‘A woman with strength and experience’: Speaker Lisa Demuth mourns legislative counterpart, Melissa Hortman

Melissa Hortman became Minnesota Speaker of the House on Jan. 8, 2019,  the same day Lisa Demuth started in the Legislature. 

“The first day when we were sworn in, she became speaker, and then gave her speech. I remember her pointing out her family specifically in the gallery, and mentioning them, Demuth, R-Cold Spring, and the current House speaker said in an interview Monday. “And I don’t remember anything else she said. I just remember looking at a woman with strength and experience.” 

That Hortman spelled out not just her policy preferences but life priorities was galvanizing, Demuth said. And her respect for Hortman buoyed the Legislature passing budget bills last week amid a House split evenly between Republicans and DFLers. 

“She was very decisive and gave clear direction and really empowered the people working alongside her,” Demuth said of Hortman. 

Demuth gave interviews Monday to reporters at her Capitol office. Scheduled last week, the idea was to take stock of the just-completed legislative session. 

That obviously changed following the fatal shooting Saturday of Hortman and her husband, Mark Hortman, in their Brooklyn Park home. 

Related from 2022: New House Republican leader Lisa Demuth plans to lead with calm and conversational style

Sunday night law enforcement officials apprehended the shooting suspect, Vance Boelter. On Monday prosecutors charged Boelter with murdering the Hortmans and attempting to murder Sen. John Hoffman, DFL-Champlin, and his spouse, Yvette Hoffman, who have each survived gunshot wounds. 

Also Monday, Sen. Ann Rest, DFL-New Hope, said she learned from police that the suspect was parked outside her home Saturday morning. 

“I am so grateful for the heroic work of the New Hope police department and its officers,” Rest said in a statement. “Their quick action saved my life.” 

Demuth also praised law enforcement for “making sure there was enhanced public safety for elected officials.”

Asked if she felt safe, Demuth replied, “Yeah, I do. It’s something that maybe people have taken for granted, and I don’t think anyone ever will ever again.” 

Hortman’s death has political ramifications

It was evident during budget talks that Demuth could work well with Hortman. 

Calling themselves “team House,” they held press conferences where Demuth played serious foil to Hortman’s quips. 

Asked in late May whether budget working groups would get a new deadline to complete their negotiations, Hortman said to laughs, “We did and they blew it. We haven’t given them another deadline to blow.” 

Then, Demuth stepped in to say the pair communicated with the working groups and “a lot of the groups were saying we’re really close, we just need a little more time.”

Still, their agreement to share power in the House, with Hortman taking the title Speaker Emerita, came after the DFL caucus sat out the session’s first 23 days.

Related: Unforced errors put DFL House in worse-than-a-tie position, but GOP high hopes for majority could end in court 

Demuth invariably mentioned this delay as to why lawmakers did not pass budget bills by May 19, when the Legislature was scheduled to adjourn. 

The partisan conflict grew when Republicans successfully pushed to remove undocumented immigrant adults from a state subsidized health care plan, a move vehemently opposed by rank-and-file DFLers. 

Demuth said Monday that she has kept in contact with other House Republicans about how to publicly discuss Hortman’s murder, and combat lies about the slaying. 

“Just lead by example that these are the things that are verified that we know and then be absolutely compassionate to the loss that everyone is feeling,” she said. “In my mind, it isn’t even a partisan political thing. It’s just an unhinged, very dangerous person that carried out a horrific act and that’s what I know right now.”

Though morbid to mention, Hortman’s death does give Republicans a majority in the House. There will be a special election for Hortman’s seat before the Legislature is scheduled to reconvene in February. 

But the seat might not be filled before another possible special session. Gov. Tim Walz and Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy, DFL-St. Paul, have noted this possibility due to potential federal budget cuts. 

Demuth said Monday she was too deep into grieving to go in-depth on policy. 

She did defend the Republican budget strategy of curbing health care subsidies for undocumented immigrant adults, while leaving untouched other 2023 DFL legislative gains. 

“There were many things we were not able to get changed or done, but I think we did a good job as far as working together in a bipartisan fashion,” Demuth 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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