Latest news with #Democratic-Farmer-Labor
Yahoo
21-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Minneapolis Democrats endorse democratic socialist for mayor over incumbent
A Democratic socialist member of the Minnesota state senate won his party's endorsement for the Minneapolis mayoral race over the incumbent, giving momentum to the progressive left's political rise. Omar Fateh, a state senator from Minneapolis's southside, beat Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey, who served as mayor during the George Floyd protests and through the pandemic. Fateh gained momentum after Zohran Mamdani, also a democratic socialist and state lawmaker, won the primary for New York City mayor. Fateh was first elected to the state senate in 2020 and won re-election in 2022. He was the first Somali American and Muslim elected to the chamber. He chaired the higher education committee and advanced a plan for free college for families who make less than $80,000. 'I am incredibly honored to be the DFL endorsed candidate for Minneapolis mayor,' Fateh said after the endorsement win, referring to the Democratic-Farmer-Labor party, the Democratic party in Minnesota. 'This endorsement is a message that Minneapolis residents are done with broken promises, vetoes, and politics as usual. It's a mandate to build a city that works for all of us.' Frey's campaign contends that the endorsement process in Minneapolis was flawed and an electronic voting system didn't properly count all votes. He is planning an appeal to the state party, multiple local news outlets reported. It is not unheard of for an incumbent to lose the party's endorsement in the city – Frey came in second in his two prior runs for the office and still won the elections. In the endorsement process for Minneapolis races, local delegates vote for which candidate they want to endorse, then narrow down until a candidate tops 60% of the vote. In the first ballot this weekend, Fateh got 43% of votes to Frey's 31%. The tabulation took longer than expected, and some questioned whether all votes were actually included in the eventual tally, Axios Twin Cities reported. Frey's supporters left the convention, and the remaining delegates voted by a show of hands, giving Fateh the win. 'I want to thank everyone who showed up to support my campaign,' Frey said after the endorsement loss. 'This election should be decided by our entire city, not by a handful of delegates.' The city uses ranked-choice voting, and the general election is this November. After Mamdani's win in June, Fateh posted a video in a similar style, talking about his plans for affordability, defending the city against Trump and public safety. 'Everyone keeps asking me, Omar, why aren't you doing more videos? As a state senator with a second full time job and a kid on the way, I just haven't been able to find the time,' he says while walking through the city. Like Mamdani, Fateh focused on affordability and has emphasized that he is a renter throughout his campaign – topics he has been committed to as state senator as well. There are some Minnesota twists: 'We'll shovel sidewalks, build shelters, and finally reopen public spaces,' he wrote on X about his platform. 'I'm here to fight for the people this city's left behind.' Fateh has been attacked with racist and Islamophobic comments by rightwing commentators in recent weeks. Charlie Kirk, the leader of Turning Point USA, claimed there has been an 'Islamic takeover' in the country and shared Fateh's video, saying people need to 'commit to stopping all third world immigration'. Fateh was born in Washington DC. Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
11-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Gov. Tim Walz calls special election for Melissa Hortman's House seat
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on Friday called a special election for the Hennepin and Anoka County state House seat left vacant following the assassination of Brooklyn Park Rep. Melissa Hortman last month. Hortman, the former House speaker and leader of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor caucus in the House, represented House District 34B, a district that includes Brooklyn Park, as well as parts of Champlin and Coon Rapids. A special primary election for the seat is now scheduled for Tuesday, Aug. 12. The special election is set to take place on Tuesday, Sept. 16. Candidates can begin submitting paperwork to run starting July 15. Affidavits of candidacy and nominating petitions can be submitted to the Anoka and Hennepin county auditors or the Minnesota Secretary of State until July 22. House District 34B has been without a representative for nearly a month. In the early morning hours of June 14, Hortman and her husband, Mark, were shot at their home by a gunman who was reportedly targeting state lawmakers. State Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, were shot at their home in Champlin and survived. Hortman was first elected to the House in 2004 and was in her 11th term in the Legislature. She was elected speaker of the House in 2019, when the DFL took a majority in the House. Hortman lost the speakership in 2025 after the 2024 election resulted in a House tied 67-67 between the parties. The House is now split 67-66 between the parties, with Republicans at a one-seat majority. Hortman had handily won reelection in District 34B and past districts that covered a similar footprint. In 2024, she won reelection with 63% of the vote. Sheriff Bob Fletcher critiques agency info-sharing after lawmaker shootings MN counties could see strain, 250K could lose coverage under Medicaid changes in Trump's big bill Letters: It's our duty to rediscover the hope and promise of America Stillwater to consider downtown 'sip-and-stroll' social district St. Paul: Grants aim to support Arcade Street businesses during road work
Yahoo
17-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Vance Boelter, accused of assassination of DFL House leader Melissa Hortman, apprehended
GREEN ISLE, MINNESOTA - JUNE 15: Law enforcement stage in a neighborhood on June 15, 2025 in Green Isle, Minnesota. Law enforcement agencies are searching for a suspect in the killing of DFL State Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark Hortman, who were shot at their home yesterday. DFL State Sen. John Hoffman and his wife were also shot and hospitalized in a separate incident. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said during a press conference that the shooting "appears to be a politically motivated assassination." (Photo by) Law enforcement officers on Sunday night arrested Vance Boelter, who is accused of assassinating Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband at their home in Brooklyn Park as part of a larger plot to kill Democratic elected officials and other advocates of abortion rights. Boelter is also accused of shooting Democratic-Farmer-Labor state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, at their home in Champlin. Both Hoffmans survived the shooting, but received surgeries for their injuries and remain hospitalized. The arrest comes after a 43-hour manhunt — the largest in state history, according to Brooklyn Park Police Chief Mark Bruley. Law enforcement officers had been searching all day after locating Boelter's abandoned vehicle near Green Isle, where Boelter has a home. At the time of his arrest, Boelter was armed, but ultimately surrendered. Officers did not use any force, said Lt. Col. Jeremy Geiger of the Minnesota State Patrol. In the state's new Emergency Operations Center in Blaine — which was paid for by legislation passed by Hortman's DFL-controlled House in 2020 — Gov. Tim Walz thanked law enforcement and decried political violence and hateful rhetoric. 'This cannot be the norm. It cannot be the way that we deal with our political differences,' Walz said. 'Now is the time for us to recommit to the core values of this country, and each and every one of us can do it. Talk to a neighbor rather than argue, debate an issue, shake hands, find common ground.' Boelter is a Christian who voted for President Donald Trump and opposes abortion and LGBTQ rights, according to interviews with his childhood friend and videos of his sermons posted online. A list of potential targets — including Hoffman and Hortman — included abortion providers and other Democratic elected officials from Minnesota and Wisconsin. The attack, which has shocked Minnesotans and the nation, comes amid rising political violence since the emergence of President Donald Trump, who has made repeated threats of violence against his political enemies and praised his supporters who, for instance, attacked officers while storming the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. He later pardoned all of them. He survived two assassination attempts in 2024. Authorities say Boelter attacked the Hoffmans at their home in Champlin at approximately 2 a.m. on Saturday morning. An unsealed criminal complaint indicates that the Hoffmans' daughter called the police to report the shooting of her parents, the Associated Press reports. At around 3:30 a.m., Brooklyn Park police headed to the Hortmans' home to proactively check on them following the attack on the Hoffmans, said Drew Evans, superintendent at the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension at a press conference Saturday morning. When they arrived, the officers saw the attacker in a fake law enforcement uniform shoot Mark Hortman through the open front door, according to the complaint. Out front, emergency vehicle lights flashed from a Ford Explorer outfitted to look like a cop car. When the officers confronted the shooter, a gunfight ensued, and the killer escaped, abandoning the vehicle. Inside, Hortman and her husband, Mark, were dead from gunshot wounds. In the SUV, police found a document with a list of lawmakers and other officials on it. Hortman and Hoffman were on the list. Evans said Sunday that the document is not a 'traditional manifesto that's a treatise on all kinds of ideology and writings.' Instead, it contains a list of names and 'other thoughts' throughout. On Saturday afternoon, police raided a home in north Minneapolis where Boelter lived part time. In an interview with the Star Tribune and other media outlets, Boelter's roommate and childhood friend David Carlson shared a text message Boelter sent him at 6:03 a.m. saying that he would be 'gone for a while' and 'may be dead shortly.' Federal and state warrants were out for Boelter's arrest, and the FBI was offering a $50,000 award for information that led to Boelter's capture. On Sunday morning, law enforcement officers detained and questioned Boelter's wife as she was driving through Mille Lacs County with other family members. Evans said Sunday none of Boelter's family members are in custody. Sunday afternoon, law enforcement officers located a car linked to Boelter in Sibley County within a few miles of his home address in Green Isle. From there, teams from dozens of law enforcement agencies fanned out in search of Boelter. Boelter was spotted in the area, and officers converged around him, Evans said. He declined to provide some details of the tactics used by law enforcement to capture Boelter. Law enforcement officials continue to investigate Boelter's motives, Evans said, and urged the public not to jump to conclusions. 'We often want easy answers for complex problems, and this is a complex situation…those answers will come as we complete the full picture of our investigation,' he said. Fragments of Boelter's life available online, and interviews with those who know him, shed light on his religious and political beliefs. Boelter's LinkedIn page indicates that he spent many years working in food production before becoming the general manager of a 7-Eleven. More recently, he worked at funeral homes, the New York Times reported. Boelter was facing financial stress after quitting his job to embark on business ventures in the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to Carlson, the Star Tribune reported. The website for a private security firm lists Boelter as the 'director of security patrols,' and his wife as the CEO. He purchased some cars and uniforms but 'it was never a real company,' Carlson told the Strib. Carlson said Boelter is a Christian who strongly opposes abortion, the New York Times reported. In recordings of sermons Boelter delivered in Matadi, a city in the Democratic Republic of Congo, he railed against abortion and LGBTQ people. The reporting on Boelter's religious life suggests that his beliefs were rooted in fundamentalism, though he doesn't appear to have been ordained in any particular denomination, said Rev. Angela Denker, a Minnesota-based Lutheran minister, journalist and author of books on Christianity, right-wing politics and masculinity. 'What this kind of theology says is that if you commit violence in the name of whatever movement you're a part of, then you're going to be rewarded,' Denker said. The gunman shot John Hoffman nine times, and Yvette Hoffman eight times, according to a statement from Yvette. The Hoffmans' nephew, Mat Ollig, wrote on Facebook that Yvette used her body to shield her daughter. John Hoffman is 'enduring many surgeries right now and is closer every hour to being out of the woods,' Yvette Hoffman said in a statement. On Sunday night as leaders spoke to the press, Boelter was being questioned by law enforcement, but officials declined to say where he was detained and which agency was questioning him. On the steps of the State Capitol Sunday, mourners created an extemporaneous memorial for Hortman, who will be known as one of the most consequential progressive leaders in recent state history.
Yahoo
16-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Vance Boelter, accused of assassination of DFL House leader Melissa Hortman, apprehended
Law enforcement stage in a neighborhood on June 15, 2025 in Green Isle, Minnesota. Shooting suspect Vance Boelter later surrendered. (Photo by) Law enforcement officers on Sunday night arrested Vance Boelter, who is accused of assassinating Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband at their home in Brooklyn Park as part of a larger plot to kill Democratic elected officials and other advocates of abortion rights. Boelter is also accused of shooting Democratic-Farmer-Labor state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, at their home in Champlin. Both Hoffmans survived the shooting, but received surgeries for their injuries and remain hospitalized. The arrest comes after a 43-hour manhunt — the largest in state history, according to Brooklyn Park Police Chief Mark Bruley. Law enforcement officers had been searching all day after locating Boelter's abandoned vehicle near Green Isle, where Boelter has a home. At the time of his arrest, Boelter was armed, but ultimately surrendered. Officers did not use any force, said Lt. Col. Jeremy Geiger of the Minnesota State Patrol. In the state's new Emergency Operations Center in Blaine — which was paid for by legislation passed by Hortman's DFL-controlled House in 2020 — Gov. Tim Walz thanked law enforcement and decried political violence and hateful rhetoric. 'This cannot be the norm. It cannot be the way that we deal with our political differences,' Walz said. 'Now is the time for us to recommit to the core values of this country, and each and every one of us can do it. Talk to a neighbor rather than argue, debate an issue, shake hands, find common ground.' Boelter is a Christian who voted for President Donald Trump and opposes abortion and LGBTQ rights, according to interviews with his childhood friend and videos of his sermons posted online. A list of potential targets — including Hoffman and Hortman — included abortion providers and other Democratic elected officials from Minnesota and Wisconsin. The attack, which has shocked Minnesotans and the nation, comes amid rising political violence since the emergence of President Donald Trump, who has made repeated threats of violence against his political enemies and praised his supporters who, for instance, attacked officers while storming the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. He later pardoned all of them. He survived two assassination attempts in 2024. Authorities say Boelter attacked the Hoffmans at their home in Champlin at approximately 2 a.m. on Saturday morning. An unsealed criminal complaint indicates that the Hoffmans' daughter called the police to report the shooting of her parents, the Associated Press reports. At around 3:30 a.m., Brooklyn Park police headed to the Hortmans' home to proactively check on them following the attack on the Hoffmans, said Drew Evans, superintendent at the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension at a press conference Saturday morning. When they arrived, the officers saw the attacker in a fake law enforcement uniform shoot Mark Hortman through the open front door, according to the complaint. Out front, emergency vehicle lights flashed from a Ford Explorer outfitted to look like a cop car. When the officers confronted the shooter, a gunfight ensued, and the killer escaped, abandoning the vehicle. Inside, Hortman and her husband, Mark, were dead from gunshot wounds. In the SUV, police found a document with a list of lawmakers and other officials on it. Hortman and Hoffman were on the list. Evans said Sunday that the document is not a 'traditional manifesto that's a treatise on all kinds of ideology and writings.' Instead, it contains a list of names and 'other thoughts' throughout. On Saturday afternoon, police raided a home in north Minneapolis where Boelter lived part time. In an interview with the Star Tribune and other media outlets, Boelter's roommate and childhood friend David Carlson shared a text message Boelter sent him at 6:03 a.m. saying that he would be 'gone for a while' and 'may be dead shortly.' Federal and state warrants were out for Boelter's arrest, and the FBI was offering a $50,000 award for information that led to Boelter's capture. On Sunday morning, law enforcement officers detained and questioned Boelter's wife as she was driving through Mille Lacs County with other family members. Evans said Sunday none of Boelter's family members are in custody. Sunday afternoon, law enforcement officers located a car linked to Boelter in Sibley County within a few miles of his home address in Green Isle. From there, teams from dozens of law enforcement agencies fanned out in search of Boelter. Boelter was spotted in the area, and officers converged around him, Evans said. He declined to provide some details of the tactics used by law enforcement to capture Boelter. Law enforcement officials continue to investigate Boelter's motives, Evans said, and urged the public not to jump to conclusions. 'We often want easy answers for complex problems, and this is a complex situation…those answers will come as we complete the full picture of our investigation,' he said. Minnesota House Democratic leader dead after targeted shooting; Democratic senator also shot Fragments of Boelter's life available online, and interviews with those who know him, shed light on his religious and political beliefs. Boelter's LinkedIn page indicates that he spent many years working in food production before becoming the general manager of a 7-Eleven. More recently, he worked at funeral homes, the New York Times reported. Boelter was facing financial stress after quitting his job to embark on business ventures in the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to Carlson, the Star Tribune reported. The website for a private security firm lists Boelter as the 'director of security patrols,' and his wife as the CEO. He purchased some cars and uniforms but 'it was never a real company,' Carlson told the Strib. Carlson said Boelter is a Christian who strongly opposes abortion, the New York Times reported. In recordings of sermons Boelter delivered in Matadi, a city in the Democratic Republic of Congo, he railed against abortion and LGBTQ people. The reporting on Boelter's religious life suggests that his beliefs were rooted in fundamentalism, though he doesn't appear to have been ordained in any particular denomination, said Rev. Angela Denker, a Minnesota-based Lutheran minister, journalist and author of books on Christianity, right-wing politics and masculinity. 'What this kind of theology says is that if you commit violence in the name of whatever movement you're a part of, then you're going to be rewarded,' Denker said. The gunman shot John Hoffman nine times, and Yvette Hoffman eight times, according to a statement from Yvette. The Hoffmans' nephew, Mat Ollig, wrote on Facebook that Yvette used her body to shield her daughter. John Hoffman is 'enduring many surgeries right now and is closer every hour to being out of the woods,' Yvette Hoffman said in a statement. On Sunday night as leaders spoke to the press, Boelter was being questioned by law enforcement, but officials declined to say where he was detained and which agency was questioning him. On the steps of the State Capitol Sunday, mourners created an extemporaneous memorial for Hortman, who will be known as one of the most consequential progressive leaders in recent state history. Minnesota Reformer is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Minnesota Reformer maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor J. Patrick Coolican for questions: info@
Yahoo
14-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Minnesota House Democratic leader dead after targeted shooting; Democratic senator also shot
Speaker emeritus Rep. Melissa Hartman talks to colleagues during a special legislative session Monday, June 9, 2025 at the Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul. (Photo by Nicole Neri/Minnesota Reformer) House Democratic-Farmer-Labor caucus leader Melissa Hortman, who was among the most influential Minnesota elected officials of the past decade, died on Saturday morning after a man impersonating a police officer shot her in her Brooklyn Park home, Gov. Tim Walz said. Hortman's husband was also shot and killed, the governor said. Walz, appearing emotional at a press conference in the north metro, said they were killed in an apparent 'politically motivated assassination.' 'Our state lost a great leader, and I lost the dearest of friends,' Walz said. '(Hortman) was a formidable public servant, a fixture and a giant in Minnesota.' Democratic Sen. John Hoffman and his wife were also shot multiple times earlier in the evening in their Champlin home. Walz said they were out of surgery, and that he's 'cautiously optimistic they will survive this assassination attempt.' Bureau of Criminal Apprehension Superintendent Drew Evans said Champlin law enforcement received a call at about 2 a.m. that a person shot Hoffman and his wife. Brooklyn Park Police Department Chief Mark Bruley said his officers assisted with the Champlin shooting; a sergeant suggested checking in on Hortman's home. They live about five to eight miles away from each other. When Brooklyn Park police officers arrived at Hortman's home, they encountered a person who was dressed like a police officer who 'immediately fired at them,' Evans said. Police exchanged gunfire with the person, but they were able to escape. The shooter is still at large, and Brooklyn Park is under a shelter-in-place order. Hundreds of police officers and SWAT teams are conducting a manhunt for the person, officials said. Bruley said that when they arrived at Hortman's home, they saw a police SUV with its lights on and saw the suspect was impersonating a police officer. In the SUV, police found a 'manifesto,' with a list of lawmakers and other officials on it. Hortman and Hoffman were on the list. Hortman, who has two adult children, was first elected to the Legislature 2004 and served as House Speaker from 2019-2024. She lost two elections before winning, which she said gave her an understanding of what it takes to win swing seats and hold them. Her speakership will be remembered as among the most consequential in recent Minnesota political history. With Walz and Senate GOP Majority Leader Paul Gazelka, she guided the state through the pandemic before helping Democrats achieve a trifecta in the 2022 election. During the 2023 legislative session, she helped bridge the wide gulf between moderates and progressives in her caucus to achieve a historic legislative agenda. Democrats codified abortion rights in law; invested in education, including universal schools meals, as well as transportation and housing; created paid family leave; legalized cannabis; and passed gun control laws. The encomiums poured in Saturday. 'There is no greater champion for Minnesota's working people than Melissa Hortman,' said Joel Smith, President and Business Manager of LIUNA Minnesota and North Dakota, the laborers union. Hoffman was elected in 2012 and is known for his work on human services. The Reformer sat down with Hortman at the Capitol on Thursday to discuss the 2025 session, which ended on Monday. During his remarks Saturday, Walz denounced political violence and said the people involved in the shooting would be caught and held responsible. 'This was an act of targeted political violence. Peaceful discourse is the foundation of our democracy. We don't settle our differences with violence or at gunpoint,' Walz said. House Speaker Lisa Demuth, R-Cold Spring, who worked closely with Hortman in the Legislature to negotiate a state budget this year, said she was horrified by Hortman's murder. 'I am horrified by the evil attack that took place overnight, and heartbroken beyond words by the loss of Speaker-Emerita Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark,' Demuth said in a statement.
