Remembering Liberator Melissa Hortman

She was known for her warmth and integrity. A former colleague remembered her as “a formidable public servant and a fixture of the state Capitol”—respected even by those who disagreed with her. The Environmental Caucus described her as “intelligent, funny, welcoming,” a leader “who led with her values… but never with malice.” She displayed that rare combination of vision anchored in both head and heart.

Her death alongside her husband, Mark, in what authorities called a “politically motivated assassination,” is not just a tragedy, it's a moral wound to the body of our democracy. After the attack, Father Joe Whalen from St. Timothy’s Church urged parishioners to reject “extreme partisanship and hate” that sowed the seeds of this horrific act.

For two decades, from her election to the Minnesota Legislature in 2004 to her tenure as Speaker, Melissa Hortman invested every ounce of herself into building a more just and caring society. She guided ground-breaking legislation—from paid family and medical leave to environmental protections, reproductive freedom, police reforms, and paid school lunches. But her leadership was never just procedural. Governor Tim Walz captured it best: “Melissa served the people of Minnesota with grace, compassion, and tirelessness.” 

Melissa was “smart, savvy, strategic, kind, funny, brave, and determined,” said Secretary of State Steve Simon. She lived by the Golden Rule: “To whom much is given, much is expected,” her colleagues recall. In every vote and every conversation, she advanced the cause of liberation, not for a privileged few, but for the many.

In her passing, we are left to wonder how we have strayed so far into the unthinkable—that assassinating those who advance the ideals of liberty and justice for all is itself a justice. We must ask ourselves, how did Melissa's faith in the common good put her in the crosshairs of an evangelical's hatred? Melissa’s violent death implores us to remember how much we lose when fear overshadows courage, and division pushes us toward evil.

Melissa’s legacy will outlast the darkness of this moment. In every law she passed, in every child she empowered, in every community she healed, her spirit lives. And it is our duty not merely to mourn, but to stand firm in her example: to build bridges, uphold decency, and ensure love and justice prevail. That is the real repudiation of this attack, and the worthy continuation of her daily work as a servant of us all.