Clay Masters

But on the Republican side, there's a pretty healthy contest that is taking shape.

And the surprise today was that Chris Maddell has dropped his bid for Minnesota governor.

He's a Republican.

He ended his campaign over the fallout from recent federal immigration actions.

So this is a Minneapolis attorney.

He launched his bid just in December, and he attributes it to the ongoing ice crackdown in Minnesota that has led to the deaths of these two citizen observers.

He says the operation has gone too far and people are living in fear.

He calls it an unmitigated disaster.

There's even a video that Mattel says he can't support what he calls retribution against Minnesota.

And I do want to note, too, that Mattel's firm has represented police officers in prior shooting cases, and he has provided legal support to Jonathan Ross.

That is the ICE officer who fired the fatal shots at Renee Macklin Good back on January 7th in Minneapolis.

And I think it's important, too, to Domenico's point about the makeup of the state of Minnesota.

Just look at the Minnesota legislature.

It is tied between Republicans and Democrats in the Minnesota House of Representatives.

And in the Senate, Democrats have a one seat edge.

And I should note, too, that the Republican speaker of the House, Lisa Damuth, she is actually running for the governor's race on the Republican side.

So very interesting when you think about just how close this state is at the state level.

I think what at least, you know, just from covering locally here and not covering other cities where there has been the heightened presence, you've really seen this network come together of ice observers, people who are regularly out with their whistles.

And are pretty relentless.

I mean, I was talking earlier about how, you know, I was out on Friday and there were people just out patrolling their neighborhoods.