Madman from northern state (6)
I believe the answer is:
nutter
'madman' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'northern state' is the wordplay.
'northern' becomes 'n' (abbreviation e.g. N. Ireland).
'state' becomes 'utter' (I've seen this before**).
'n'+'utter'='NUTTER'
'from' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for nutter that I've seen before include "psychopath" , "fruitcake" , "In slang, a crazy or eccentric person" , "Mad or eccentric person" , "Idiot" .)