A mentor, a leader, a friend.
These are just some of the many ways lawmakers and the community have described House Speaker Melissa Hortman.
“Melissa was our beloved speaker, and she was our speaker during some of the hardest moments in our city,” DFL Representative Sydney Jordan shared with the Northeaster. “She had a unique and special relationship with every person in the legislature.”
Hortman and her husband Mark were fatally shot in their home early Saturday morning on June 14. State Senator John Hoffman and his wife Yvette were also shot in their home in a related attack. Both John and Yvette are expected to survive. The manhunt for the suspect in the shootings, 57-year-old Vance Boelter, ended on Sunday after Boelter was taken into custody.
“She made sure your community was able to be heard at the Capitol,” Jordan said of Hortman.
Jordan, representing Legislative District 60A, which includes Northeast Minneapolis, emotionally recalled the friendship she built with Speaker Hortman, adding that she felt Hortman took special care to welcome her to the State Capitol. Hortman’s mentorship, she said, had a positive effect on her development as a state legislator.
“Her advice and negotiations are ones that have made me a better negotiator and a better legislator,” Jordan said. “She would always make sure we were taken care of.”
In a statement to the Northeaster, Sen. Doron Clark — representing District 60 — called the killings “unspeakable” and “abhorrent.”
“Melissa dedicated her life to serving Minnesota, and this tragedy is heartbreaking for our state. They will be dearly missed,” Clark wrote.
Clark also spoke of State Senator Hoffman, who he says mentored him after starting his term this year.
“I pray for John and Yvette Hoffman. John has mentored and helped me in my first months in the Senate,” Clark wrote. “I wish him and Yvette speedy recoveries, and I hope that John will (be) back to fiercely advocating for Minnesota soon.”
Clark also thanked law enforcement for helping provide security to his family during this time.
“Now is the time to hold friends and family close,” Clark wrote.