Sen. Murphy speaks about political violence and security in wake of shootings

As Minnesotans process the loss of House Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman and her husband, state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife continue to recover from gunshot wounds. The sudden and brutal attacks shocked the state and nation and left many emotionally unmoored. Among those tasked with mourning while leading is Senate DFL Majority Leader Erin Murphy — a friend and colleague of Hortman and Hoffman.

Murphy joined MPR News host Cathy Wurzer on Morning Edition Wednesday to share what each brought to the caucus and address the unprecedented level of political violence.

The following has been lightly edited for clarity and length. Listen to the conversation by clicking the player button above.

Gov. Walz addressed the House DFL caucus this week. Has the Senate DFL caucus gathered to process what happened?

We gathered Sunday afternoon, and we had Department of Public Safety Commissioner Bob Jacobson and Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension Superintendent Drew Evans join us to make sure that members had an opportunity to ask questions and understand where we are.

We did talk about grief. We talked about trauma and support and what’s available for members, and we started to talk about the hard, new on-the-horizon question of our security — an ongoing conversation as our politics change in Minnesota, but an urgent question for us today.

How do you balance your personal grief in a time when many of your grieving colleagues are looking to leaders for guidance and support?

The range of emotions, I think, varies for all of us. Those of us who have grieved or understand grief understand that it comes with a range of emotions that you cycle through. I have my own personal grief and loss at the horrendous experience that we are living through, and I am in my home and with my family and experiencing and expressing that, but also very focused on this moment.

Beginning very, very early on Saturday morning, making sure our members understood what had happened with very, very early morning phone calls and urging everyone to be in touch with their local law enforcement, that we needed to take precautions and do what we needed to do to protect ourselves and our members while continuing to gather and share information throughout the day.

It has been, as you can imagine, for me and for everyone who’s experiencing this in Minnesota, an incredibly difficult experience, and I think everyone is trying to do their very best under very, very challenging circumstances.

With this level of violence, is this who we are? And how do you answer that question?

I continue to think about what we mean to each other. Who are we to each other in a democracy? Who are we to each other in a community? Who are we to each other if our goal is to be a self-governing people?

I can’t deny, none of us can deny, that this is what exists today in today’s politics. And it’s probably not the first time in America, it’s not the first time in civilization, but I haven’t experienced anything like this in our politics in Minnesota, and I’ve been participating for a very, very long time.

So I think the question we have to ask ourselves is this: Is this where we’re going to be? Are we going to exist here? Are we going to move to something different and better? Not necessarily backwards, but to something better that is free of violence, free of misinformation. Can we tamp down the driving forces that are pulling us apart?

So much of it is in places that we can’t control or regulate, whether it’s social media or all the dark messaging avenues that people have to communicate with one another. I have always believed in a politics that is intended to serve the people, and there are others who are using politics to divide, to hurt, and not just in the pursuit of power, but in pursuit of their own ideology.

It’s a dangerous politics. We’ve seen it expressed here in the most heinous way. And we can’t stay here; we have to, with intention, go someplace else.

You think a line has been crossed?

A line has been crossed. I think it is both right and awful to use the word assassination. When we think about my colleague and friend Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark Hortman, that was political violence and an assassination.

We don’t understand the ideology or the why, yet, not completely, although the reporting is happening about his background, about nationalism and white nationalism and abortion. And I think we have to be patient and understand the motives in order to really attack it.

John Hoffman and his wife were shot and wounded in an attempted assassination. Those are words that I’ve never, ever thought I would express here in Minnesota or anywhere. I don’t know that there has been a female political leader who’s been assassinated before in the country; it is heinous and unspeakable, and yet it is our reality right now.

Many lawmakers are understandably shaken. They feel vulnerable. Are you anticipating a number of retirements in the near future?

To be clear, I don’t know what to expect. I do know that this has rattled my colleagues. Someone asked me the other day if I was afraid or if people were afraid, and I think we would not be honest if we didn’t recognize the fear that’s embedded in this when you're asked to leave your home and to make sure your family leaves their home.

So it will alter our DNA. It will alter the way we interact. And we have to be careful not to go so far that we fence off the voice of people in our democracy, that we make the Capitol a place that is not the people’s house. And always guarding against the lean into security, which we need, at the expense of the openness, which is also necessary.

And we’re going to explore that line again, because it is my obligation to make sure the Capitol and the people who are serving there are safe.

We’ve talked a lot about Speaker Hortman. How would you describe Sen. Hoffman?

Sen. Hoffman and I first met before either of us was in office. I was the executive director at the Minnesota Nurses Association, and he came with Sen. Tom Harkin from Iowa to our office to talk about health care. That’s the first time we met.

He is a larger-than-life, gregarious, big, smiling, very determined senator. He is deeply dedicated to the causes for which he works. In this case, this year, that was balancing the Human Services budget, which includes care for people who are elderly, people with disabilities and people with substance abuse disorders.

He was fierce in the negotiation, but also, in the best way, authentic in his pursuit and working with members of the House and the Senate, Democrats and Republicans, to deliver for Minnesotans a really important budget.

He sometimes comes into the caucus with a bag of candy — sometimes it’s hard candy, sometimes it’s chocolate — when we’re at a point of friction. He’ll toss it into the room. I think it’s meant to sweeten us up.

You always know where you stand with Sen. Hoffman. He is an impressive and important member of our caucus. He has a very strong perspective. He works in a way that assures the outcome that he believes is right.

With the deaths of Hortman and Sen. Kari Dziedzic, you’re kind of the last Democratic woman leader left standing. Do you feel that there’s a vacuum of leadership?

Because I’ve served out for a stretch of time in the Legislature, I know that part of our work is to develop the leadership skills of everybody so that there’s always someone ready to step into the space. And we lead in all sorts of ways. The role that I have as the leader of the caucus is just one iteration of leadership in a caucus.

Members of the House have to work through their grief and the order of things to determine who’s going to lead that caucus next, and it will come with time. But it is striking to me that we have lost both our beloved Kari Dziedzic and now our treasured Melissa Hortman. I always like to call her the chief strategist of the state. I miss her dearly.

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