Friends and Neighbors,
Minnesota is mourning the loss of one of our own elected leaders, just as another is recovering from being shot nine times by a violent killer.
Just like in the attempted assassinations of President Trump last summer, these are senseless acts of violence.
Political violence is never the answer.
The murder of Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, has caused immeasurable loss and damage that cannot be undone.
In 1787, Benjamin Franklin left the constitutional convention and was asked, what kind of government has been created. He simply responded: "A Republic, if you can keep it." These words are ever true today as citizens pick up the pieces after one of the darkest days in Minnesota history.
We must begin to heal. We must realize the challenge ahead and recommit ourselves to the principles we were founded upon.
Speaker Hortman led the House in front of the portrait of President Lincoln for 6 years. Now, let us be reminded of his words from his 2nd Inaugural Address:
"With malice toward none with charity for all with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right let us strive on to finish the work we are in..." ~ Abraham Lincoln, 1865.
Rest In Peace, Madam Speaker.
Please be in prayer for Sen. Hoffman and his wife as they recover, the Hortman family as they grieve, and please pray fervently for healing across our land.