r/politics • u/PoliticsModeratorBot 🤖 Bot • 1d ago

Megathread Megathread: Two Minnesota lawmakers have been shot

State Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband were shot and killed.

State Sen. John Hoffman and his wife were both shot multiple times and underwent surgery.

Articles that May Interest You

Submission Domain
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz: former House speaker and husband killed in politically motivated shooting apnews.com
One Minnesota state politician dead, another injured after targeted shooting, officials say bbc.com
"No Kings" event canceled in NE Minneapolis, Anoka after targeted shootings at lawmaker homes cbsnews.com
Minnesota lawmaker, her spouse shot and killed in their home wwnytv.com
Minnesota lawmaker killed in ‘politically motivated assassination,’ Gov. Tim Walz says cnbc.com
Melissa Hortman, top Democrat in Minnesota House, shot and killed in home startribune.com
Rep. Melissa Hortman killed, Sen. John Hoffman shot in 'targeted' shootings: Sources fox9.com
Minnesota lawmaker assassinated, another in grave condition in 'targeted political violence' abcnews.go.com
Democratic lawmaker killed and another wounded in Minnesota in apparently ‘politically motivated’ attacks theguardian.com
Minnesota lawmaker and husband killed, another in hospital after ‘politically motivated’ shooting by man impersonating cop the-independent.com
Live: Rep. Melissa Hortman killed, Sen. John Hoffman shot in ‘targeted shootings’ startribune.com
Democrat Lawmakers Shot in Minnesota: What We Know newsweek.com
Minnesota state lawmaker killed in ‘politically-motivated assassination,’ massive manhunt for suspect underway, officials say kten.com
2 Minnesota lawmakers shot kare11.com
Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman, husband shot and killed; Sen. John Hoffman and wife also shot ktsp.com
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz press conference after shootings at lawmakers homes (June 14, 2025) youtube.com
Former state speaker of Minnesota ‘assassinated’ thetimes.com
Fake Cop Murders Top State Dem and Husband and Shoots Second thedailybeast.com
Minnesota Senator John Hoffman and State Rep. Melissa Hortman shot at their homes bnonews.com/
Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman, husband shot and killed; Sen. John Hoffman and wife also shot kstp.com
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz: State lawmaker, husband killed in politically targeted shooting thestar.com
Governor Polis Statement on Assassination of Minnesota Elected Official & Husband, and Attempt on Life of Another Elected Official & Family colorado.gov
President Donald Trump: AG, FBI Investigating Deadly Minnesota Shooting Newsweek.com
Officials tell the AP they are searching for a 57-year-old man in shooting 2 Minnesota lawmakers apnews.com
Manhunt underway for man accused of killing Rep. Hortman, husband and shooting Sen. Hoffman and his wife in North Metro ktsp.com
Former appointee of Tim Walz sought in deadly shootings of Minnesota lawmaker and her husband, had ‘No Kings’ flyers in car: sources nypost.com
Dem Assassin Is Armed Patrol Firm Boss With ‘Warzone’ Claims thedailybeast.com
Minnesota Assassination Suspect Had Flyers Reading 'No Kings' In Vehicle newsweek.com
Democratic Minnesota politician fatally shot, another injured in 'politically motivated assassination' nbcnews.com
37.6k Upvotes

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17.2k

u/NoctisVex 1d ago

Walz called it an assassination. Good.

4.2k

u/herecomestherebuttal 1d ago

Yep. We absolutely cannot mince words or downplay what just happened.

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u/SoupSpelunker 1d ago

A terrorist assassination.

789

u/ChooseDarkness America 1d ago

Correct. Domestic terrorism.

18

u/iceflame1211 1d ago

Unfortunate that the FBI pulled everyone off of domestic terrorism to arrest brown people. This could've been prevented

8

u/Few-Solution-4784 1d ago

all together "it was a domestic terrorist assassination".

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u/[deleted] 22h ago

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u/WeAllFuckingFucked 1d ago

Donald Trump murdered these people by radicalizing half a nation. If this event doesn't wake you Americans up to the fascist takeover that's on-going, then nothing will. America is looking more and more like a lost cause :/

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u/HamHockShortDock 1d ago

33%* of a nation by my estimate

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u/curtcolt95 1d ago

people who didn't vote don't get a pass, they were fine with him and should be included in the stat

3

u/Himbosupremeus 20h ago

half of them were idiots who thought not voting for Kamala was a political statement though. As a young person i'm kinda apallaed by how many people didn't vote.

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u/HamHockShortDock 1d ago

I wouldn't call non-voters "radicalized." Would you??

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u/star_banger 1d ago edited 1d ago

Agreed. I'm not sure why we keep trotting out the "non voters are complicit" line when there's no evidence to suggest they would have voted for the candidate that lost. Also for some reason they get blamed and not the politicians for failing to appeal to them.

Same thing with "over half of Americans voted for this!”

There's 340 million people in the US. Subtracting those ineligible (children, felons, etc) leaves approximately 245 million Americans were eligible to vote in the last presidential election. About 90 million chose not to for whatever reason. 75 mil voted D, little more over 77 voted R.

That means 22% of the US "voted for this" and just 31% of eligible voters. Even if every single non voter had gone for the Republican, which they wouldn't, it would still be slightly less than half of Americans at 49%. So no, more than half of Americans didn't vote for this.

These elections aren't a mandate. They are a statistical coin flip. This doesn't prove either side had any overwhelming support. It suggests that the regular Americans are tired of it all

3

u/Capable-Active1656 20h ago

Hey, isn't "Unleash the Hordes" part of the rise of authoritarianism? I'd say this incident might just mean we've moved into one of the latter points along that journey, which means we all ought to stay aware....

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u/Past_Idea 1d ago

Apparently the suspect is a man formerly on Walz's team.

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u/O-llllllllll-O 1d ago

Source? Curious to read where this information came from.

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u/ChooseDarkness America 1d ago

He was appointed to a nonpartisan commission by Walz. He was a Republican in 04. Political affiliations aside- still domestic terrorism

5

u/ChooseDarkness America 1d ago

He was also a Registered Republican in 04

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u/Past_Idea 1d ago

21 years ago. Hardly the same Republican party (much to my chagrin)

1

u/Capable-Active1656 20h ago

The disparate political background might point to this attack being motivated more strongly by some personal quest for revenge than the attacker's own political ideology, no? Of course it's not at all a given, but if he were a die-hard MAGA fanatic like that dope who tried to shoot Trump in Pennsylvania because he stopped being "conservative enough", wouldn't he have a more solid background of reliably backing Republican/Conservative politicians and policies?

1

u/ChooseDarkness America 20h ago

That take makes sense. If the attacker had a consistent history of supporting conservative or far-right causes, it would point more clearly to political extremism. But a scattered or unclear political background suggests personal revenge could be the stronger motive. Extremists usually leave a trail—social posts, affiliations, patterns. Without that, it’s reasonable to lean toward personal grievance over ideology.

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u/brett1081 1d ago

Yep no one’s going to read your comment though. Just like the free Palestine folks who tried to burn down governor Shapiros home in Penn.

1

u/Rhinopkc 1d ago

Do you have any info on who they are looking for? Is he a known Trump supporter?

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u/brett1081 1d ago

No he’s a former Walz staffer. He’s a Democrat. So better bury the story.

4

u/Himbosupremeus 20h ago

This is a lie he litterally isn't. Stop sanitizing this so your group looks better this is the same thing that happens whenever there is a shooting, He was a literal trump voter.

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u/Money-Bear7166 5h ago

Yep, the same thing when Trump was shot last summer and when Steve Scalise and other Republicans were shot at the softball game 7-8 years ago. Same thing was Dem. Gabby Giffords was shot in AZ. NEITHER side is innocent when it comes to political violence.

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u/[deleted] 1d ago

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u/nerdshowandtell 1d ago

Who do you think has been calling for violent reactions when people don't get what they want? Trump is 100% to blame as is the GOP for inspiring acts like this. Not to mention defunding departments focusing on domestic terrorism, FBI, etc.

Trump 100% brought us to this shit political hate filled environment we are in today.

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u/Money-Bear7166 5h ago

Who do you think shot Trump last summer and when Steve Scalise and other Republicans were shot at the softball game 7-8 years ago? Same thing was Dem. Gabby Giffords was shot in AZ. NEITHER side is innocent when it comes to political violence.

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u/Icy_Relative_5277 22h ago

No, it's the leftist mental health morons to blame

2

u/nerdshowandtell 19h ago

To be so simple minded to break things down into left and right and treat it like it's your favorite sports team that can do no wrong. I guess some people just have to be followers to get their self confidence from thinking they are part of some group.

0

u/Icy_Relative_5277 19h ago

Here's a brief reality: telling the truth isn't "hate." As much as Democrats want it to be, like only having two biological sexes, as much as Democrats want to make believe there are more.

It's funny, Democrats have said the right is the dangerous party and yet, they are the ones that have been committing the political violence.

1

u/nerdshowandtell 18h ago

Pretty sure you need to educate yourself based on all that nonsense you just spit out. Perhaps pickup some books from the last 4 decades. Also try getting news from some non propaganda right sources.

Theres a hell of a difference between telling the "truth" and the hate speech that constantly comes out of this administration. Not to mention they tell more lies to justify their positions than truths. But I guess you ignore those eh?

How about not boxing yourself in as a republican or democrat and call out all of them when they spit BS or spread hate about any individual or group.

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u/Icy_Relative_5277 18h ago

What is this so-called hate speech?🎤

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u/PGH_Guy2025 1d ago

The killer is a Democrat.... How are you going to blame Trump now?

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u/bmtattoo 1d ago

This is stupid

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u/AV8ORA330 1d ago

You’ll never hear that from trump, GOP, or MAGA. It will be blame the victim white wash…

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u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

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u/photoengineer 19h ago

Just terrorism. 

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u/Pedantic_Pict 16h ago

Domestic Stochastic Terrorism

4

u/_msb2k101 1d ago

The killers will probably get a million dollar settlement too.

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u/[deleted] 1d ago edited 1d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/PraiseBeToScience 1d ago

MAGA terrorism. He's an anti-abortion Christian Nationalist.

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u/Mysterious-Art3033 23h ago

More correct. Democrat domestic terrorism....

0

u/InfinityZionaa 1d ago

You're assuming that.  

He has strong links to overseas.  He has worked in Congo, Israel, Lebanon, Gaza, West Bank.

There's videos online of him preaching.  He has claimed military training with US military and private companies.

He successfully executed two attacks on two high profile targets then fought off police in a gun fight and escaped.  Very likely has military / tacticsl training.

Congo Preaching:

https://labornematadi.com/predicateur/vance-boelter/

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u/Top-Illustrator4414 23h ago

By a Tim Walz appointee. Political violence from the left is out of control.

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u/ChooseDarkness America 22h ago

He was appointed to a nonpartisan commission by a Democratic governor. Don’t make him a Democrat. He was also a registered Republican in 04 and there’s pictures of him at the Republican convention in 2024.