issued a statement saying Eichorn, “has a difficult road ahead” and that he, “needs to focus on his family” at this time.

Eichorn’s name had been circling in the press prior to this incident. Last week, he introduced a bill seeking to classify “Trump Derangement Syndrome” as a mental illness. This is a reference to an opinion published in the Washington Post in 2003 by political commentator Charles Krauthammer about critics of President George W. Bush.

The proposed bill copies the phrasing Krauthammer used to describe “Bush Derangement Syndrome” which reads: “the acute onset of paranoia in otherwise normal people in reaction to the policies, the presidency—nay—the very existence of George W. Bush.”

Child sexual exploitation remains a significant concern in the United States. Statistics indicate that one in nine girls and one in fifty-three boys under the age of 18 experience sexual abuse or assault at the hands of an adult. Girls aged 16-19 are four times more likely than the general population to be victims of rape, attempted rape, or sexual assault.