Let Hortmans’ legacy be civility

The assassination of House Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, and the attack on Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, early Saturday morning took something we can never get back.
Both the heart-breaking loss and the nature of the crimes have changed Minnesota forever.
In the words of former State Rep. Pat Garofalo, Hortman’s long-time friend, “This is a loss of innocence for our state.”
The lawmakers were Democrats. The shootings happened on a day when organized “No Kings” rallies protested the Trump administration. Alleged killer Vance Boelter had a list of names that included many leaders in the DFL party, abortion advocates, and Planned Parenthood clinics.
Without a doubt, these were politically motivated attacks. And within hours of this terrifying tragedy, multiple posters on social media were arguing over whether Boelter was a Democrat or a Republican.
(Some said he had close ties to Gov. Tim Walz, but according to the Minnesota Star Tribune, a close friend of Boelter’s called him a strong supporter of President Donald Trump.)
We cannot let more political division cloud the memory of a state lawmaker whose leadership was admired and respected by colleagues on both sides of the aisle.
In writing about Rep. Hortman, Star Tribune columnist Lori Sturdevant said this:
“The Minnesota House speaker emerita would have been among the first at a moment like this to call for order, nonviolence and as much bipartisan action as could reasonably be mustered.”
Rep. Hortman was a bridge-builder. It paid big dividends but also exacted a painful price.
This year’s chaotic legislative session ended last week with a compromise budget bill that, among other things, ended healthcare for undocumented Minnesotans—a point Republican lawmakers refused to concede. Hortman, who negotiated the deal with House Speaker Lisa Demuth, ultimately cast her vote with Republicans to pass the bill.
It broke her heart. She knew the political cost. But as she said later, her vote was needed to move the budget to the governor’s desk and avoid a government shutdown.
In the best interests of everyone concerned, she ended the argument. That’s what it means to be an elected official—and what it should mean to be human.
Over the past two decades, we’ve watched a steady decline of civility and coarsening of our political discourse, and now we’re seeing stronger waves of political violence: arson at Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s home and Elon Musk’s Tesla dealerships; gunfire at the Republican headquarters in New Mexico and the Democratic National Committee office; the assassination attempt on President Trump and now, the completed assassination of a Minnesota legislator and her husband.
The escalating level of political violence across the United States, across political boundaries and state lines should inspire every American to take action.
There are so much we can do: Turn down the temperature of political conversations. Resist the whirlpool of disinformation, augmented by artificial intelligence, that spins endlessly online. Mend broken fences. Reach across barriers that keep you from people who don’t look like you or believe what you believe.
Let that be the Hortmans’ legacy.