Assassinated Rep. Melissa Hortman leaves legacy as unflashy leader who ‘got the job done’

From the wooden dais in the Minnesota House, then-Speaker Melissa Hortman presided two years ago over what many called the most consequential legislative session in recent history.

She helped orchestrate the passage of long-held Democratic goals: increased education spending, paid family leave, gun regulations, free school lunches. Then, in an effort to resolve a bitter standoff this year over how to share power in an equally divided House, she offered up the powerful and symbolic role, handing Republicans the speaker’s seat.

“She recognized that the ultimate chip she had to play was a personal one, which was giving up the title,” said DFL Floor Leader Jamie Long, her number two at the Capitol.

It was classic Hortman, colleagues said. Those who worked alongside her over her 20 years in the House described an unflashy, no-nonsense leader who didn’t seek the spotlight, took care of her team, relished organization and, above all, wanted to get stuff done.

Hortman was assassinated Saturday. She was shot and killed along with her husband, Mark, in their Brooklyn Park home, where she tended her garden and played with Gilbert, the golden retriever she joked was the true love of her life.

The man who killed the couple also shot DFL Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, and had a list of targets that included other Democrats as well as abortion providers.

Hortman, a 55-year-old attorney and mother of two adult children, was raised not far from the northern suburban communities she would one day represent. Her father ran a used auto parts company, and she often said she grew up “on a junkyard in Anoka County.”

That blue-collar upbringing formed her blunt character, and when talking politics, she would sometimes use the barometer of “what the guys at John’s Auto Parts” would think, DFL Rep. Zack Stephenson, said.

He said her Catholic faith also shaped her, particularly her desires to take care of the neediest and welcome the stranger.

Her belief in “righting wrongs and helping people who were disadvantaged” fueled Hortman’s work on housing discrimination law cases as a young attorney and compelled her to run for office, said Stephenson.

As a high school senior, Stephenson volunteered for Hortman’s second bid for the House. In 2004, while in college, he became her campaign manager and helped her get elected in her third attempt.

Hortman felt it wasn’t fair that parts of the north metro didn’t seem to have the same quality of education as some other communities, he said, and she ran for office hoping to improve schools and roads in her community.

The gardener and cross-country skiier also brought a passion for the outdoors to the Capitol, colleagues said. Many cited her work to create the state’s community solar garden program as one of her proudest accomplishments.

Her short biography on X sums her up as: “Speaker, MN House of Representatives ... Author of MN’s solar standard and community solar law.”

For most of her time at the Capitol, she operated under some form of divided government. That, and the fact that she represented a swing district she worked hard to hang onto for many years, made her a pragmatic leader, legislators said.

When she became speaker in 2019, her legislative counterpart, Republican Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka, said he was wary, but the two built a deep trust. After her death, he said, he has been scrolling through texts they exchanged over years of working together through the COVID-19 pandemic, the murder of George Floyd and the uprising that followed.

What stood out from the countless messages was the honesty they shared as they struggled to figure out what each side could live with, Gazelka said, and how they did not get too heated with one another throughout tense, divided times.

“That even-keeled temperament that she had was perfect to be the leader,” he said.

Gazelka recalled the time Hortman came to the Senate floor and hugged him after passage of a public safety bill in the aftermath of Floyd’s murder. “We had to work so hard in such a difficult moment for Minnesota,” he said.

When Democrats took control of the House, Senate and governor’s office in 2023, her knowledge, level head and listening skills made her the boss “who kept this band of misfits together,” former DFL House Majority Leader Ryan Winkler said of the 70 Democrats she corralled.

During the two years her party held power, Democrats credited her orderly approach to governing and efforts to lay the groundwork in preceding years as essential to passing so many priorities. Among them were codified abortion rights, legalized marijuana, additional gun restrictions and new clean energy goals.

Hortman said in 2023 that she hoped for the next 50 years, “People will benefit from and be able to brag about the benefits of this session.”

Several Democrats described her as the “mom” of their caucus, one who worried deeply about others’ safety during the pandemic, protests after Floyd’s murder and the aftermath of the Jan. 6 attack at the U.S. Capitol.

She kept her neatly organized office at the Capitol stocked with sparkling water and protein bars, Pringles and other snacks that she offered to staff and members.

And as a fan of TV’s “Great British Baking Show,” Hortman regularly brought in baked goods. She was particularly proud of a boozy mojito cake.

Colleagues said she was caring but firm.

“Melissa had high expectations for everyone,” Winkler said. “And she made sure that people were meeting those expectations, or they were going to hear about it.”

He said she was also very impatient ”with the nonsense of politics,” which was likely part of the reason she never sought higher office.

Hortman debated running for Congress in 2008, Stephenson said, but didn’t want to be away from her children that much. When he considered congressional bid in 2023, the two talked about how they could get more done for people in the Minnesota Legislature than in Washington.

“She probably would have continued to do that work for years and years,” he said.

After Democrats’ triumphant session in 2023 and 2024, a divided House and bleak budget outlook made this a difficult year for Hortman and her party, one where they largely sought to preserve what they could from preceding years.

A few days before she was killed, Hortman took what she called the most painful vote of her political career. She was the lone Democrat to join Republicans in voting to end health care coverage for adult undocumented immigrants, a sacrifice Stephenson said she felt compelled to make after she signing her name on the budget deal.

The usually composed DFL leader held back tears as she talked to reporters about the vote she said would hurt people, but was necessary for the greater good.

“We tried any other way we could to come to a budget agreement with Republicans, and they wouldn’t have it,” Hortman said. “So, you know, I did what leaders do. I stepped up, and I got the job done for the people of Minnesota.”