Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison condemned the state Republican party on Saturday after delegates at the annual convention held a moment of silence for Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer convicted of murdering George Floyd.
Ellison, a Democrat who served as the lead prosecutor in the case, said the decision dishonored Floyd’s memory and was “disrespectful” to law enforcement personnel who serve the state.
“This decision dishonors the memory of George Floyd and wounds his loved ones all over again,” Ellison said in a statement.
He noted that the tribute occurred just days after the sixth anniversary of the killing.
“To honor the man convicted of murdering George Floyd – days after the very anniversary of that terrible day – is an act of profound cruelty to the Floyd family and to every Minnesotan who believes in accountability under law,” Ellison said.
Ellison added that honoring Chauvin disgraced the former officer’s oath to uphold the law and damaged the reputation of police officers who work honorably. As lead prosecutor, Ellison said the gesture troubled him regarding the state of politics.
“I apologize to the Floyd family and to all the dedicated officers who do their jobs honorably every day,” he said.
According to local station Fox 9 News, a delegate at the Minnesota Republican party’s two-day convention in Duluth requested the recognition on the second morning of the gathering. Attendees stood silently for approximately 10 seconds before official business resumed.
Chauvin was sentenced to 22 and a half years in prison for second-degree murder in 2021. He received a concurrent 21-year federal sentence in 2022 for violating Floyd’s civil rights during the encounter, which saw Chauvin kneel on Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes.
Floyd, who was Black, died in Minneapolis on May 25, 2020. The incident sparked violent protests in Minneapolis and fueled a nationwide reckoning over police brutality and racial injustice under the banner of the Black Lives Matter movement.
Chauvin has had a succession of appeals rejected, including a denial from the U.S. Supreme Court in 2023. State courts have repeatedly declined to grant him a new trial. He was transferred to a low-security facility in Texas in August 2024 after surviving a stabbing at an Arizona prison nine months earlier.
Ellison acknowledged in his statement that Chauvin has nearly exhausted his legal options and that justice was rendered through the court system.
“George Floyd’s children lost their father,” Ellison wrote. “His siblings lost their brother. His community lost a neighbor and friend. That loss is permanent and irreparable. The jury heard all the evidence. The appeals courts reviewed every claim. Justice was rendered according to our system of law.”
Jamie Long, a Democratic former majority leader of the Minnesota legislature, responded to the convention gesture on X. He noted that Republicans opened the convention with the tribute not for victims of gun violence or soldiers killed overseas, but for a “literal convicted murderer.” Long called the act “disgusting.”
The Minnesota Republican party did not immediately return a request for comment.
Chauvin has recently become a cause celebre for some rightwing commentators and conservative influencers. Ben Shapiro has asserted that Floyd died of a pre-existing medical condition rather than suffocation, a claim that contradicts the medical examiner findings presented during the trial.
Calls for President Donald Trump to pardon Chauvin have also been amplified by supporters, including Elon Musk. Legal analysts say a presidential pardon would not result in Chauvin’s release but could transfer him to a state facility, leaving his federal civil rights conviction unaffected.
The Republican party did not respond to further inquiries about the decision to approve the delegate’s request. The tribute stands as the latest political flashpoint surrounding Floyd’s death and the ongoing national debate over policing and accountability.