Minnesota State lawmakers Reconsider Costs and Purpose of Serving After Assassination

Minnesota Democratic Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy, left, and Republican House Speaker Lisa Demuth. (Photo courtesy of National Conference of State Legislature via the North Dakota Monitor)

(North Dakota Monitor) – In some of his first public comments since being shot in an attempted assassination, Minnesota state Sen. John Hoffman urged fellow lawmakers to refocus on the true purpose of public service.

“We can’t let the evil of the night win, and we must redouble our efforts and reclaim the reason we are all public servants,” he said.

That means listening to one another, extending understanding even in disagreement, and finding compromise: “not because it’s easy, but because the people we serve deserve better than constant stalemate built on partisan egos. They deserve solutions.”

Hoffman appeared via video message before thousands of lawmakers and staffers gathered at the National Conference of State Legislatures summit earlier this month in Boston. In June, he and his wife were shot in their Minnesota home just before the politically motivated shooter killed state Rep. Melissa Hortman, the former House speaker, her husband, Mark, and their dog, Gilbert.