Melissa Anne Hortman, Minnesota’s trailblazing House Speaker Emerita, lived a life of unyielding public service until her shocking assassination on June 14, 2025, alongside husband Mark in their Brooklyn Park home. The 55-year-old Democrat-Farmer-Labor leader, gunned down by suspect Vance Boelter posing as a police officer, also saw their golden retriever Gilbert killed. Governor Tim Walz called it a “politically motivated assassination,” sparking Minnesota’s largest manhunt after attacks on Senator John Hoffman and wife Yvette, who survived.
Born May 27, 1970, in Fridley, Hortman grew up helping at her dad’s auto parts store, taught Sunday school, led Girl Scouts, and adored dogs. A Boston University and University of Minnesota Law graduate, she interned for Al Gore and John Kerry, clerked for judges, and won a record $490,181 housing discrimination verdict at Legal Aid. After two failed House bids, she flipped her district in 2004, serving 11 terms with humor, grace, and results.
As the longest-serving female Speaker (2019-2025), Hortman championed solar energy standards, community solar laws, Northstar rail, abortion rights expansion, recreational marijuana legalization, paid family leave, police reform post-George Floyd, and free school lunches. Colleagues like Steve Simon praised her as a “radiant beacon of humanity,” while Walz mourned his “dearest friend.” She cross-country skied, gardened, baked cakes for staff, and deferred accolades humbly.
Hortman lay in state at the Capitol rotunda—the first woman so honored—with 7,500 mourners including Joe Biden. A candlelight vigil drew thousands. Her legacy endures in progressive policies protecting families, environment, and rights, cut short by violence that horrified the nation.
