Assassinated Minnesota politician visited Israel, was friend to Jewish community
State Sen. John Hoffman wounded in attack was also close to Minnesota’s Jews
Melissa Hortman, then Speaker of the House in the Minnesota legislature, and her husband Mark at the Netiv HaAsara moshav in southern Israel in 2019. The couple’s trip was on a delegation with the Jewish Community Relations Council. Courtesy of JCRC of Minnesota and the Dakotas
By Robin Washington June 15, 2025
ST. PAUL — The former Minnesota Speaker of the House who was killed with her husband in an apparent assassination by a man impersonating a police officer was a friend to the state’s Jewish community, Jewish leaders told the Forward.
“She was always present for the Jewish community,” said Retired state Rep. Frank Hornstein of Minneapolis, a longtime colleague and friend of Hortman, calling her death “really tough.”
Rep. Melissa Hortman of suburban Minneapolis, the leader of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor party who served as speaker from 2019 to 2024, was shot to death with her husband Mark early Saturday morning by a man appearing at their door wearing a police uniform, authorities said.
About an hour earlier, another Democratic lawmaker, state Sen. John Hoffman of the nearby suburb of Champlin, was also shot along with his wife, Yvette. Both remain alive and in stable condition following surgery.
Steve Hunegs, executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas, said he saw Hortman just hours before her death at the DFL’s annual Humphrey-Mondale Dinner on Friday, though he did not get an opportunity to speak to her. But he has had many other interactions with her over the years, most notably on a 2019 trip to Israel led by his group.
“She had a particular interest in the future of Israeli and Palestinian coexistence and wanted to be of some help,” Hunegs said.
Ethan Roberts, the JCRC deputy director, also remembered Hortman, who was Catholic, on that trip. “We traveled for 10 days,” he said. “You get to know people in a small group like that.
Of her role as speaker, he said: “She was the glue that held that place together. I can’t imagine anyone else as a leader.”
Minnesota Secretary of State Scott Simon, who is the state’s highest-ranking Jewish elected official, remembered Hortman as a good friend. “We went to law school together,” he posted to Facebook on Saturday . “She and her husband Mark attended my wedding. I pray for their children, parents, and entire extended family. Their assassination is not just a personal loss, but a loss for Minnesota. Melissa Hortman was the best of us. She was one of the most extraordinary public servants I’ve ever known. She was smart, savvy, strategic, kind, funny, brave, and determined. There will never be another leader like her. May her memory always be a blessing.”
Roberts said Sen. Hoffman, who is not Jewish, also has a good relationship with the Jewish community, and has a Jewish sister-in-law, former state Rep. Yvonne Selcer.
He recalled both Hortman and Hoffman attending a JCRC Hanukkah party in 2019.
“We had just been back from Israel a week.”
Disclosure: Robin Washington is a board member of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas. He does not participate in its decisions related to politics.
