ICE official resigns to challenge Marcy Kaptur for Congressional seat

Columbus Dispatch

Jan. 15, 2026Updated Jan. 16, 2026, 11:47 a.m. ET

A top official with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is resigning from her post after less than a year to mount a Republican campaign for Congress in a northwest Ohio district that is one of the most competitive in the country.

Madison Sheahan, 28, announced her campaign for Ohio’s 9^th Congressional District on Jan. 15, challenging incumbent Democrat Marcy Kaptur, who won reelection by a narrow margin in 2024. The district includes Toledo and swaths of northwest Ohio.

“In less than one year with ICE, I've stopped more illegal immigration than Marcy Kaptur has in her 43 years in Washington,” Sheahan said in a campaign launch video.

Mark Glass, commissioner of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement left, and Madison Sheahan, deputy director of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, speak at the ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations center on Nov. 13, 2025, in Miramar.

Sheahan, who called herself a “Trump conservative” in the video, graduated from Ohio State University in 2019. She was on the women’s rowing team and studied public affairs, according to her biography from ICE. She was deputy director at ICE before resigning.

Sheahan worked for former South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem — now the secretary of Homeland Security, the department that includes ICE — and then as the secretary of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.

“When the call came to help President Trump clean up the dangerous immigration mess as deputy director of ICE, I answered the call,” Sheahan said in her video.

From left to right: ICE Deputy Director Madison Sheahan, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles Executive Director Dave Kerner, and Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, holding up a check for "Defending the Homeland" at a press conference in Tallahassee, Florida on Sept. 26, 2025.

If elected, Sheahan would also be the youngest member of Congress. Maxwell Frost, a Democrat from Florida first elected in 2022, is approximately one month older than Sheahan.

Kaptur is the longest-serving woman in the history of Congress. She was first elected in 1982, but her district was drawn to be more Republican in the latest redistricting cycle.

Kaptur was one of 75 Democrats to vote alongside Republicans on a resolution expressing support for ICE in June 2025, which drew pushback from some other Democrats. Ohio’s other Democrats in Congress also supported the resolution.

"While Republicans from near and far will fight through a messy primary in this district they gerrymandered again just this fall, Congresswoman Kaptur is focused on delivering real results for her constituents," Kaptur's campaign said in a statement shared with The Dispatch.

"She's working to lower costs for working families, protect access to affordable health care, and bring transformative investments to Northwest Ohio. Voters are tired of the self-dealing corruption and culture of lawlessness they've seen over the last year," Kaptur's campaign added.

Sheahan joins a crowded Republican primary field that includes state Rep. Josh Williams, former state Rep. Derek Merrin and Air Force veteran Alea Nadeem. They will face off in the GOP primary in May.

David Gedert − also known as the drag queen Sugar Vermonte − is running as a libertarian in the district.

The Cook Political Report, a nonpartisan analyst, identifies the race in OH-9 as a Democrat toss-up.

Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (D-OH), is the longest serving woman in the history of Congress, and Dean of the Ohio Congressional Delegation.

This story was updated with a statement from Kaptur's campaign.

Anna Lynn Winfrey is a reporter for the Columbus Dispatch. She can be reached at [email protected].

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