Melissa Hortman’ s influence at the Minnesota Capitol and her power as a Democratic leader to shape the course of a deeply divided Legislature were a far cry from her job as a teenager making chili-cheese burritos and overshadowed her volunteer work training service dogs for veterans.

From the wooden dais in the Minnesota House, then-Speaker Melissa Hortman presided two years ago over what many called the most consequential legislative session in recent history. She helped orchestrate the passage of long-held Democratic goals: increased education spending,

Friends and colleagues mourning Melissa Hortman hailed the longtime Democratic legislator as a dedicated public servant, a straight-talking and savvy political operator and a kind and committed colleague,

Minnesota State Representative Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark, were shot and killed early Saturday morning in “what appears to be a politically-motivated assassination,” Minnesota Governor Tim Walz said at a news conference Saturday.

But there was a caring, apolitical gracefulness as well to Hortman, colleagues said. Garofalo said that in the days after the 2022 elections, when Democrats took control of state

A man impersonating a police officer shot and killed Minnesota state legislator Melissa Hortman and her husband at their home in what Gov. Tim Walz called “targeted political violence.”

Boelter, 57, was arrested at about 9 p.m. June 15. He is accused of shooting the two Democratic state legislators and their spouses in the early morning hours of June 14. The Minnesota State Patrol took him into custody in rural Sibley County,