Biden and Harris are reunited in grief as they join Tim Walz at slain Minnesota House Speaker’s funeral
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Former President Joe Biden appeared emotional as he was reunited with Kamala Harris to pay tribute to slain former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman.
Biden and his former VP sat beside Harris’ running mate Tim Walz in the front row at Hortman’s funeral service on Saturday, two weeks after the speaker was fatally shot alongside her husband Mark in a chilling assassination.
Biden appeared to wipe tears from his eyes as he spoke with other mourners at the funeral, where over 1,000 people gathered to pay their respects at the Basilica of St. Mary church in Minneapolis.
Neither Harris nor Biden spoke at the service, but they were seen holding hands during the Lord’s Prayer before Biden reached to shake Walz’s hand during the passing of the peace.
In a moving eulogy for Hortman and her husband, Walz said the lawmaker ‘will be remembered as the most consequential speaker in Minnesota history.’
‘I get to remember her as a close friend, a mentor, and the most talented legislator I have ever known,’ the governor said.
‘For seven years, I have had the privilege of signing her agenda into law. I know millions of Minnesotans get to live their lives better because she and Mark chose public service and politics.’
The funeral marked the first time Harris and Biden have been seen together in public since the inauguration of Donald Trump in January. The president did not attend the funeral and did not comment on it.
Former President Joe Biden was emotional as he attended funeral of slain former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman on Saturday, appearing to wipe a tear from his eye as he spoke with other mourners
Biden was reunited with Kamala Harris and Tim Walz at the service on Saturday, two weeks after Hortman was fatally shot alongside her husband Mark
Hortman, the former Minnesota House Speaker, was killed alongside her husband Mark in a chilling assassination spree two weeks ago as another Minnesota Democrat was also wounded
The funeral on Saturday followed a service on Friday where Hortman and her husband lay in state in the Minnesota Capitol rotunda, where they were placed alongside their golden retriever Gilbert, who was also shot two weeks ago.
The man accused of killing Hortman and her husband Mark, Vance Boelter, 57, was appointed by Walz the Governor’s Workforce Development Board twice, from June 2016 to June 2018 and from December 2019 to January 2023.
There is no evidence that Walz and Boelter had ever met.
Boelter also allegedly shot Minnesota State Senator John Hoffman and his wife Yvette, who were both critically wounded but survived the horror assassination spree.
At Hortman’s funeral on Saturday, Walz described her as a powerful but compassionate lawmaker in the Minnesota legislature.
‘She certainly knew how to get her way. No doubt about that,’ Walz said.
‘But she never made anyone feel that they´d gotten rolled at a negotiating table. That wasn´t part of it for her, or a part of who she was. She didn´t need somebody else to lose to win for her.’
Walz, pictured alongside Hortman’s children Sophie and Colin, said in his eulogy that the lawmaker ‘will be remembered as the most consequential speaker in Minnesota history’
The man accused of killing Hortman and her husband Mark, Vance Boelter, 57, (pictured) was appointed by Walz the Governor’s Workforce Development Board twice
Mourners seen outside a candlelight vigil held for Hortman and her husband Mark
Hortman, who was first elected in 2004, helped pass an expansive agenda of liberal initiatives like free lunches for public school students during the momentous 2023 session as the chamber´s speaker, along with expanded protections for abortion and trans rights.
With the House split 67-67 between Democrats and Republicans this year, she yielded the gavel to a Republican under a power-sharing deal, took the title speaker emerita, and helped break a budget impasse that threatened to shut down state government.
The Rev. Daniel Griffith, who led the service, alluded to Boelter’s alleged political motivations for Hortman’s slaying in his remarks, saying the nation is in need of deep healing.
He said it seems as if the country is living in a ‘dystopian reality’ and cited the death of George Floyd in his speech.
‘Here in Minnesota, we have been the ground zero place, sadly, for racial injustice,’ he said.
‘The killing of George Floyd just miles from our church today. And now we are the ground zero place for political violence and extremism. Both of these must be decried in the strongest possible terms, as they are, respectively, a threat to human dignity and indeed, our democracy.’
