MINNEAPOLIS — Democratic former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman was honored for her legislative accomplishments and her humanity during a funeral Saturday where former President Biden and former Vice President Kamala Harris joined more than 1,000 mourners.
Hortman and her husband, Mark, were shot to death in their home two weeks ago by a man posing as a police officer that Minnesota’s chief federal prosecutor has called an assassination. The assailant also shot and seriously wounded a Democratic state senator and his wife at their home.
“Melissa Hortman will be remembered as the most consequential speaker in Minnesota history. I get to remember her as a close friend, a mentor and the most talented legislator I have ever known,” Gov. Tim Walz said in his eulogy. ”For seven years, I have had the privilege of signing her agenda into law. I know millions of Minnesotans get to live their lives better because she and Mark chose public service and politics.”
Neither Biden nor Harris spoke, but they sat in the front row with the governor and his wife, Gwen. Biden also paid his respects Friday as the Hortmans and their golden retriever, Gilbert, lay in state in the Minnesota Capitol Rotunda in St. Paul. Biden also visited the wounded senator, John Hoffman, in a hospital.
Hortman was the first woman and one of fewer than 20 Minnesotans to lie in state at the Capitol. It was the first time a couple have been accorded the honor, and the first for a dog. Gilbert was seriously wounded in the attack and had to be euthanized.
Hortman, who was first elected in 2004, helped pass an expansive agenda of liberal initiatives including free lunches for public school students during a momentous 2023 session as the chamber’s speaker, along with expanded protections for abortion and trans rights. With the House split 67 to 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.
Walz said Hortman saw her mission as “to get as much good done for as many people as possible.” 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” for her to win, he said.
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.”
Dozens of state legislators who served with Hortman attended. The Rev. Daniel Griffith, pastor and rector of the Basilica, led the service. Other clergy present included Archbishop Bernard Hebda of the Saint Paul and Minneapolis Archdiocese.
The man accused of killing the Hortmans at their home in the Minneapolis suburb of Brooklyn Park and wounding Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, at their home in nearby Champlin on June 14 made a brief court appearance Friday. He’s due back in court Thursday.
Vance Boelter, 57, of Green Isle, Minn., surrendered near his home the night of June 15 after what authorities called the largest manhunt in Minnesota history.
Boelter 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 and a supporter of President Trump. Prosecutors have declined to speculate on a motive.
Karnowski writes for the Associated Press.