Minnesota lost something today
Melissa Hortman represented the beliefs that have made Minnesota a great state for well over a century.
Minnesota House Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman was a calm, kind, pragmatic Minnesota leader. The loss of her and her husband Mark to the hand of a gunman shatters many of the assumptions we have had about Minnesota’s politics, but hopefully those assumptions are not irreparable, and hopefully they can change from assumptions to fact.1 No one in Minnesota should want to take away what we all hold dear. State Senator John Hoffman and his wife were also shot in their home but are recovering and this will hopefully continue to be true.
All morning, coverage has said that this is a dark day for Minnesota and might be the darkest day in Minnesota political history, and I believe this to be true, at least in modern memory.
I should provide some biographical information for non-Minnesotans or for those that did not know about Melissa Hortman’s record well. Born in Fridley in 1970, she graduated from Blaine High School in 1988, and Boston University in 1991. She earned a JD from the University of Minnesota Law School in 1995, and a Master of Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School in 2018.2 A stellar example of a DFLer, she represented Minnesotans in the state house for over 20 years, and for 6 years she served as the Speaker of the Minnesota House.
I met Speaker Hortman when I was in undergraduate government at the University of Minnesota. She of course answered the questions of young undergraduates with hopes and dreams to change any manner of things in the world, and above all she exhibited a determined, calm, and pragmatic sense of politics and the state legislature—that we’re going to do our best to get what needs to get done done, and it will be done well. Not a firebrand, she came to know the ins and outs of the state capitol and improved the lives of Minnesotans for it. She, alongside many others, have been role models to me throughout my upbringing, and it is shocking to think that she is gone.
I have not yet had the opportunity to meet Senator John Hoffman, but I know that he is a man who very much got into politics to help his neighbors. Senator Hoffman’s nephew said to the Star Tribune that his uncle hates being in politics but that it is needed to help other people.3 This sentiment is of course not new and is very much something we attribute to the ideal lawmaker.
People that serve in the state legislator, or any form of local government, are our neighbors. We run into them on walks, at the grocery store, at the state fair and more. Their job, in my opinion, is to do their best to represent us the way they and we together believe we need to be represented and connected. I have been all over this state, and for the most part, I see this in our representatives, and I hope that it continues. A slogan that has become more prevalent, largely from Tim Walz’s campaigns for governor, is ‘One Minnesota.’ And while it may seem tacky, the statement is a boiled down representation of what we believe in Minnesota. No one should suffer in our state.
I don’t have any historical conclusions today, nor would it be appropriate too. However, Minnesota has always considered itself different from the rest of the country—that we are above the deep divisions that exist and that despite the bitter and blistering fights in the state legislator, we’ll still get together for the fishing opener, that we’ll still be able to have jokes in the hallway, or even on a more personal level, put aside our differences at the cabin. The belief that we are One Minnesota. Bipartisanship in Minnesota is a rare, weird, and nuanced thing, but we somehow have continued to make it work throughout the years. It has begun to break down, for many reasons, and now we exist in a world where this is possible in Minnesota. It is integral for a functioning democracy that we move away from this. Minnesota prides itself on improving the lives of all its citizens and has for well over a century. Today shows us that Minnesota is not impervious to the problems swirling around the country. Assassinations should not be the result of political disagreements, at any level of government. I hope that by looking to history, looking within ourselves and in our communities, that we can let this be the moment we wake up.
Many of us lost friends and public servants today, and I hope they rest in peace.
Vondracek, Christopher. “Melissa Hortman, top Democrat in Minnesota House, shot and killed.” The Minnesota Star Tribune. https://www.startribune.com/melissa-hortman-top-democrat-in-minnesota-house-shot-and-killed-in-home/601372998.
Horman, Melissa. Minnesota Legislative Reference Library. https://www.lrl.mn.gov/legdb/fulldetail?ID=12266.
Harlow, Tim and Chloe Johnson. “Sen. John Hoffman, shot during ‘targeted’ attack, got into politics because he wanted to help his neighbors.” The Minnesota Star Tribune. https://www.startribune.com/sen-john-hoffman-got-into-politics-because-he-wanted-to-help-his-neighbors/601373018.