MANKATO — State Rep. Luke Frederick of Mankato had been thinking about Melissa Hortman continuously Saturday, but his voice still broke when he started to voice those thoughts early in the evening.
“She was such a fierce advocate for everything she believed in, and she lived her values,” Frederick said after a pause. “But that fierceness wasn’t mean. It was just a belief in what she was fighting for. And that heart and compassion was always there as well. And it showed in everything she did.”
As a member of the DFL caucus of the House of Representatives, Frederick had Hortman for his captain — either as speaker of the House or DFL leader — throughout his three terms in the Legislature. He said she was one of those supervisors that people sometimes experience who has an innate ability to command a room.
“The entire room grows quiet because when that person speaks, everybody listens,” he said. “And that was Melissa Hortman.”
State Sen. Nick Frentz of North Mankato and Gov. Tim Walz, a longtime Mankato resident, worked in different parts of the Minnesota Capitol than Hortman, who spent her entire 21-year career in the House. But both said Hortman was much more than a colleague.
“It’s a loss for Minnesota, both professionally and personally for many of us,” Frentz said following Hortman’s death Saturday. “She was a tremendous legislator, a giant at the Capitol.”
Walz called Hortman’s murder “an unspeakable tragedy” and an act of “targeted political violence” during a press conference Saturday morning.
“Our state lost a great leader and I lost the dearest of friends,” Walz said of Hortman, 55. “… She woke up every day to make this state a better place.”
Hortman’s husband Mark was also killed by the gunman in their home in Brooklyn Center less than two hours after the man, impersonating a police officer, had shot state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife Yvette Hoffman in their Champlin home. The Hoffmans survived multiple gun shots and are being treated in a Twin Cities hospital.
“We are all in the Senate DFL Caucus holding our breath and wishing him and his wife a speedy recovery,” Frentz told The Free Press.
The suspect — 57-year-old Vance Boelter of the Sibley County town of Green Isle — was still on the loose and the subject of a massive manhunt Saturday night. Boelter allegedly fired at officers when they approached Hortman’s home at around 3:30 a.m. to check on her welfare and then fled on foot, leaving behind an SUV that had been outfitted to look like a law enforcement vehicle. A so-called manifesto was left in the vehicle and included a list of names of other elected officials in Minnesota.
Police were not releasing the names publicly, but Frentz said his understanding is that leaders of the political caucuses at the Capitol had been authorized to contact members who were on the list.
“I did not get notified,” Frentz said.
But he was appreciative of efforts by the sheriff’s office and local police to reach out to him, asking if he and his family would like additional protection.
“I thought that was a very positive show of preparedness on that front from Minnesota public safety (agencies),” Frentz said.
Rep. Erica Schwartz, R-Nicollet, told The Free Press she did not have an opportunity to get to know Hortman during her freshman legislative session this year. Schwarz issued a statement, however, describing herself as shocked and heartbroken.
“Words cannot fully express the sorrow my family and I feel over the tragic loss of Speaker-Emerita Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark,” Schwartz wrote. ” … Melissa was a dedicated leader who served Minnesota with heart and conviction. Her commitment to her community and colleagues was evident in every conversation and every decision she made. We also continue to hold Senator John Hoffman and his wife Yvette close in our prayers as they recover from their injuries.”
On Saturday, House Democrats were talking about one way they will be memorializing Hortman, who was adamant that the Capitol complex needed more trees and shrubs and less grass.
“If she would have had her way, the entire Capitol mall would have been a forest,” Frederick said.
Since she wasn’t going to win that fight, Hortman told Frederick in one of their last conversations that she was going to systematically attempt to add a few trees to every other project she could possibly influence. On Saturday, Frederick and his colleagues were pledging to continue that effort.
“We’re each going to find a way to plant a tree for Melissa,” he said.