The 2026 MN legislative session gaveled in today, Tuesday Feb. 17th, at noon in both the House and Senate. Instead of serving legislative purposes, the opening day of session centered around the remembrance of Melissa Hortman, her husband Mark, and their dog and the near loss of life of Senator John Hoffman, his wife, and his daughter.

The tragic shootings of Hortman, Hoffman, and their families immediately garnered national attention. The shocking nature of this event shook MN’s political landscape to its core and everyone wanted the shooter to be found and be held responsible by our Judicial system.

The shooter was identified as Vance Boelter and little was known about him beyond videos surfaced of sermons he gave in Africa and his appointment to the Workforce Development Board by Tim Walz in 2019. Emily Gruenhagen, wife of Sen. Glenn Gruenhagen, posted on social media that Boelter had never been involved locally in their local Sibley County GOP and that he was not a participant in their BPOU. Boelter allegedly wrote a letter to the FBI claiming that Walz set him up to commit these assassinations. No evidence has been shown publicly to corroborate this insane conspiracy. A4L has remained level-headed and rejected nonsense theories. 

Toward the beginning of the opening day session, Speaker Lisa Demuth gave the oath of office and accepted the election certificates of three Democrats elected in special elections: Shelley Buck (47A), Meg Luger-Nikolai (64A), and XP Lee (34A). This would normally be an uncontroversial, standard practice but as seen in previous A4L reporting, XP Lee posted the code “8647” multiple times and that code has been linked to support for assassinating Trump. Demuth could’ve rejected his election certificate based on these comments, making him ineligible and since he could not vote on his own eligibility, the GOP would have a 67-66 vote advantage. Lee made these posts after James Comey was confronted and apologized for posting the same exact thing. One would think that a refugee replacing a politician who was just assassinated (Melissa Hortman) would be more appreciative of the nation and would not seek violence against elected leaders.

No legislative action was taken in either chamber beyond first introductions of bills. Senator John Hoffman was able to speak on the floor and expressed his gratitude for all of the members’ kindness while he recovered. The prayer for the Senate chamber mentioned Renee Good alongside mentioning the Hoffman/Hortman family shootings, which is quite insulting for Hoffman and Hortman considering they were innocently in their homes during these tragedies while Renee Good was out looking for problems and hitting federal law enforcement with her vehicle.

In what seemed incredibly out of place, Indian tribe flags were paraded into the House toward the beginning of Hortman's remembrance. Speeches were given in the House, with Senators present, by Tim Walz, Dem Senate Leader Erin Murphy, Speaker Lisa Demuth, and Dem House Leader Zack Stephenson. Much of the sentiment expressed was kept focused on the remembrance of her life and were perfectly fitting. Surprisingly, Tim Walz did not grandstand or turn the speech into a leftist, anti-gun lecture. Stephenson and Murphy did lean more into the politics of the situation by arguing that legislators should concede to Hortman’s political positions because of this tragedy. The tragedies of these shootings should not be weaponized by Democrats to serve political ends. 

Hortman was clearly effective as a politician but her efforts were typically directed at causes that reduced liberty, expanded the government, and allowed corruption to fester. While Demuth did nothing but praise Hortman in her speech, Minnesotans remember Hortman steamrolling Demuth and the GOP on the final day of the 2024 session passing unconstitutional omnibus bills. 

Action 4 Liberty understands the magnitude of today’s events and the tragic assassinations. Recognizing the actual legislative record of Hortman does not excuse the evil shootings committed by lunatic Vance Boelter.

Minnesotans are hoping that legislators can rise to the occasion and use this moment to understand how precious life and liberty are. Instead of pushing unconstitutional omnibus bills and giving our state more debt, legislators should prioritize the values of life and liberty this session. If the legislators began to serve the interest of We The People, Minnesota will finally start heading in the right direction.

A4L will continue providing Minnesotans with in-depth reporting that they cannot get anywhere else. We will keep Patriots updated as the 2026 legislative session continues to unfold.