Demuth Reflects On Collaboration With Hortman After Recent Events

COLD SPRING (WJON News) -- The current speaker of the Minnesota House is reflecting on her working relationship with former Speaker Melissa Hortman.

Lisa Demuth of Cold Spring spoke with WJON News on Monday morning.  She says their working relationship began in 2023 when Demuth became the Minority Leader.

She says even though at that time Democrats were in full control of the state government, Hortman set up weekly meetings with Demuth. Demuth says that is something Hortman did not need to do, but she was the fairest, kindest, and wisest political leader.

Demuth says she has the utmost respect for the work that she did and the person she was.

With the tie this year, they spent a lot of time negotiating.  A big thing this year, with the tie, Hortman wanted to make sure she protected her staff.  Typically, staff get reduced if the numbers in a caucus get reduced.  Demuth says that speaks so loudly that Hortman cared about the state of Minnesota, and even though the two didn't agree on a number of the laws that were passed, she was very fair.

Demuth says she was alerted very early on after the shootings happened on Saturday morning, and was kept up to date through the weekend.  Demuth says law enforcement across the state of Minnesota provided what was needed for legislative members over the weekend.

Demuth expressed her condolences to the Hortman family, their close friends, and the work family.  She says she's also praying for the Hoffmans as they continue to recover.

Demuth says the safety and security of elected leaders has to be looked at at all levels of government.

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Demuth says she and Hortman, during the last session, dubbed it "Team House", because with the tie they had to work in a bipartisan fashion.

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