Former Minn. House Speaker Melissa Hortman won their mother's housing discrimination case 30 years ago. They say they still feel the impact.

Before Melissa Hortman was elected to the Legislature and later became speaker of the Minnesota House, she began her career fresh out of law school at a local legal aid office. 

In her short time doing that work, one family said she made a generational impact on them. 

"It means a lot to me that my mom's voice was heard," Farha Beswick told WCCO. 

Farha Beswick and her sister Andrea Harmon were 2 and 8 years old when a jury awarded $490,000 in damages to their mother, Stormy Harmon, in what was at the time the record-setting amount for a housing discrimination case.  

Her attorney? A 27-year-old Hortman. 

It's why Beswick and Andrea Harmon say they are still mourning her loss after she and her husband, Mark, were killed last summer in what authorities call a political assasination.

"I believe that Melissa in her heart had a space and a willpower to fight for everybody. And I would like to see, you know, that move forward," Harmon said in an interview. "I really am devastated that she cannot be a part of it anymore."

Farha, Andrea, their sister Sandra and mother were living in a north Minneapolis duplex when Stormy Harmon sued her landlords for discrimination. She told reporters at the time of the verdict that she was called racial epithets and other derogatory terms and faced a pattern of mistreatment, according to a WCCO report from the time. The amount of the award was later reduced on appeal.

"This jury stated it was very clear to them that this man was a bigot. They felt that their decision was not going to change his heart but that he would feel it in his pocketbook," Hortman said in a 1997 WCCO report. 

Stormy Harmon passed away five years ago,  but her daughters say she would occasionally keep in touch with Hortman — even after she became a powerful Minnesota lawmaker. 

People close to Hortman say the underlying issues in this case, and others she worked on while at Central Minnesota Legal Services, in part inspired Hortman to run for office. Beswick and the younger Harmon said they watched with admiration as Hortman ascended through the ranks at the State Capitol to become one of the most powerful elected officials in the state.

"I think her name should always be important in Minnesota. She deserves that. She deserves that acknowledgement," Andrea Harmon said of the ways the state is honoring Hortman's legacy.

They credit the case with empowering Stormy Harmon to speak up for herself and fight for what she believed in, a type of resilience they say their mother instilled in them as they grew up.

"That brings joy to my heart. You know, that, you know, this young girl was able to help our mom with a case about racism to show the world like it doesn't matter what color you are," Beswick said. "We all should just be one, be equal."