Minnesota Republicans are calling for the resignation of a state senator police arrested Monday on suspicion of seeking sex from someone he believed was a minor.

Sen. Justin Eichorn, R-Grand Rapids, thought he was meeting with a 16-year-old girl who turned out to be a city police detective, according to a news release from the Bloomington Police Department.

“We are shocked by these reports and this alleged conduct demands an immediate resignation,” read a statement from the Senate Republican Caucus on Tuesday. “Justin has a difficult road ahead and he needs to focus on his family.”

Bloomington police said a detective arranged to meet with Eichorn at the 8300 block of Normandale Avenue on Monday evening.

Eichorn arrived in a pickup truck and was arrested by uniformed officers without incident, according to police. The senator was booked into the Bloomington Police Department jail.

Eichorn had not yet been formally charged as of Tuesday. Bloomington police said a charge of soliciting someone under 18 to practice prostitution is pending.

“As a 40-year-old man, if you come to the Orange Jumpsuit District looking to have sex with someone’s child, you can expect that we are going to lock you up,” said Bloomington Police Chief Booker Hodges, referring to his department’s anti-crime initiative.

Bloomington Police Deputy Chief Kim Clauson said law enforcement was transferring Eichorn to Hennepin County on Tuesday evening.

A spokesman for the Hennepin County attorney said the office had not received the case as of Tuesday afternoon. Clauson said charges could come as soon as Wednesday.

First elected in 2016

Eichorn was elected in 2016 and is serving his third term as a state senator for District 6.

He lives in Grand Rapids with his wife and four children, has a background in business and is the third generation working at his family’s outdoor store in Grand Rapids, according to his state Senate biography.

House Republicans and the Minnesota Republican Party joined the Senate GOP in calling for Eichorn to leave office.

“Given the seriousness of the charges, Sen. Eichorn should resign,” said House Speaker Lisa Demuth, R-Cold Spring. “While he is entitled to due process, we must hold legislators to a higher standard.”

Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy, DFL-St. Paul, also weighed in on the arrest but stopped short of calling for Eichorn to resign.

“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,” she said.

The Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party called for Eichorn to resign.

Mitchell case

Eichorn is the second Minnesota senator arrested on suspicion of a felony in less than a year.

Sen. Nicole Mitchell, DFL-Woodbury, was charged with felony burglary last April for allegedly breaking into her estranged stepmother’s Detroit Lakes home to remove items of sentimental value, including her father’s ashes.

Mitchell declined to resign even as members of her own party called for her to step down. Her trial is scheduled for after the legislative session ends in May.

Minority Senate Republicans have pushed unsuccessfully to remove Mitchell from her seat with ethics complaints and attempts to hold expulsion votes.

The DFL currently has 34 seats and Republicans hold 33. If Mitchell resigned, it would put the Senate in a tie. If Eichorn resigned, Republicans would have a two-seat disadvantage.

More about Eichorn

Eichorn won his district by a little over 1 percentage point in 2016, but he’s won by double-digit margins in subsequent elections.

In 2022, he defeated his DFL challenger in a newly drawn district with 64% of the vote.

Senate District 6, which includes communities in Cass, Crow Wing and Itasca counties, is in the state’s historically DFL-dominated northeast — though it has shifted toward Republicans in recent years.

Eichorn was in the news Monday when he joined with four other Senate Republicans to sponsor a bill to define “Trump Derangement Syndrome” as a mental illness under Minnesota statute.

National Republicans coined the term to needle Democrats for what they see as a wild overreaction to President Donald Trump’s policy achievements and proposals.

Senate DFL members dismissed the bill as a stunt that trivializes real mental health issues.