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.

Friends and colleagues mourning Melissa Hortman hailed the longtime Democratic legislator as a dedicated public servant, a straight-talking and savvy political operator and a kind and committed colleague,

From the wooden dais in the Minnesota House, then-Speaker Melissa Hortman presided two years ago over what many called the most consequential legislative session in recent history. She helped orchestrate the passage of long-held Democratic goals: increased education spending,

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.

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.”

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