One year after her death, lawmakers reflect on former House Speaker Melissa Hortman's legacy at the Legislature

In the months after the assasination of former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman, the Legislature this session approved a number of tributes to honor how she shaped the institution and the state through her leadership and policy: a memorial garden for the State Office Building; calling Highway 610 "Hortman Memorial Highway" because she secured funding for the project; and renaming the state's community solar garden program — one of her proudest legislative achievements — in her memory. 

But lawmakers across the political spectrum say what best defines Hortman's legacy in St. Paul is that she consistently put people above politics. 

Just ask Rep. Nolan West, a rank-and-file Republican from Blaine. He described her as an "unguarded" person who would talk to him "like a human being" regardless of her powerful leadership position. 

"Everybody says nice things after somebody passes, generally. The way you can tell this situation is different than the generic nice things is the nice things weren't generic, like everybody had specifics," West said. "She was always willing to talk to whoever."

And despite being strongly opposed to Hortman on many issues, he jokingly conceded: "She was the Michael Jordan of the Legislature, just being able to navigate it."

Being open to working with people across party lines and not taking their politics personally is a lesson that still lingers with DFL Rep. Athena Hollins. 

"One of the things she always emphasized was connecting with people as human beings, so getting to know about their kids, about their grandkids. You know what their health is like, just being humans in this space together — because we might disagree politically, but we can all see each other as human beings," Hollins told WCCO. 

Hollins said Hortman would often remind her and her caucus of what really matters and why they are at the Capitol in the first place: to serve their constituents. Hortman was among the longest-serving Democrats in the chamber, providing perspective earned with time and setting the example of how to lead.

"It's been really hard to sort of wrap my head around her not being here. It seemed as if she was a part of this building," Hollins said. 

"It's like a mother figure that says, like, it's OK. It's gonna be OK. You know, when you tell your kids, like, 'Don't worry, everything's gonna be OK.' And maybe you don't actually know if it's gonna be OK, but it's reassuring to them," she added. 

In the many months since Hortman's death, Hollins has revisited old text threads with Hortman, turning to those messages to hold on to any bit of advice about leadership Hortman offered her, as she comes to understand what it means to take on new responsibilities herself. 

Hollins was the majority whip in 2023 and 2024 when Democrats had the trifecta in state government, and she is currently deputy DFL floor leader under the tie.

"One of the conversations we had is like you're not going to be here forever. I didn't think she'd be gone so soon," Hollins said through tears. "But it's important that an institution like a legislature, like the House, has people who are well-versed in what good leadership looks like, and understand how to move forward with that, and understand what it is to be a leader — not for your own glory, but for the good of the people and the good of the group that you're leading."

"And I think that's really what she did," she added. "So I'm trying to understand how to do that in a way that would make her proud."

House DFL Leader Zack Stephenson — who knew Hortman for more than 20 years, first on her campaign, then as a friend and colleague  — echoed Hollins, describing Hortman's unique ability of nurturing new leaders by believing in their ability to achieve even before they could see it in themselves. 

"We have a whole generation of people here in the Minnesota House who have benefited from being given opportunities by Melissa Hortman to lead and to show that leadership to the state. So that's really an enduring legacy," he said. 

How Hortman's "cultural shifts" at the Capitol will endure

For Republican House Speaker Lisa Demuth, Hortman in the speaker's chair is all she ever knew before she herself took on the most powerful position in the chamber in early 2025 when the House was in a rare tie.

When Hortman had the gavel the previous two-year term, Demuth said she arranged weekly meetings with her when she was in the minority party.

"That's where I think I learned the inside leadership of this place and how it could work is at least giving time and space as people and meeting weekly, which is something I've carried forward," Demuth said. "Last year, meeting with Melissa weekly and this year, meeting with Zack Stephenson weekly. And so I think I have taken that as a mentorship in wanting to perpetuate that."

And she shaped the Capitol in ways that aren't visible to the public, like working to change the rules so the House has to vote in order to work past midnight for the safety and sanity of lawmakers and staff alike.

Stephenson recalled being a young staffer at the Capitol and said late-night debates going to 3 or 4 o'clock in the morning were pretty routine. 

Now that rarely — if ever — happens in the House anymore.

"I suspect a lot of the cultural shifts that she's responsible for will endure. People will forget who's responsible for them. It's just the way we do things around here that has shifted," Stephenson said. 

But for many, like Stephenson, her legacy transcends the four corners of the Capitol building.

"I met Melissa Hortman when I was 17 years old. I'm 41. I'll be 42 in July, and a lot of my life was shaped by our friendship, and I'm just a better person because of it," he said.