When voters in Minnesota’s 34B House district went to the polls on Tuesday, the stakes were higher than just filling a vacant seat. The district was choosing a successor to Melissa Hortman — the former House Speaker assassinated in June — and deciding whether the fragile balance of power in the state legislature would survive.
The result: Democrat Xp Lee, a former Brooklyn Park City Council member, defeated Republican Ruth Bittner, a real estate agent running her first statewide race. Lee’s victory restores the state House to a 67–67 split, preserving the power-sharing deal Hortman brokered before her death and ensuring that both parties must continue working together to pass legislation.
“This campaign was about honoring Melissa’s legacy,” Lee said in his victory statement. “We did our best to make her proud: knocking on doors daily, making phone calls, and texting every neighbor we could. I’ll work hard every day to carry that forward.”
A Tragic Backdrop
Hortman’s assassination in June shocked Minnesota and the nation. She and her husband, Mark, were murdered in their Brooklyn Park home by a man impersonating a police officer. Another legislator and his wife were also shot but survived. The alleged gunman, Vance Boelter, 57, faces multiple state and federal charges, including murder and attempted murder.
Hortman, who had served as House Speaker for six years, was a skilled negotiator who had recently given up her gavel to Republican Lisa Demuth under a bipartisan agreement. In exchange, Democrats secured equal committee representation and co-chairmanships — a compromise that ended a three-week Democratic boycott and kept the legislature functioning despite deep divisions.
Lee’s win ensures that arrangement continues. Without it, Republicans might have attempted to consolidate control.
A District Still in Mourning
The special election came just three months after the attack that ended Hortman’s life. Many voters cast their ballots with grief still fresh. “Melissa was a true public servant,” said one resident outside a Brooklyn Park polling place. “This is about keeping her spirit alive in our politics.”
Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin echoed those sentiments, praising Lee’s commitment to “expanding access to education, affordable health care, and good-paying jobs” as a tribute to Hortman. Martin also condemned political violence as a “scourge that has taken far too many lives.”
Political Violence in the Spotlight
The Minnesota race was not insulated from the broader climate of political violence. Just last week, conservative activist Charlie Kirk was assassinated during a campus event in Utah. Both Lee and Bittner addressed the tense atmosphere on the campaign trail.
Lee said he wanted to calm the rhetoric. “We cannot let political violence define our future,” he told supporters. Bittner admitted she briefly considered ending her campaign after the Utah shooting but decided otherwise. “There’s no way to solve this problem if we shrink back in fear,” she said.
What Comes Next
Lee’s victory shores up Democratic numbers ahead of a potential special session that Gov. Tim Walz may call to address school security and gun violence. That session comes after a church shooting last month left two students dead and more than 20 injured.
Rep. Zack Stephenson, Hortman’s successor as the top House Democrat, said Lee’s win puts his caucus “back at full strength.” He vowed to continue Hortman’s fight for stronger gun safety measures. “That means we’ll prioritize the safety of our kids instead of access to weapons of war,” he said.
Two more special elections are scheduled in November for state Senate seats — one vacated by Democrat Nicole Mitchell after a burglary conviction, and another following the death of Republican Bruce Anderson. Neither race is expected to shift the Senate’s balance of power, but if Mitchell’s seat goes to another Democrat, Walz will need to call yet another House special election.
For now, Democrats are celebrating Lee’s victory as a stabilizing force in a volatile year. Yet the shadow of Hortman’s assassination lingers, a reminder of the risks public servants face in an increasingly polarized climate.
As one voter put it Tuesday night: “Melissa gave her life for public service. Now it’s on all of us to make sure her work wasn’t in vain.”
