Minnesota’s slain Democratic leader saw liberal victories, then brokered a budget deal out of power

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - The Minnesota House's top Democrat helped shepherd a package of liberal initiatives to passage when her party had a narrow majority two years ago. After Democrats lost their majority, she helped broker a deal to keep state government funded and provided a crucial vote to pass it, though her party hated it.

State Rep. Melissa Hortman, 55, the House’s Democratic leader and former speaker, was shot to death early Saturday in her Minneapolis-area home along with her husband by someone posing as a law enforcement officer. Another prominent area lawmaker, state Sen. John Hoffman, was shot and wounded, along with his wife, in their home about 15 minutes away in what Gov. Tim Walz described as "targeted political violence."

The shooting shocked officials in both parties in a state that prides its politics as being "Minnesota nice," despite higher partisan tensions in recent years. While Minnesota hasn’t voted for a GOP presidential candidate since 1972, and all of its statewide elected officials are Democrats, the Legislature is nearly evenly divided, with the House split 67-67 until Hortman’s death and Democrats holding a 34-33 majority in the Senate.

Hortman led fellow Democrats in boycotting House sessions for almost a month starting Jan. 14 to prevent the GOP from using a temporary vacancy in a Democratic seat to cement power over the chamber instead of working out a power-sharing arrangement.

Yet when the partisan split in the House threatened to prevent the Legislature from passing a budget to keep state government running for the next two years, she not only helped broker the final deal but secured its passage by being the only Democrat to vote yes on a key part of the deal.

"She wasn't only a leader - she was a damn good legislator, and Minnesotans everywhere will suffer because of this loss," said Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin, a former Minnesota state party chair and a friend of Hortman’s.

Hoffman, 60, is chair of the Senate Human Services Committee, which oversees one of the biggest parts of the state budget. He lives in Champlin, in the northwest part of the Minneapolis area, and owns a consulting firm, and he and his wife, Yvette, had one daughter.

He previously was marketing and public relations director for a nonprofit provider of employment services for people with mental illnesses and intellectual and developmental disabilities and supervised a juvenile detention center in Iowa. He was first elected to the Senate in 2012.

In 2023, Hoffman supported budget legislation that extended the state MinnesotaCare health program to immigrants living in the U.S. illegally, starting this year. On Monday, he voted against a bill to end that coverage for adults on Jan. 1 - a GOP goal that was a key part of the budget agreement that Hortman helped broker.

Last year, Hoffman sponsored a bill designed to prevent courts from blocking people with disabilities from adopting children, and in 2023, he proposed an amendment to the state constitution to create a fund to pay for long-term care by taxing the Social Security benefits of the state’s wealthiest residents.

Hortman had served as the House Democrats’ leader since 2017, and six years as speaker, starting in 2019. She had to give up the speaker’s job this year after the 2024 elections produced the even partisan split. Her official title this year was speaker emerita.

She and her husband, Mark, lived in Brooklyn Park, another suburb in the northwest part of the Minneapolis area. They had two adult children.

A lawyer, she twice lost races for the House before first winning her seat in 2004. U.S. Sen. and Minnesota Democrat Amy Klobuchar recalled campaigning door to door that year with Hortman, when Klobuchar was the elected chief prosecutor for Hennepin County, which includes Minneapolis. Klobuchar praised Hortman’s support for free school lunches, women’s rights and clean energy, calling her "a true public servant to the core."

"She was beloved by her colleagues," Klobuchar said in a statement.

Hortman became part of the Democrats’ leadership team at the state Capitol in 2007 and House minority leader in 2017, before Democrats recaptured a House majority in 2019.

In 2023 and 2024, Democrats controlled both chambers and used their majorities to enact a sweeping liberal agenda and practically everything on an ambitious wish list. The measures included expanded abortion and trans rights, paid family and medical leave, universal free school lunches, child care credits and other aid for families.

She previously proposed state emission standards for automobiles like ones imposed in California and a ban on the sale of products containing mercury. She also proposed studying the feasibility of ending state investments in fossil fuel companies.

"She knew how to stand firm on her values but understood the importance of teamwork and compromise and never backed down from hard choices,” Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said in a statement. “She was tough, she was kind, and she was the best of us."

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Hanna reported from Topeka, Kansas.