Sen. John Hoffman says Angie Craig sought his endorsement for U.S. Senate while he was in ICU after shooting

Minnesota Sen. John Hoffman says Rep. Angie Craig approached him for an endorsement for the U.S. Senate while he was in the ICU after a political assassin shot him and his wife. 

"It's different than from her opponent," Sen. Hoffman said at a rally Friday night for Craig's DFL rival Peggy Flanagan. "When her opponent would check on our family, she asked for my — she asked that I endorse her campaign. She sent a dear friend out twice. Once when I was in the ICU and once at our home."

Craig disputed Hoffman's claim as her campaign released a screenshot of a text conversation between her and Hoffman from June, saying she and her wife were praying for the Hoffman family.

"We cannot imagine the pain and trauma that the entire Hoffman family has and continue to experience. But the claim is categorically false," a spokesperson for Craig's campaign said in a statement. "The Congresswoman reached out to Senator Hoffman only expressing deep sympathy from her and her wife, Cheryl, after their horrific shooting while he was in the ICU and did not reach out again until August 5 after he began making political endorsements in other races again."

A spokesperson for Flanagan's campaign said: "That's a matter between Congresswoman Craig and the Hoffmans." 

WCCO has reached out to Hoffman and is waiting to hear back.

Late last week, Vance Boelter was sentenced to two life terms in prison followed by 40 years for killing former House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark and wounding Sen. Hoffman and his wife Yvette in a shooting that also targeted their daughter Hope on June 14, 2025.