Special election for slain Minnesota lawmaker Melissa Hortman’s seat comes amid new fears of political violence

By Molly English, CNN

(CNN) — A special election in Minnesota on Tuesday will determine who will fill the seat of the late Democratic state Rep. Melissa Hortman, just over three months after she and her husband were fatally shot in what Gov. Tim Walz at the time called “a politically motivated assassination” and less than a week after the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

Kirk’s death is the latest instance of political violence this year, following the Hortman killing in June and an arson attack on Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s home in April. It has yet again brought tension about the increasing violence surrounding politics to the forefront of the national conversation and to the race for Hortman’s seat in the suburbs of Minneapolis between Democrat Xp Lee and Republican Ruth Bittner.

Lee, a health equity analyst and former Brooklyn Park City Council member, will face off against Bittner, a real estate agent who has never run for public office. Top Minnesota Democrats such as Walz and Sen. Amy Klobuchar have campaigned for Lee in recent days.

Speaking to the Associated Press while campaigning over the weekend, Bittner said the Kirk killing made her briefly hesitate about running for public office but said “we can’t cower” to fear, acknowledging that “we are in very, very scary times.”

Lee, also speaking to the AP while out knocking on doors, said the political climate in the United States after the Kirk assassination is a “charged atmosphere” and emphasized he wants to bring the temperature down if elected to his former neighbor Hortman’s vacant seat. Lee told the AP he used to see Hortman walking her golden retriever around the neighborhood.

Hortman, her husband and her dog were shot and killed June 14 by a masked man impersonating a police officer, who also shot and wounded state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife the same night.

Vance Boelter, the Minnesota man accused of the attack, faces two state charges of first-degree murder, four counts of attempted first-degree murder, and charges of impersonating a police officer and animal cruelty for shooting Hortman’s dog. Boelter was indicted in July on six federal counts of murder, stalking and firearms violations and pleaded not guilty in federal court last month.

The reaction from the White House to Kirk’s assassination was swift and included President Donald Trump ordering all flags lowered to half-staff, which he did not do when Hortman was killed.

In comments to reporters Monday, Trump said he would have “gladly” given the same order had Walz asked him. The president did not call the governor in June to offer condolences, saying he “could be nice and call, but why waste time?”

Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party Chairman Richard Carlbom said in a statement to CNN on Monday, “Political violence has no place in American politics. We must all renounce such violence. Melissa and Mark Hortman should be alive today. Charlie Kirk should be alive today. All must denounce such violence. Our response requires thoughts & prayers & policy & action.”

The election in Minnesota’s state House District 34B will determine the balance of the chamber, which stands at a very slim 67-66 Republican majority. With a Democratic win in this solidly blue district in the Brooklyn Park suburb, the balance of power would again be tied at 67-67, which was where it stood before Hortman was killed. The Minnesota House previously struck a power-sharing agreement the last time the balance was tied, which Hortman said at the time was a “golden opportunity” to showcase bipartisanship.

Lee beat out two candidates in the Democratic primary last month to advance to September’s special general election. Bittner ran unopposed.

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CNN’s David Wright and Adam Cancryn contributed to this report.