Melissa Hortman, the Minnesota state lawmaker assassinated early Saturday morning in her home, was a major power behind the state’s landmark climate policies.
Hortman served as state House speaker until early 2025, driving the passage of a slew of progressive legislation. In 2023 — when the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party narrowly controlled the state Legislature — Hortman helped push through bills that established Minnesota’s clean electricity standard, a green bank, subsidies for clean tech and electric vehicles, greater environmental justice provisions in permitting and a suite of other climate policies.
That left Minnesota with some of the strongest climate policies in the Midwest, if not the country. For Hortman, the legislation represented a continuation of the policies she had championed as she rose up the Democratic ranks from chair of the energy committee to minority and then majority speaker.
“She was intelligent, she was funny, she was welcoming, and she led with her values. She fought hard, but never with malice, and had friends across the state and on either side of the aisle,” the DFL Environmental Caucus wrote in a social media post. “Guided by her leadership, the Minnesota Legislature passed some of its greatest environmental victories in history.”
