Minnesota Lawmakers Attacked: Leaders Including Joe Biden Attend Memorial for Ex-State Speaker Melissa Hortman

MINNEAPOLIS — Democratic former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman was celebrated for her legislative achievements and compassionate nature during a funeral service on Saturday, where more than 1,000 attendees, including former President Joe Biden and former Vice President Kamala Harris, paid their respects.

Hortman was tragically shot two weeks prior by an individual impersonating a police officer in what Minnesota’s chief federal prosecutor has described as an assassination. The attack also claimed the life of her husband, Mark, and left a state senator and his wife with serious injuries.

“Melissa Hortman will be remembered as the most impactful speaker in Minnesota’s history. I personally remember her as a dear friend, a mentor, and the most skilled legislator I have ever encountered,” stated Gov. Tim Walz in his eulogy. “For seven years, I had the honor of enacting her legislative agenda. Millions of Minnesotans now have the chance for better lives because she and Mark committed themselves to public service and politics.”

The service

Neither Biden nor Harris spoke, but they sat in the front row with the governor, who was Harris’ running mate in 2024. Biden was also one of more than 7,500 people who paid their respects Friday as Hortman, her husband, Mark, and their golden retriever, Gilbert, lay in state in the Minnesota Capitol rotunda in St. Paul. Gilbert was seriously wounded in the attack and had to be euthanized. Biden also visited the wounded senator in a hospital.

Dozens of current and former state legislators from both parties and other elected officials who worked with Hortman also attended.

Hortman, who was first elected in 2004, helped pass an expansive agenda of liberal initiatives like free lunches for public school students during the momentous 2023 session as the chamber’s speaker, along with expanded protections for abortion and trans rights. With the House split 67-67 between Democrats and Republicans this year, she yielded the gavel to a Republican under a power-sharing deal, took the title speaker emerita, and helped break a budget impasse that threatened to shut down state government.

The governor’s eulogy

Walz said Hortman saw her mission as “to get as much good done for as many people as possible.” And he said her focus on people was what made her so effective.

“She certainly knew how to get her way. No doubt about that,” Walz said. “But she never made anyone feel that they’d gotten rolled at a negotiating table. That wasn’t part of it for her, or a part of who she was. She didn’t need somebody else to lose to win for her.”

The governor said the best way to honor the Hortmans would be by following their example.

“Maybe it is this moment where each of us can examine the way we work together, the way we talk about each other, the way we fight for things we care about,” Walz said. “A moment when each of us can recommit to engaging in politics and life the way Mark and Melissa did — fiercely, enthusiastically, heartily, but without ever losing sight of our common humanity.”

The homily

The Rev. Daniel Griffith, pastor and rector of the Basilica, who led the service, said the country is in need of deep healing. He said it seems as if the U.S. is living in the “dystopian reality” described at the beginning of William Butler Yeats’ poem, “The Second Coming.”

“Here in Minnesota, we have been the ground zero place, sadly, for racial injustice,” Griffith said. “The killing of George Floyd just miles from our church today. And now we are the ground zero place for political violence and extremism. Both of these must be decried in the strongest possible terms, as they are, respectively, a threat to human dignity and indeed, our democracy.”

But the priest also said Minnesota could also be “a ground zero place for restoration and justice and healing.” He added that the presence of so many people was a sign that that work can succeed.

Archbishop Bernard Hebda of the Saint Paul and Minneapolis Archdiocese offered his condolences to the Hortman family.

A private burial will be held at a later date.

The Hortman family

The Hortmans were proud of their adult children, Sophie and Colin Hortman, and the lawmaker often spoke of them.

In a voice choked with emotion, Colin said his parents embodied the Golden Rule, and he read the Prayer of St. Francis, which his mother always kept in her wallet. He said it captures her essence. It starts, “Lord make me an instrument of your peace.”

After the service, Walz presented the children with U.S. and Minnesota flags that flew over the Capitol on the day their parents were killed.

The suspect

The man accused of killing the Hortmans at their home in the Minneapolis suburb of Brooklyn Park on June 14, and wounding Democratic state Sen. John Hoffman, and his wife, Yvette, at their home in nearby Champlin, made a brief court appearance Friday. He’s due back in court Thursday.

Vance Boelter, 57, of Green Isle, surrendered near his home the night of June 15 after what authorities called the largest search in Minnesota history.

Boelter remains jailed and has not entered a plea. Prosecutors need to secure a grand jury indictment first. His lawyers have declined to comment on the charges, which could carry the federal death penalty.

Friends have described Boelter as an evangelical Christian with politically conservative views. But prosecutors have declined so far to speculate on a motive.