Melissa Hortman
As millions of democracy-loving Americans gathered across the country last Saturday to demonstrate peacefully against the Trump administration, right-wing political violence shattered that peace.
A Trump-voting, anti-abortion rights zealot fatally shot former Speaker of the Minnesota House Melissa Hortman and her husband, and wounded a Minnesota state senator and his wife. The gunman had a list of targets—all Democrats, along with abortion rights advocates—that included US Sen. Tina Smith.
Right-wing political violence is something we’re increasingly facing in this country. After Trump’s blanket pardoning of violent extremists who attacked our nation’s capitol on January 6, it’s something many of us expected to see much more of.
While political violence might be frightening to us—as activists, as donors and raisers, and as elected officials—we will not give one millimeter in our mission to fund and elect more Democratic women like Rep. Hortman.
But today we have only one request: The local PTO has started a Go Fund Me for state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife Yvette Hoffman, both of whom were wounded in the attack that killed state Rep. Hortman and her husband.