Melissa Hortman, a Minnesota lawmaker who was gunned down in what is described as a politically motivated attack, earned degrees at Boston University and Harvard.

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.

Current and former Iowa lawmakers say they feel both sad and scared after two Minnesota lawmakers were shot in their homes by a man impersonating a police officer early Saturday morning.

When a longtime Minnesota lawmaker died after a battle with ALS, former state House Speaker Melissa Hortman helped pass historic legislation in search of a cure.

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

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.

The man suspected of shooting state Rep. Melissa Hortman, state Sen. John Hoffman and their spouses was arrested after a two-day manhunt.

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.”