Hundreda gather for a vigil honoring Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark Hortman outside of the Minnesota State Capitol Tuesday, June 17, 2025 in St. Paul. (Photo by Nicole Neri for the Minnesota Reformer)
BOSTON — In some of his first public comments since being shot in an attempted assassination, Minnesota state Sen. John Hoffman urged fellow lawmakers to refocus on the true purpose of public service.
“We can’t let the evil of the night win, and we must redouble our efforts and reclaim the reason we are all public servants,” he said.
That means listening to one another, extending understanding even in disagreement, and finding compromise: “not because it’s easy, but because the people we serve deserve better than constant stalemate built on partisan egos. They deserve solutions.”
Hoffman appeared via video message before thousands of lawmakers and staffers gathered at the National Conference of State Legislatures summit earlier this month in Boston. In June, he and his wife were shot in their Minnesota home just before the politically motivated shooter killed state Rep. Melissa Hortman, the former House speaker, her husband, Mark, and their dog, Gilbert.
The June shooting hung over this year’s meeting of the NCSL, a group that labors to maintain a reputation for bipartisan and nonpartisan work. Lawmakers in attendance on the left and the right repeatedly lamented the toxicity of American politics and the growing threat of political violence at local levels of government.
Many lawmakers raised questions about whether public service is still worth it, how state governments can buck the partisanship that defines Washington, D.C., and what measures lawmakers should take to keep members safe. Most lawmakers said they remained committed to serving, but they said conservatives and liberals must find ways to disagree without demonizing their opposition and do better at monitoring the rhetoric of members of their own parties.
Wisconsin House Speaker Robin Vos, a Republican, said the vitriol of social media and cable news has made it more difficult to talk with people of differing beliefs. Technology has reduced the frequency of many human interactions, he said. Even the rise of video doorbells has made it difficult for candidates and officials to talk with everyday constituents in person, as many refuse to answer.
“So instead of knocking on doors and meeting strangers, you have a tendency to go to party events where you are meeting people who want to come and meet you,” he said. “Well, they come from usually one end of the spectrum. They’re people who are probably paying too much attention to politics and not enough to all the other things in the world.”
Author and media personality Michael Smerconish asked Vos whether the current climate pushes good candidates away and incentivizes “zealots” to run.
“That’s a really good point,” Vos responded. “Part of my job is to recruit candidates, and it is very challenging to get people who are willing to put their personal life on the line and convince their family that there is nothing more fun to do on a Sunday morning than to go to a pancake breakfast.”
He said potential candidates are worried about how their kids will be treated in school and what effect running could have on their careers. But he said state governments can model a more civil political tone and show how government works. Even simple moves like holding bipartisan meetings with staff — rather than holding separate caucus meetings — can help to forge more positive relationships.
“We are places where people can disagree, but we don’t have to be hateful,” he said. “And maybe, just maybe, over time we’ll be able to showcase to the rest of the country that that’s the way that legislatures lead.”
Rep. Melissa Hortman speaks during a joint hearing of the House Energy Committee and the Senate Environment and Energy Committee Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2013. (Photo by Andrew Von Bank/House Information Services)
‘Hold people accountable’
Since the June shooting in Minnesota, liberal and conservative states alike are considering measures to bolster protections for candidates and elected officials.
Legislation proposed in New Jersey would prohibit the publication of home addresses of lawmakers, adding them to a list of protected officials that includes judges and law enforcement. That legislation remains in committee.
ln North Dakota, lawmakers are considering establishing a more formal process for reporting threats, the North Dakota Monitor reported. A North Dakota man was charged in June with sending threatening messages to officials in which he referenced the Minnesota shootings. Legislative staff have already removed the home addresses of lawmakers from the legislative website and are considering providing post office boxes for lawmaker mail and creating new safety training.
Pennsylvania lawmakers will soon introduce a package of bills to boost legislator safety, limit their public exposure and ensure representation if a lawmaker dies while in office, the Pennsylvania Capital-Star reported.
In Oregon, House Speaker Julie Fahey said lawmakers and staff are thinking more about personal safety. State law doesn’t allow candidates to use campaign funds for security purposes, but the Democratic speaker said the legislature may soon change that.
I think it’s really important that we talk about the threats and we talk about the impact.
– Oregon House Speaker Julie Fahey, a Democrat
During an NCSL session about the cost of public service, Fahey referenced protesters’ 2020 armed breach of the state Capitol in Salem and noted that she’d had an angry constituent show up at her home.
She said lawmakers and staffers need to talk more about the cost of their work, which can be isolating, especially for those in leadership positions.
“I think it’s really important that we talk about the threats and we talk about the impact,” she said.
Sitting next to her, West Virginia House Speaker Roger Hanshaw, a Republican, said it’s not just personal safety that weighs on lawmakers.
It’s just as taxing on spouses and families — who he said are “front and center” in any conversation about running for office nowadays.
When he first assumed his leadership position in 2018, Hanshaw said he saw his job as mostly confined to running the chamber and worrying only about the behavior of members in their official capacity. But his thinking has evolved in this political environment, which he said requires modeling and monitoring of personal behavior and online activity of members of his caucus.
“That was the wrong approach,” he told Stateline. “And I would say that to anyone who’s coming into one of these roles: You need to set the example and you need to hold people accountable.”
Minnesota Democratic Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy, left, and Republican House Speaker Lisa Demuth speak at a tribute to state Rep. Lisa Hortman, who was killed in a politically motivated shooting in June, at the annual meeting of the National Conference of State Legislatures in Boston this month. (Photo courtesy of National Conference of State Legislatures)
‘What is your why?’
Pennsylvania Democratic House Speaker Joanna McClinton said the current political environment is markedly different because officials at all levels of government can be targets.
“And what we must all collectively do is to condemn the violence, to bring the tone of rhetoric down and out of our capitols, and most importantly let folks know that we can always agree to disagree, but we can never, ever allow there to be violence in discourse,” she said in an interview.
While the climate has not deterred her from serving, McClinton said it does provide an opportunity to underscore the solemnity of public service and helps frame a candidate’s purpose for running and deciding whether it’s worthwhile.
“What is your why?” she said she increasingly asks potential candidates. “What is your purpose? What do you plan to achieve, to accomplish? Why is it that you want to do this?”
Tim Storey, the chief executive officer of NCSL, said state legislatures are more bipartisan than many realize. Even in dogged legislative fights, many bills ultimately pass with support from both sides — or even unanimously.
“There’s a relatively small group who just demonize the other side,” he said in an interview. “I think for the most part, they still see each other as humans who are actually in a really unique job, and so only they can understand each other and the sacrifice and the pressure that gets put on by the public exposure.”
He said that was especially true following Hortman’s assassination.
“They felt it across the aisle of both parties,” he said.
Storey said NCSL’s Boston summit was a record-breaker with more than 1,600 state lawmakers and thousands more staffers and lobbyists in attendance.
The event kicked off with two of Minnesota’s top legislative leaders — a Democrat and a Republican — on stage in front of a packed ballroom talking about the assassination.
Republican House Speaker Lisa Demuth said Hortman had always treated her as a partner rather than an adversary. With mutual trust and respect, they could “disagree without being disagreeable,” she said.
State Sen. Erin Murphy, the Democratic majority leader, said politicians must turn down the vitriol in their rhetoric.
“I think a lot of America would appreciate that. I know Melissa would,” she told the crowd.
But she said lawmakers must also root out dehumanizing narratives and conspiracy theories that have led to the radicalization of so many individuals.
“We can’t lose faith in each other. We can’t lose faith in America,” she said. “As Melissa taught us, failure is not an option.”
Stateline reporter Kevin Hardy can be reached at khardy@stateline.org.
Stateline is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Stateline maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Scott S. Greenberger for questions: info@stateline.org.
