Trump’s 28-year-old ICE No. 2 jumps into race to defeat Democrat 50 years older than she

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deputy director Madison Sheahan, a Republican, announced her run for a GOP-leaning House district in Ohio against Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur, who has held the seat for 43 years.

Sheahan, 28, who calls herself a “Trump conservative,” posted her campaign announcement video to X on Thursday morning, adding that she is running “to protect American jobs, American paychecks, and American values.” The Trump administration official also contrasted her tenure at ICE with Kaptur’s record on immigration enforcement throughout her more than four decades in Congress.

Sheahan submitted a resignation letter, dated Thursday, to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) secretary Kristi Noem declaring her intention to run for Ohio’s 9th congressional district.

“President [Donald] Trump deserves a Congress that stands firmly behind his agenda to make America safer, more affordable, and more prosperous. For that reason, effective immediately. I respectfully submit this letter of resignation so that I may continue serving my country in a different capacity,” she wrote in the letter.

“In less than one year at ICE, I’ve stopped more illegal immigration than Marcy Kaptur has in her 43 years in Washington,” Sheahan said in her announcement video.

Kaptur, 79, has served in the House since 1983 — 14 years before Sheahan was born — and is the longest-tenured female member of Congress in U.S. history. The longtime lawmaker has consistently voted with House Democrats against Trump’s agenda, a point the ICE deputy director highlighted in her campaign announcement.

“She [Kaptur] sided with her party, voting against the funding of the border wall while sending billions in taxpayer handouts to illegals. Free housing, healthcare, paid for by you,” Sheahan said in her announcement video.

“I’ve known her for years, she loves her family, Ohio, and her country. She will be a great defender of freedom when she goes to Congress,” Noem told the Daily Caller News Foundation in a statement. “Madison Sheahan is a work horse, strong executor, and terrific leader who led the men and women of ICE to achieve the American people’s mandate to target, arrest, and deport criminal illegal aliens. We wish her all the best.”

The GOP candidate’s campaign website outlines her experience in the Trump administration’s DHS, overseeing “the hiring of 12,000 new law enforcement officers within 180 days.”

According to her ICE biography, Sheahan “oversees ICE’s day-to-day operations, leading over 20,000 employees — including over 6,800 criminal investigators in Homeland Security Investigations and 6,000 officers in Enforcement and Removal Operations.” At the time of publication the agency’s website still listed her as its deputy director.

The Republican-leaning 9th district became a few points redder during Ohio’s mid-decade redistricting. The seat being contested in November would have backed Trump by 10.5 percentage points in the 2024 presidential election, compared with the seat Kaptur currently represents which the president carried by just under seven points.

To advance to the general election, Sheahan still has to win a crowded Republican primary that includes former state Rep. Derek Merrin — who narrowly lost to Kaptur in 2024 — as well as state Rep. Josh Williams and Air National Guard officer Alea Nadeem. Trump has not yet endorsed a candidate for the district.

“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,” a Kaptur campaign spokesperson told the DCNF in a statement. “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. They want a leader focused on affordability and real results, and Marcy Kaptur consistently works across the aisle to deliver both.”

Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.