Sen. John Hoffman got into politics because he wanted to help his daughter, others

Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, were in stable condition at a hospital Saturday after they were shot in their Champlin home by a would-be assassin.

Hoffman, 60, was shot six times and his wife five times, but they are expected to make a full recovery, said Mat Ollig, Hoffman’s nephew.

Hoffman’s wife shielded their daughter, Hope, as the shots rang out, Ollig said.

“The family is in shock,” Ollig said. “These two are the kindest, most giving and caring people I know. He knew his neighbors and everybody knew him.”

Hoffman, DFL-Champlin, entered state politics after he struggled to obtain insurance for his daughter, who had spina bifida. He figured others were having the same difficulty.

“He hated being in politics,” Ollig said. “He loved helping people, and you got to do one thing to do the other.”

A former marketing and public relations director, Hoffman was elected to the Anoka-Hennepin school board in 2005 and served as vice-chair before running for the Minnesota Senate. He beat incumbent Benjamin Kruse in 2012 and has represented Districts 34 and 36 covering parts of Anoka and Hennepin counties ever since.

He served as the minority whip from 2017 to 2020, and as a chair of the Health and Human Services committee during the last half of the 2025 session. He also was a member of committees in the Senate overseeing energy, utilities, the environment and climate.

During his 12-year tenure, Hoffman also spent time on committees crafting policy on education, family care and aging, and energy and agriculture, according to the Minnesota Legislative Reference Library.

Hoffman is co-chair of the Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative, a regional task force dedicated to conservation and water quality in the entire river basin.

“Sen. Hoffman is one of middle America’s best,” said Coon Rapids Mayor Jerry Koch, who is the MRCTI’s co-chair. “He has been a tireless advocate for our state and region. He means so much to us. We are hopeful for his swift and full recovery. We need John.”

Throughout his career in the Minnesota Senate, Hoffman worked across the aisle to get legislation passed, something he took pride in doing, Ollig said.

“You got a problem, he’d say, ‘Write me a bill,’” Ollig said. “He tried to get things passed for everyone,” regardless of their politics.

Hoffman and his wife were attacked early Saturday by the gunman posing as a police officer who later assassinated state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark.

Minnesota State Auditor Julie Blaha said she was “heartbroken” by the shootings of the lawmakers and their spouses.

“They are more than dear friends, but also some of the greatest public servants I have ever known,” Blaha said in a statement on X. “Violence has no place in our democracy.”

Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy said she was devastated by the attacks and called the shootings an “unspeakably tragic day for Minnesotans.”

“John is one of Minnesota’s great champions for people in need,” Murphy said in a statement. “We are grateful to the law enforcement officers, and the doctors and nurses, who saved and are caring for them. Our prayers are with the Hoffmans and their loved ones. ”

Senate Republican leader Mark Johnson said the Hoffman and Hortman families are in his prayers.

“Senate Republicans are unified in our condemnation of this brazen act of violence,” he said in a statement.

Levi Strand, who lives a few houses down and across the street from the Hoffmans, said he was awakened about 2 a.m. by several pops, and then he saw a large SUV with emergency lights that he assumed was a law enforcement vehicle.

He thought the noises were fireworks and tried to go back to sleep, and then more vehicles flooded the street. “All of a sudden it was cop after cop after cop; it was pretty crazy.”

He later checked a camera on his home but it did not capture the first SUV speeding away.

He described the Hoffmans as a friendly couple who gave out full-sized candy bars on Halloween.

When he later saw which house had been targeted, “I got a little sad because you see what the reality is, you see he’s in politics.”

Hoffman never talked about political violence and didn’t worry about it either, his nephew said.

“He only saw kindness in people” Ollig said.

Ollig said he was still trying to process the unthinkable.

“He didn’t have a harsh word for anybody,” Ollig said. “Salt of the earth, that is how he saw everyone as.”

Protect Minnesota Executive Director Maggiy Emery said Hortman and Hoffman strived to make Minnesota better, and Saturday was a day of “grief, shock and deep sorrow.”

“Our hearts are shattered,” said Emery, head of the organization dedicated to preventing gun violence. “We are grieving for the families, friends and colleagues of those impacted, and we are holding them in our hearts.”