State nominates criminal (9)
I believe the answer is:
minnesota
'state' is the definition.
(US state)
'nominates criminal' is the wordplay.
'criminal' is an anagram indicator.
'nominates' with letters rearranged gives 'MINNESOTA'.
(Other definitions for minnesota that I've seen before include "Nominates, oddly, the US state" , "source of iron ore" , "US state, capital St Paul" , "US state -. of Iowa" , "Wobegon state (Keillor)" .)