Children of former House Speaker Melissa Hortman and Mark Hortman share grief, remember parents one year after their killing

None of it was normal.

The vigil. Lying in state in the capitol rotunda. A funeral that drew hundreds and was livestreamed on the internet. 

All of these moments represent a public display of mourning for Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark Hortman, after their tragic assassinations shocked the state last June. But against this backdrop is not how most people navigate the immense personal loss of their parents — it's a unique reality that Sophie and Colin Hortman acknowledge and handle with grace. 

Both of them expressed gratitude for the overwhelming support of others, who showed their care and concern. It's a strange feeling nevertheless, they said. 

"I think it's hard and weird, because this is not how normal grief should be," Sophie Hortman explained, in her first joint interview alongside her brother with WCCO. "And I think a lot of elements of normal grief we were not allowed to experience."

"They were these public figures. They were known by people in many ways, many different layers. But for us, that's mom and dad," she added. 

The last year since the Hortmans were shot and killed inside their homes has not been easy for their two adult children. The pair say their grief journeys are not linear, requiring effort every day — sometimes just to get out of bed. 

Colin Hortman shared that he struggled with panic attacks in the aftermath and started taking antidepressants. That candor has helped him work through his feelings, he said. 

"One of the reasons I'm so open about taking a medication — it's sharing my experience with grief and trauma. Us talking about it more has been really healing for me," he said. 

Colin Hortman, the older of the two of them, has been more open to talking about his parents publicly. He's done a few interviews, including one earlier this year with WCCO, and he testified before the Legislature advocating for law changes borne out of his family's experience cleaning up the Hortmans' Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, home after the attack. 

Only recently has Sophie Hortman been ready to publicly share memories of her parents and what they meant to her. 

Why now?

"I have just been missing them a lot lately," she said, holding back tears. "Grief is a lighter weight when you share it with people."

Flowering "Krabappels" and getting advice on the back deck

It's in the simple, day-to-day parts of life that Colin and Sophie Hortman say they are reminded of their parents and choose to honor them.

For example, it is crabapple season in mid-May at the time of this interview. As the trees bloom, Sophie Hortman remembers a family inside joke. 

"My parents let us watch 'The Simpsons' when we probably should not watch 'The Simpsons,' but my mom called them flowering 'Krabappels,'" Sophie Hortman recalled, a nod to a character from the show. "So driving around and looking at all the trees does feels connecting, or like learning new hobbies and new skills, genuinely that makes me feel really connected to my dad."

Mark Hortman was a man of many hobbies like playing pool, home-brewing beer and mountain-biking. He also did a majority of the cooking in their household because of his wife's demanding job that could keep her working late. 

Sophie Hortman said she has vivid memories of going stargazing in state parks with her dad where they'd use an app to identify the constellations. 

Despite his beloved outdoor activities and Melissa Hortman's garden at home — which Colin Hortman described as her "palace of peace" — the two of them wondered aloud if they were really, actually, an "outdoorsy" family.

They remembered going camping.

But not necessarily just for fun. 

"Like on our way to recycle cans and learn how the recycling system works," Colin Hortman quipped. 

When asked what memory they are holding close, Colin Hortman said what comes to mind for him — despite his not being there — is what he can piece together about his parents' last moments together.  

Left on the kitchen counter were cut up limes and rhubarb custard pie. 

"Clearly my mom had a margarita after the [Humphrey Mondale dinner] and my dad had cherries and rye. And, like, I just want to recreate that," he said. "But it's something that I do have a real memory of because we had rhubarb custard pie all the time, and he would pour me that drink. Or if I'm not in a whiskey mood, I'd have a margarita with mom."

"Just sitting on the back deck and looking at the lake and the sunsets behind so, like, the lake would just kind of light up if the clouds are right," he continued.  "And I think just getting life advice from them — mom and dad advice, not huge, life-changing career, like, what are we doing? But simple things. I miss that a lot."

Each of them has turned to writing to help process their feelings and document their memories.

"The morning we found out everything happened, I grabbed a notebook and I started writing because I knew we were going to have to put out statements. I apparently said to someone, this is going to be bigger than any of us can imagine," Sophie Hortman explained. "But also the writing helps to create that narrative in your mind. So much understanding and control and normalcy has been taken away from us, and to articulate that and to be able to follow those threads that feel really shattered in my mind is so helpful."

This legislative session, Colin Hortman also successfully advocated for changes in state law to bring clarity to the insurance process if chemical agents are deployed by police in someone's home, as law enforcement did in responding to the June 14, 2025 shooting. 

Another bill that passed requires disclosure of what those substances are. Properly cleaning up his parents' home and working with insurance took months. 

"We didn't get some of the normal grieving processes, like sitting in the house and having a potluck and having people come over and cry together because it was a crime scene and then it was literally unsafe to be in," he said. "And so knowing that other families will get in months sooner definitely makes me feel really good, makes me feel really proud. And I think, in a small way, helps preserve the Hortman way."

Sophie and Colin say Melissa and Mark Hortman, for as prominent as their mom's job was, were two just normal people living a normal life who really relished in their hobbies, new experiences, traveling and spending time together as a family. 

They had just renovated their kitchen last spring, which "unlocked" Melissa Hortman's passion for baking again after taking a hiatus.

"I think part of that had to do with the fact that Colin really wanted her to bake their wedding cake, and I think she was getting her practice in," Sophie Hortman said. She ultimately never got the chance to bake for the main event.

But rarely did the powerful state legislator bring work home with her. She might give them a few minutes to ask questions if they were curious, but then focus shifted because home was a space for her to unwind, Colin Hortman explained. 

"She was able to really relax and — not meditate, but like truly give herself to reading a book that had nothing to do with politics or nothing to do with the next negotiation. It was just for her own enjoyment," Colin Hortman said. "And I think a lot of people, we could all learn a lesson from that. Be better at relaxing."

Sophie Hortman appreciated her mom's two decades in the Legislature more as time went on and she became an adult. 

"It also shifted when we got older and started studying interesting things. When I was in college and learning about the different waves of feminism and all the different political theories, right? And talking to her in that more theoretical way that was super fun and fascinating and I think made both of us very proud of the work she was doing," Sophie Hortman said. 

Above all, though, Melissa and Mark Hortman were parents who adored their children. And their children deeply admired both of them. 

"No one's perfect. But I thought they were angels of humans," Colin Hortman said.

It's how Sophie Hortman thinks they would want to be remembered. 

"I felt like what we did on our dad's birthday was really nice. We played pool and we ate blueberry cobbler and we just spent time together," Sophie Hortman said.

For their mother's birthday on May 27, they planned to plant a tree and pull weeds. 

"I don't really want to, but that's what she would prefer," Sophie Hortman said with a smile and an eye roll as any daughter would do. "Just spending time together but also in our day to day life — you know, hearing them and remembering them. I think that's how they would want to be remembered because they really loved us."

"What will it take for us to learn?" Processing the act of political violence that took their parents' lives

The Hortmans are remembered by their family and friends for how they lived, not the shocking act of political violence that killed them. 

But their children say that part of the story cannot be ignored, either. They emphasize that they were humans first and a political couple second. 

"The reason she got into politics was because she liked doing the PTA and Girl Scouts and was connected to her community. And my dad just supported her. They're just normal people," Sophie Hortman said. 

Colin Hortman believes it's easy for some people to feel disconnected from the personal experience of political violence, which he and Sophie Hortman now know in a "visceral, not abstract" way.  

"It really sucks when it's not abstract," Sophie Hortman chimed in. 

It's why they want to center the story on who their parents were as people. 

"Our mom and dad got taken away and how difficult that has been to deal with and that my kids won't meet half of their grandparents. Like that is extremely difficult, and I think that it's really important for us to all talk about, like the real humanity of it, because I feel like that gets so lost in the comments and behind the screens," Colin Hortman said. 

Despite his efforts and appeals for civility, he has a sobering assessment of politics today: "It still feels like we haven't learned anything after our parents were assassinated, after Charlie Kirk was assassinated."

But he remains committed to fostering a change. 

"How are we still continuing to use language that escalates fear? It blows my mind, and so I'm going to try to help out in that space and talk to more people and talk to leaders. But I'm just wondering what will it take for us to learn?" Colin Hortman said.