Hundreds of mourners, including former President Joe Biden and former Vice President Kamala Harris, have come to the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis Saturday for the funeral service of former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark, following a day where thousands of people paid their respects at a Capitol tribute.
The Hortmans were eulogized as warm, caring people who were the same whether they were at the Capitol or at their home in Brooklyn Park talking dogs, baking, kids and politics.
“Melissa Hortman will be remembered as the most consequential speaker in Minnesota history,” Gov. Tim Walz said of the Minnesota DFL House leader and former House speaker. “I know that millions of Minnesotans will get to live better lives because she and Mark chose public service,” he said.
“More kids in pre-K, fewer in poverty. More schools with the tools and teachers they need, fewer with hungry students. More trees in the ground and clean energy coursing through the grid, fewer roads and bridges at risk of failure. More people in safe and secure housing, fewer worrying about how to manage caring for their loved ones,” he added. “That’s the legacy Mark and Melissa will leave behind for all Minnesotans.”
Walz described politicians as “just a bunch of human beings trying to do the best they can. Melissa understood that better than anybody I knew. She saw the humanity in every single person she worked with, and she kept things focused on the people she served.”
‘Ground zero’ for healing
The eulogies followed a mass where the Rev. Daniel Griffith, pastor of the Basilica of St. Mary, told mourners the Hortmans “lived lives with purpose and meaning, lives lived in service of others, in community with those they loved, their family and their friends.”
In his homily, Griffith said Minnesota had been “ground zero” for racial injustice in 2020 with the police killing of George Floyd a few miles from the church, “and now we are the ground zero place for political violence and extremism. Both of these must be decried in the strongest possible terms as they are, respectively, a threat to human dignity and indeed our democracy.”
Despite the violence, he said Minnesota “can be a ground zero place for restoration and justice and healing, but we must work together and there is much more work to be done.”
Melissa Hortman, he added, kept in her purse a worn copy of St. Francis of Assisi’s Prayer for Peace that implores God to “make me an instrument of your peace.” Her mother had discovered it, he added. “I think that's a wonderful thing … all of us are called to be instruments of peace.”
The Hortmans’ caskets arrived just after 7 a.m., carried into the church by seven uniformed conservation officers for Melissa and seven state troopers for Mark. Services are expected to last around two hours.
Gov. Tim Walz, lawmakers from both parties, legislative staff and friends and family of the Hortmans are at the funeral. U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar will not be in attendance; she’s in Washington, D.C., for possible votes on President Donald Trump’s budget bill.
‘A public servant’
The service comes two weeks after Melissa, 55, and Mark, 58, were shot and killed in their home by a man authorities say posed as a police officer and who is accused of targeting multiple lawmakers he disagreed with. The man faces state and federal murder charges in the Hortman slaying and for wounding DFL state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife Yvette.
The funeral follows a day of remembrance for the Hortmans. In addition to Walz and Biden, thousands filed past the casket throughout the afternoon after waiting in a line that snaked around the Capitol much of the day.
Biden made a brief visit to the Minnesota Capitol on Friday where the Hortmans had lain in state along with their dog Gilbert, a golden retriever who died from the shooting at the family home.
Many of those lawmakers who served with Melissa Hortman served as greeters for the public, offering hugs and stories of the late leader or a shoulder to cry on.
A sprawling memorial continued to grow outside the entrance to the House chamber. It has Post-it notes addressed to the Hortmans, flowers, campaign memorabilia, photos of the couple and dog treats.
Some in the line outside the Capitol had met the Hortmans through their work and personal lives. Others waited for hours to pay respects to people they had never met.
Dick Ottman was among them.
“This lady has done an awful lot for the state of Minnesota, she’s demonstrated something that is very good in public service. She’s demonstrated to be a public servant. She isn't in it, and wasn't in it for just glory or for money,” Ottman said. “She wanted to make the world a better place. Those kind of people deserve our respect.”
Brianna Haloran came from St. Cloud with her three kids, who each held a red rose. Haloran said Hortman’s legacy of championing policies like free school lunch and paid family and medical leave have had an impact on her family.
She said she wanted her kids “to recognize that there’s always someone behind the scenes working for Minnesotans, and we want to honor that today.”
Former state Rep. Jennifer Schultz, a Democrat from Duluth, waited in line to pay her respects with a bouquet of flowers in hand. She said she fears the shooting could put a damper on public service for would-be candidates.
“A lot of people don’t want to run, not just because of threats, but just because of the chaos and the polarization and really the disrespect of working in government because so so so many people have put forward this negative view of government,” Schultz said. “But people need to realize that government is people. It is us, all of us.”
MPR News producer Ellie Roth contributed to this story.
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