COLUMBUS, Ohio — A top ICE official resigned her job on Thursday in hopes of ousting the longest-serving woman in Congress, Democrat Marcy Kaptur, this fall.
In a video launching her campaign for Ohio's 9th Congressional District, former ICE Deputy Director Madison Sheahan said she had stopped more illegal immigration in her less than a year on the job than Kaptur had in her 43 years in Washington.
''In Washington, hypocrisy, excuses and failure can earn you a lifetime job,'' she said. ''But on my family farm, that would have put us out of business.''
The 28-year-old native of tiny Curtice, Ohio, near the shores of Lake Erie, labeled herself ''a Trump conservative.''
Sheahan posted her resignation letter on the social media platform X. In it, she thanked President Donald Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem for their ''steadfast commitment'' to the agency and expressed pride in what ICE has accomplished.
In a statement Thursday, the Kaptur campaign said, ''Voters are tired of the self-dealing corruption and culture of lawlessness they've seen over the last year. They want a leader focused on affordability and real results, and Marcy Kaptur consistently works across the aisle to deliver both.''
The 79-year-old incumbent is accustomed to steep challenges in a Lake Erie-hugging district centered on Toledo, which has been drawn and redrawn to increasingly favor the state's ruling Republicans. A bipartisan map approved last year resulted in boundaries that give Republicans a nearly 11-point advantage over Democrats for her seat, up from a roughly 9.5-point advantage in 2024.
In that year, Kaptur defeated Republican state Rep. Derek Merrin by such a close margin that The Associated Press did not call the race until official results were entered, more than two weeks after the election. The final result was 48.3% to 47.6%.
