Three months after the loss of their longtime leader Melissa Hortman, who died in a politically motivated attack, Minnesota House Democrats selected state Rep. Zack Stephenson to steer the caucus moving forward.

Stephenson, who represents Anoka and parts of Coon Rapids, was first elected to the Legislature in 2018 and co-chaired the chamber's Ways and Means Committee this year as the House worked to pass a state budget while tied between Republicans and Democrats for the first time in over 40 years.

The 66 members of the DFL caucus on Monday in a closed-door meeting chose him to succeed Hortman, whom they are still mourning. Stephenson vowed to carry on her legacy in the Legislature.

"I am honored to have the support of my colleagues to serve as caucus leader. Speaker Hortman is irreplaceable — as a leader, a strategist, a colleague, and a friend," he said in a statement. "While I've been chosen to lead, it will take all of us, working together, to move forward, honor Speaker Hortman's legacy, and build a Minnesota where everyone can succeed. We are all still grieving, but I am confident we can carry our shared work into the future."

The former House speaker led the DFL Caucus for eight years before she and her husband Mark were killed when a masked gunman shot them inside their Brooklyn Park home in the early hours of June 14 in what authorities call a political assassination. Ninety minutes earlier, state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife were also shot a combined 17 times and survived.

Stephenson and Hortman's relationship dates back many years before the pair were colleagues at the Capitol. Hortman, who served two decades in the House, hired him to be her campaign manager in 2004, which was the year she finally won her seat after losing the previous two elections.

The two stayed close, and Hortman became his mentor and friend. He was also among the pallbearers at her funeral.

"In politics, you could have no better ally, no truer friend. She was always too generous in giving other people credit for her accomplishments. She would introduce me, she'd say, 'This is Zack. He's the only reason I'm in the legislature. I wish I had corrected her more,'" Stephenson said of Hortman during a speech at the Democratic National Committee meeting in Minneapolis earlier this summer.

Stephenson now takes the lead of House Democrats at a critical time, as lawmakers gear up for a potential special session focused on gun measures in the wake of the Annunciation Church shooting in Minneapolis late last month. 

And the Legislature will return to St. Paul for the regular 2026 session in February, just months before the November election when both Democrats and Republicans hope to break the tie and win back the majority.

Hortman was at the helm as her caucus boycotted the first few weeks of the session because of a dispute about control of the chamber and eventually successfully negotiated a power-sharing agreement that ended the stalemate.

She also was a key architect of the 2023-2024 legislative sessions during which Democrats passed some of the most significant progressive policies in a generation. They controlled both chambers and cleared abortion rights protections, clean energy benchmarks, gun resurrections, cannabis legalization and more.

There is a special election on Sept. 16 to fill her Brooklyn Park seat, which will determine if the tie holds. Right now, Republicans have a one-seat edge due to that vacancy.

"Leader Stephenson has a difficult job ahead, stepping into the shoes of Speaker-Emerita Melissa Hortman. I hope that we can build a strong working relationship based on respect and our shared priority of making life better for Minnesotans. I look forward to continuing our important bipartisan work as 'Team House', begun by Melissa and I last session," said House Speaker Lisa Demuth, R-Cold Spring.