ST. PAUL, Minnesota (AP) – Minnesota State Representative Jim Knoblach abruptly ended his re-election campaign on Friday, citing allegations of inappropriate contact from his adult daughter.

Minnesota's public radio reported that the announcement had been made a few hours after St. Cloud's Republican attorney, Susan Gaertner, denied the allegations in an interview with the station. She said the veteran legislator "does not want to drag his family for six weeks of hell".

Knoblach's 23-year-old daughter, Laura, told MPR that she had touched him inappropriately for most of her life, with her first memories dating back to 9 years and up to 21 years old. . bite your ears. She said that she had been entrusted to close friends, family members and officials from her school and church for more than a decade.

In a written statement, Jim Knoblach called the allegations "indescribably hurtful" and said he had no choice but to give up the race so he could work for his family.

"I adore my children more than anything and I would never do anything to hurt them.His claims are false," Knoblach wrote. "With other members of my family, I have tried repeatedly to come to terms with her in recent years, but she refused."

Knoblach, 60, is the chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, which has jurisdiction over budget matters. The moment of its exit could make its seat, already a target of choice for the Democrats, difficult for the Republicans in the absence of a judicial intervention or a written campaign by a substitute candidate. Dan Wolgamott of St. Cloud is the Democratic candidate.

The Speaker of the House, Kurt Daudt, who is trying to preserve what he can from the current majority of the GOP's 21 seats in the House, said in a statement that he supported Knoblach's decision.

The St. Cloud Police Department and the Sherburne County Sheriff's Office began an investigation last year but declined to file a complaint. After exhausting the other means, Laura Knoblach recorded the allegations to MPR and provided detailed documentation of her attempts to obtain help. The documentation included a letter from the Sherburne County District Attorney's Office stating that there was "insufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Jim Knoblach had committed a crime".

Laura Knoblach told MPR that she remembers first of her father 's arrival in his bedroom after his bedtime. She said that he went up and slept behind her.

"He put his arm around me and did not let me get up or leave and he would lick my neck or bite my ear," she told the station.

These visits to her room, or similar kisses on her arms and neck and biting her ears as they watched movies on the couch, became so frequent throughout her childhood and adolescence.

Other routine behaviors, she said, including more than 30 cases where her father approached her from behind and leaned her body against hers in the kitchen, pinning it against the refrigerator or the dishwasher.

Jim Knoblach said in his statement that he was not willing to spend six weeks fighting with his daughter in the media.

"Our daughter has been separated from our family for a while," he said. "At the end of 2016, she made extremely hurtful and misleading accusations about a Facebook post, which was briefly asked and then removed. These charges were thoroughly investigated by Sherburne County and were closed in April 2017. "

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