Walter Hudson must be one of the most solid conservative Republicans serving in the Minnesota House. He posted these comments on X in response to yesterday’s assassinations and shootings. Without knowing any of the victims, I join Rep. Hudson in this tribute to his colleagues:
Words cannot express the shock and sorrow my family and I feel in response to this morning’s horrific news.
The fatal shooting of Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark is an unspeakable tragedy. Melissa was a principled and effective leader who worked to bring balance to a divided legislature. Though we often stood on opposite sides of policy debates, she always treated me—and all her colleagues—with warmth, professionalism, and a genuine commitment to our state.
The heinous act that took their lives is reprehensible and must be met with the harshest available consequences. Our prayers and deepest sympathies are with her family, friends, and community during this devastating time.
We’re also keeping Senator John Hoffman and his wife Yvette in our hearts, as physicians treat them for life-threatening injuries. Senator Hoffman has demonstrated grace, respect, and bipartisanship, often engaging with Republican colleagues and constituents in good faith. His service reflects the kind of collaborative spirit we need more of in public life.
Violence is always evil. But when it is directed at public servants, it becomes more than a personal attack—it is an assault on our shared commitment to resolve differences through dialogue rather than bloodshed.
Whatever the motive, this act was cowardly and vile. We trust that our law enforcement professionals will swiftly bring the perpetrator to justice.
May God comfort the victims and guide our state through this dark moment with unity.
Patrick Coolican is the left-wing editor of the left-wing Minnesota Reformer. I got to know Patrick in connection with his reporting on Ilhan Omar’s marriage to her brother when he was at the Star Tribune. He posted these comments on the death of former Speaker Hortman in his daily Reformer newsletter yesterday. I take his assessment entirely at face value:
I knew Melissa Hortman well. [Reformer reporter] Michelle [Griffith] and I sat down with her Thursday for a 30-minute off-the-record conversation.
I respect a lot of elected officials, but I admire few. I admired Melissa Hortman.
Despite her achievements, she was never self-important. She knew that average Minnesotans had no clue who she was, but that didn’t stop her from doing everything she could to make their lives better.
She could be wonderfully blunt.
Among my first interactions with her when she became minority leader in 2017, she commented on a profile I’d written of a Republican political operative, calling it, “the journalistic equivalent of a,” well, I can’t publish it, but you can imagine.
After I wrote a column in 2019 that proclaimed it was time to stop underestimating Melissa Hortman, she told me, “Whew, I needed a cigarette after reading that one.”
She had a wonderfully salty mouth and sense of humor.
In the political and legislative sphere, she cared about the work and only the work.
And when the work was done, she cared about her family and golden retrievers.
We lost a good one.
Readers who want to follow the progress of law enforcement in apprehending the assassin can’t do better than following Liz Collin on X.
