While a winner will be named Tuesday for the seat left open by the murder of former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman, the two major party candidates agree on one thing: no one is filling her shoes.
The election in the Brooklyn Park area falls about three months after Hortman and her husband, Mark, were gunned down in their home. Authorities say a man posing as a police officer carried out the dark-of-night attack after also shooting DFL Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, in their Champlin home. They survived being shot multiple times each.
Voters are choosing between Democratic nominee XP Lee and Republican Ruth Bittner in a district that has recently favored DFL candidates.
“No one's gonna be able to fill her shoes,” Lee said. “People are calling her the most consequential speaker in Minnesota history. I look at it as trying to just pick up her legacy and try to follow in her footsteps.”
Bittner, an area realtor, echoed that sentiment. “We can't really compare because she, of course, was a very unique individual. We will not be trying to replace her.”
Their race for the House seat, which will determine party control of the chamber, comes as many are still healing emotionally from the acts of violence.
“I think the community is still stunned and jilted,” said Brooklyn Park Hollies Winston.
Winston said the community came together to mourn the losses and the campaign to succeed Hortman has carried through in that spirit.
“People were having conversations from both sides of the political aisle about what they were experiencing and what they were seeing,” Winston said. “I think that is a good place where the community really said, ‘We're going to lead here. We're not going to politicize this thing, but we just need to recognize someone who lived next door.’”
Winston described Hortman, who held office for two decades, as a dynamic leader who helped build the current DFL party.
“She welcomed new voices in and found ways to give them seats at the table and power to make real decisions,” Winston said.
The doors and windows of the Hortmans’ house are still boarded up. There are yard signs in their front yard and in their neighbors that say “Brooklyn Park Strong” and “Thank you, Melissa.”
People in the community, like at a recent farmers market outside North Hennepin Community College, are aware of the special election but don’t want to talk about politics with MPR News.
Yard signs for the current Republican and Democratic candidates can be seen in some front yards.
Lee is a former Brooklyn Park city council member and a health equity analyst for the Minnesota Department of Health.
Bittner said she didn’t know Hortman personally but had contacted her as a constituent and said the former speaker usually responded to her concerns.
Campaign reports filed last week showed that Lee has substantially outraised and outspent Bittner in the race. He’s pulled in nearly $71,000 and spent most of that through early September, much of it going to canvassing and campaign mailings; Bittner raised half as much since joining the race and spent only about $7,100, most of it on mailings.
The winner of Tuesday’s election will be put to work quickly. A special session is in the works to address guns and other causes of violence following the shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church and School.
If Lee wins, the House will again be knotted up, which is clearly on the mind of chamber leaders.
“I can't predict the outcome of an election, but if and when we return to a tie, I look forward to that full ‘Team House’ approach again,” said Republican House Speaker Lisa Demuth.
Last week, the House DFL selected Rep. Zack Stephenson of Coon Rapids to be their caucus leader. Stephenson, a protege of Hortman and a former campaign staffer for her, said he’s confident his party will prevail.
“I think we're going to be successful. We're hearing great things in the community, and when we get to 67-67, Speaker Demuth and I know how to make that work, and we will,” Stephenson said.
As the race neared an end, legislative leaders have been in talks with Gov. Tim Walz about the terms of an upcoming special session, which Walz said he intends to call with or without a deal on the timing and agenda. The Democratic governor regularly talks about how consequential Hortman was as a negotiator and how much he misses having her in these discussions.
“I don't think any of us should, should not take very seriously how much got done because of Speaker Hortman skill and ability to work across the aisle,” Walz said last week after meeting with leaders.
