‘Her mirthful eyes, her sharp humor’: Colleagues remember Melissa Hortman, assassinated at age 55

The last time Melissa Hortman spoke at a Minnesota Capitol press conference she cried. 

Speaker Emerita of the Minnesota House, Hortman had cast the lone DFL yes vote on a bill to remove undocumented immigrant adults from a reduced cost state health care plan, a move she said was necessary to get Republican support on completing a state budget. 

Asked Monday what it felt like to approve legislation she personally did not support, Hortman first rolled her eyes in anguish before tearing up. 

“You know, I’ll continue to have health insurance. So, I’m fine. What I worry about is the people who lose their health insurance.”

Hortman and her husband, Mark Hortman, were fatally shot early Saturday morning in their Brooklyn Park home by a person impersonating a police officer. They leave behind two children. 

Her death was preceded by John Hoffman, a DFLer who chairs the state Senate Human Services Committee, and wife, Yvette Hoffman, being shot in their Champlin home. The Hoffmans survived the shooting. 

Law enforcement officials say they have identified a suspect, 57-year-old Vance Boelter, in both shootings and are in pursuit of Boelter.

Related: DFL leader Melissa Hortman shot and killed in targeted shooting

Stunned colleagues and political rivals on Saturday remembered Hortman, 55, as a sharp champion of liberal causes, including abortion rights, who was also a realistic and effective negotiator.

“She was a frustrating opponent because she was so good,” Mark Johnson, R-East Grand Forks, and state Senate minority leader said in an interview. “She was very smart and very focused.”

“Melissa Hortman woke up every day to make our state a better place,” Gov. Tim Walz told reporters Saturday. “She served the people of Minnesota with grace, compassion and tirelessness.”

Hortman was also funny. 

During a press conference last month, she jousted with reporters asking about budget negotiations and her prior vow to waterboard uncooperative lawmakers. 

“I should have never used that word,” Hortman said. “There is nothing funny about torture. So, I think maybe the word I should have used is colonoscopy? Proctological exam? I don’t know, but something uncomfortable and thorough.” 

“I will miss her, her mirthful eyes, her sharp humor and her partnership,” Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy, DFL-St. Paul said in a statement Saturday. “My heart breaks for her House colleagues and staff. My heart breaks for all of us.” 

A nonlinear path

Hortman graduated from Blaine High School in 1988 and then attended college at Boston University where she graduated magna cum laude with a degree in political science and philosophy. She interned for Al Gore and John Kerry when each were U.S. Senators. 

In 1995, Hortman completed law school at the University of Minnesota, graduating cum laude. 

According to MinnLawyer, Hortman gained prominence in 1997 when she won $490,000 for Stormy Harmon, a Black mother of three, who accused her landlord of housing discrimination. At the time, it was the largest housing discrimination civil penalty in Minnesota history and put Hortman on a path toward political leadership. 

But the path was not linear. Hortman lost two bids for a Minnesota House seat before getting elected in 2004. 

“She got to the Legislature on her third try,” Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon told MPR News on Saturday. “That says a lot about her character and determination.”

Hortman eventually climbed the House leadership ranks, first as chair of the Energy Finance and Policy Committee. In the 2013 and 2014 legislative sessions, Hortman spearheaded bills around solar energy, including requiring that utilities begin using solar. 

“Few legislators have had as large an impact on the state of Minnesota, and she was a nationally recognized leader on energy policy,” House Speaker Lisa Demuth, R-Cold Spring, said in a statement Saturday.

Hortman became House Minority Leader in 2017. When the DFL took control of the chamber in 2018, Hortman became House Speaker, a position she held until this January.

Trifecta and power sharing 

With Walz also starting his gubernatorial tenure in 2019, DFLers were poised to reshape Minnesota. This was especially true in 2023, by which time the DFL had wrested control of the Senate.

The result was a veritable liberal policy wish list. 

Walz and legislators increased per pupil spending on K-12 students, provided all of those students free breakfast and lunch, eased access for abortions, required businesses to offer paid family and medical leave, expanded what workers qualify for unemployment insurance, and extended the longstanding MinnesotaCare subsidized health care program to undocumented immigrants of all ages. 

Asked in 2023 to describe the Legislature’s accomplishments, Hortman said, “Transformational is definitely on the bingo card. Transformational and historic.”

Related: ‘Transformational’ and also ‘bonkers’: Minnesota Legislature ends its session of historic spending, policy changes

Hortman’s work made her a hero to progressive organizations. 

“The expansive gains made in 2023 for everyday people from all walks of life, like a statewide paid family and medical leave policy, happened because of her leadership,” Doran Schrantz, executive director of community organizing coalition Isaiah, said in a statement Saturday. 

But it also made Republicans feel bulldozed, with lawmakers calling the 2023 legislative session “bonkers.”

The 2024 election that delivered the presidency back to Donald Trump also resulted in a Minnesota House split between 67 DFLers and 67 Republicans. 

Hortman advised her caucus to sit out this year’s legislative session until a powersharing agreement was final. A deal was reached 23 days after the session’s scheduled start that made Demuth speaker and Hortman speaker emerita. 

As the Legislature blew past its May 19 adjournment date to pass a budget, Demuth and other Republican legislators harped on these 23 days as the reason for the delay. 

Hortman caught just as much heat from her own caucus. The outlines of a budget deal announced last month kept intact practically all of the 2023 session’s new laws except one: Undocumented immigrants aged 18 and over could no longer access MinnesotaCare. 

Related: Legislature, with Melissa Hortman vote, ends MinnesotaCare for undocumented adults 

DFL rank-and-file lawmakers accused leadership of turning their backs on the most vulnerable Minnesotans. A standalone bill curbing MinnesotaCare eligibility narrowly passed during the special session Monday after hours of passionate debate. 

In her remarks to reporters Monday night, Hortman said she felt “like crap” because of the MinnesotaCare concession but noted that it was her job to see a budget compromise through. 

“I did what leaders do. I stepped up and got the job done for the people of Minnesota,” she said.

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Editor’s note: This story was written by Matthew Blake, MinnPost’s state government reporter.

This article first appeared on MinnPost and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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