A teenager with a job making burritos became a powerful Minnesota lawmaker who trained service dogs

MINNEAPOLIS — Melissa Hortman' s influence at the Minnesota Capitol and her power as a Democratic leader to shape the course of a deeply divided Legislature were a far cry from her job as a teenager making chili-cheese burritos and overshadowed her volunteer work training service dogs for veterans.

She was a lifelong Minneapolis-area resident who went to college in Boston and then returned home for law school and, with degree fresh in hand, worked as a volunteer lawyer for a group fighting housing discrimination. Elected to the Minnesota House in 2004, she helped pass liberal initiatives like free lunches for public school students in 2023 as the chamber's speaker. With the House split 67-67 between Democrats and Republicans this year, she helped break a budget impasse threatening to shut down state government.

Tributes from friends and colleagues in both parties poured in after Hortman and her husband were shot to death early Saturday in their suburban Brooklyn Park home in what authorities called an act of targeted political violence. Helping Paws, which trains service dogs, posted a message on its Facebook page, along with a 2022 photo of a smiling Hortman with her arm around Gilbert, a friendly-looking golden retriever trained to be a service dog and adopted by her family.

''Melissa Hortman was a woman that I wish everyone around the country knew,'' U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a longtime friend and Democratic ally, said Sunday on ABC's ''This Week.''

Klobuchar added: ''She was a true leader and loved her work, but was always so grounded and such a decent person. I think that's probably the best word to describe her. You look at her pictures and you know what she was about.''

The shootings followed a big Democratic dinner

The killings of Hortman and her husband early Saturday followed the shootings and wounding of another prominent Minnesota lawmaker, state Sen. John Hoffman, and his wife, at their home in Champlin, another Minneapolis suburb. Hoffman is chair of the Senate committee overseeing human resources spending. A nephew posted Sunday on Facebook that the Hoffmans were out of surgery and recovering from multiple gunshot wounds.

The Hortmans, the Hoffmans and other top Democrats had gathered at a downtown Minneapolis hotel Friday night for their party's annual Humphrey-Mondale dinner. It's named for two Minnesota liberal icons who served both as U.S. senators and vice presidents, Hubert Humphrey and Walter Mondale.

Minnesota Democrat and U.S. Sen. Tina Smith said she saw both lawmakers at the dinner.

''So it feels so personal, because we're all very good friends, of course, to have that have happened so shortly after we were all together,'' Smith said on CNN's ''Inside Politics Sunday.''

Outside the state Capitol in St. Paul, a memorial to Hortman and her husband included flowers, candles, small American flags and a photo of the couple. Visitors left messages on Post-It notes commending Hortman's legislative work, including, ''You changed countless lives."

Hortman supplied a key vote for a budget deal Democrats disliked

Legislative colleagues described Hortman as funny, savvy and fiercely committed to liberal causes. When lawmakers convened in January with a vacancy in a Democratic seat in the House giving the GOP a temporary advantage, Hortman led a boycott of daily sessions for more than three weeks to force Republicans into a power-sharing arrangement.

Republicans were intent this year on ending state health coverage for adult immigrants who entered the U.S. illegally, authorized in 2023 as part of a sweeping liberal program. Democrats wanted to keep it, and lawmakers began June — the last month of the 2025 budget year — without having passed a 2026-27 spending blueprint.

Hortman helped negotiate a package that included a bill ending the state health coverage for adult immigrants on Jan. 1, 2026. She was the only House Democrat to vote for it last week— the 68th vote it needed to pass the chamber.

She told reporters afterward that Republicans insisted on the bill, and Minnesota voters who gave the House an even partisan split expect the parties to compromise. But she acknowledged she worries about people who will lose their health insurance.

''I know that people will be hurt by that vote,'' she said, choking up briefly before regaining her composure. ''We worked very hard to try to get a budget deal that wouldn't include that provision.''

Tacos, auto parts, physics and Habitat for Humanity

Hortman's earliest jobs didn't suggest that she'd become a power in Minnesota politics. The earliest job listed on her LinkedIn.com profile, when she was 16, was as a cook and cashier at a restaurant, where she made tacos and, ''most importantly, chili cheese burritos.'' She also worked for caterers and was a runner at an auto parts store, putting inventory away and retrieving items for customers.

Her husband, Mark, earned a physics degree from the University of North Carolina and later, a master's of business administration. He was the chief operating officer of an auto parts company for 10 years before co-founding a business consulting firm. He was active in Helping Paws and worked with homebuilding nonprofit Habitat for Humanity. They have an adult son and an adult daughter.

Melissa Hortman earned a degree in philosophy and political science from Boston University, where she also worked as a residence assistant in one of its dormitories. She earned her law degree from the University of Minnesota, but also a master's of public administration from Harvard University.

She served a decade on the board of a local nonprofit providing transportation and car repairs for low-income residents. She also was part of a committee in 2005 considering whether Minneapolis should submit a bid to host the Summer Olympics.

''We remember Melissa for her kindness, compassion, and unwavering commitment to making the world better,'' Helping Paws said in its Facebook message.

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Hanna reported from Topeka, Kansas. Associated Press video journalist Obed Lamy also contributed reporting from St. Paul, Minnesota.