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minnesota
Minnesota's Xp Lee Wins Special Election to Fill Seat of Assassinated Democrat Melissa Hortman
“I have never lost sight of the situation that brought us to this moment, and I will work hard every day to carry forward Speaker Melissa Hortman’s legacy,” said Lee.
Sep 17, 2025
Democrat Xp Lee was elected to the US House of Representatives in a special election in Minnesota on Tuesday, filling the seat left vacant after former state House Rep. Melissa Hortman—alongside her husband, Mark—were the victims of a politically-motivated murder in June.
Lee, a state employee and union member who previously served on the Brooklyn Park City Council, beat Republican nominee Ruth Bittner, a local real estate agent who had never held public office before, in a district that has long favored Democrats and which Hortman held for two decades.
In a statement, Lee acknowledged Hortman as he solemnly referenced the political violence that led to the special election.
“I have never lost sight of the situation that brought us to this moment, and I will work hard every day to carry forward Speaker Melissa Hortman’s legacy,” Lee said. “We did our best to make her proud: knocking on doors daily, making phone calls, and texting every neighbor we could.”
"Now the real work begins," Lee said in a separate statement on Facebook. "Together, we will focus on delivering results—making sure families in Brooklyn Park, Champlin, and Coon Rapids have access to good schools, affordable healthcare, safe neighborhoods, and strong economic opportunities."
The assassination of Hortman, a Democrat, shocked the state and the nation. In the early morning of June 14, an individual posing as a law enforcement officer came to the Hortmans' house and shot both Hortman and her husband. Vance Boelter, 57, faces both federal and state murder charges for the killing of the Hortmans as well as the attempted murder and other charges for a similar attack on the same day against Minnesota State Sen. John Hofmman, also a Democrat, and his wife, Yvette. Both John and Yvette Hoffman were shot, but survived, and the assailant also targeted their daughter, Hope Hoffman.
"I offer a heartfelt congratulations to Xp Lee on his victory in tonight’s special election," said Democratic National Committee chairman Ken Martin in a statement following the win.
"Xp's commitment to expanding access to education, affordable health care, and good-paying jobs honors the legacy of our dear friend, Speaker Emeritus Melissa Hortman," Martin added. "Across Minnesota, our hearts are still broken by the horrific assassination that stole Melissa and her husband Mark. Political violence is a scourge that has taken far too many lives. Enough is enough. It must end now. And in every case, each of us has a responsibility to condemn and reject political violence wherever it rears its head."
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'Stain on Our Party': Ilhan Omar Condemns Minnesota Dems for Tossing Fateh's Mayor Endorsement
The Minnesota congresswoman said the decision demonstrated "the influence of big money in our politics."
Aug 22, 2025
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) issued a fearsome rebuke to her state's Democratic Party Thursday, calling its decision to rescind its endorsement of democratic socialist state Rep. Omar Fateh for mayor of Minneapolis "inexcusable."
In what supporters called "a rejection of politics as usual," Fateh was elected last month by delegates at the Minneapolis convention for the Democrats, known in Minnesota as the Democratic Farmer-Labor Party, to receive the party's endorsement for mayor over the well-funded two-term incumbent Jacob Frey.
The convention was marred by chaos after a malfunction in the electronic voting system. The final tally of the 577 counted votes had Fateh with 43.8% of the vote and Frey with 31.5%. On the second ballot, which was conducted through a show of hands due to the system failure, Fateh was elected overwhelmingly after Frey told his delegates to leave the convention.
A party investigation initiated after a complaint from Frey found that the malfunction resulted in 176 ballots in the first round of voting being uncounted, which denied the entry of a third candidate, DeWayne Davis, onto the second ballot.
However, these irregularities did not affect the second vote, which is what resulted in Fateh receiving the endorsement.
Nevertheless, DFL announced Thursday that it had "vacated" Fateh's nomination, citing what it said were "substantial failures in the convention's voting process."
As a result, access to party voter rolls, which usually only go to the candidate endorsed by the DFL, will now be given to everyone, which could considerably hurt Fateh's chances of unseating Frey.
Joined by over a dozen other DFL state and local officials, Ilhan Omar issued a statement condemning the party's decision.
"Last month, thousands of caucus-goers and delegates across Minneapolis gathered to participate in the Minneapolis DFL Convention," Omar said. "Now, a month later, a small group of DFL board members, a majority living outside Minneapolis, met privately to overturn the will of Minneapolis delegates who volunteered, organized, and participated in a monthslong DFL process."
"It is inexcusable to overturn the results weeks after the convention because board members did not like the outcome," Omar continued. "Not only does this decision set an extremely dangerous precedent, but it will undermine the DFL endorsing process going forward and fail to center the will of delegates."
"Fateh is getting screwed," said Zach Lindstrom, the mayor of the St. Paul suburb of Mounds View, who served as the sergeant-at-arms during the convention.
"It was clear, crystal clear, Fateh had the vast majority of support in the room; his supporters filled two entire sections. Frey's didn't even fill one," he continued. "I saw with my own eyes someone who clearly had the room, and for him to get rugged is just another reason the party approval is at an all-time low and hemorrhaging support."
Fateh, who won his state Senate seat in 2020, has found success with a campaign that followed in the footsteps of insurgent New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani.
His message has likewise focused on affordability, including pushing for the city to introduce rent controls and investments in affordable housing paid for by increased taxes on wealthy residents. He has also called for the city to raise its minimum wage to $20 an hour.
Fateh has also said that the city's overwhelmed police department should divert many calls to "non-police responders" better trained to handle issues related to mental health, homelessness, and drug use.
Fateh ran as a harsh critic of the Democratic establishment that he says is personified by Frey.
In past elections, Frey has received substantial support from the real estate and restaurant industries. While information about his fundraising in 2025 is incomplete, the Minnesota Star Tribune reported earlier this month that, despite having fewer individual donors, Frey had amassed a war chest of over $539,000, eight times the size of Fateh's.
One group that fiercely contested Fateh's nomination was the We Love Minneapolis PAC, which has been accused of illegally coordinating expenditures with the Frey campaign in violation of campaign finance laws. Fateh has accused the PAC and others supporting Frey of being organs of "wealthy donors."
After the DFL stripped his endorsement, Fateh said in a video that "28 party insiders voted to take away our endorsement behind closed doors," and asserted that the insiders included "non-Minneapolis residents, Mayor Frey supporters, and even donors."
"This is exactly what Minneapolis voters are sick of," Fateh continued. "The insider games, the backroom decisions, and feeling like our voice doesn't matter in our own city."
Ilhan Omar says the DFL's decision demonstrated the "clear tension between the progressive Democrats who are challenging the status quo and moderate Democrats."
"Throughout this mayoral campaign, we have seen the influence of big money in our politics," she continued. "We know organized people beat organized money. Fateh's campaign organized and won the endorsement. This decision will be a stain on our party for years to come and damage our ability to organize for Democratic wins this year, next year, and beyond."
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From Minnesota to the US Capitol: Tracing the Threat of Christian Nationalism
It’s safe to say that Vance Boelter’s actions were at least partially motivated by sycophants and political figures who twisted the Gospel and scripture for their benefit.
Aug 17, 2025
It’s easy to look at Vance Boelter, who pleaded not guilty to federal charges for murdering a Minnesota state representative and her husband, and think of him as a deeply unwell individual who took out his personal anger and frustration on civil servants. But there’s more at play here.
The ideology reported to have likely contributed to Boelter’s violence is the same set of beliefs espoused by elected officials across the country, including US House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), who flies a flag symbolic of those beliefs outside his office.
Boelter graduated from Christ for the Nations Institute, a nonaccredited Bible college in Texas, that is reported to be a “stronghold of the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR), the charismatic movement that teaches that Christians are called to take over the US government.” Adherents are taught “to see themselves as agents of the supernatural”—a belief Boelter seems to hold about himself based on correspondence with the New York Times. Notable alumni of the Institute include Lance Wallnau and Dutch Sheets. In addition to their roles as self-appointed NAR prophets, both are influential within MAGA circles and were big proponents of the Big Lie, preaching violence to win power.
The NAR, and the related Seven Mountain Mandate theology championed by Wallnau in particular, is a push for total control of society through any means necessary. The Appeal to Heaven flag, propped up by Sheets and associated with the movement, was proudly flown on January 6, 2021 by insurrectionists storming the Capitol building and infamously outside the home of US Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito. Its presence outside the speaker’s office makes a clear declaration about Christian nationalism and the dangerous NAR as ever-present forces in the highest offices of power, shaping policies that impact the lives of millions of Americans.
Always painting political opponents as enemies of God and your work as God’s will, and calling on adherents to take up arms—even if the intent is metaphorical—leads adherents to being more open to violence.
Wallnau regularly appeared on Christian media outlets and platforms to prop US President Donald Trump up as a holy savior and has called for “spiritual warfare” and expressed support for political violence in support of Trump. Meanwhile, Sheets’ daily YouTube broadcasts reached more than 200,000 views a day to spread the Big Lie. In fact, Matthew D. Taylor, religious studies scholar and Christian nationalism expert, writes, “No Christian leader did more to mobilize Christians to be in DC on January 6 than Dutch Sheets.”
Though we don’t know how closely Boelter followed Wallnau and Sheets, it’s safe to say that his actions were at least partially motivated by sycophants and political figures who twisted the Gospel and scripture for their benefit.
Certainly, neither of these men told Boelter or anyone else to assassinate anyone or take violent action. However, always painting political opponents as enemies of God and your work as God’s will, and calling on adherents to take up arms—even if the intent is metaphorical—leads adherents to being more open to violence. Nonpartisan research organization PRRI, finds that support for Christian nationalism and adherence to right-wing authoritarian views correlate with acceptance of political violence.
For years, men like Wallnau and Sheets have joined the likes of Michael Flynn, David Barton, Sean Feucht, Charlie Kirk, Lara Locke, Alex Jones, Mike Lindell, Jackson Lahmeyer, current Federal Bureau of Investigations Director Kash Patel, and sitting elected officials, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), touring the country through events like ReAwaken America and the Courage Tour. At each stop, they’ve framed their work as a “holy war,” offering speeches steeped in hateful, harmful rhetoric that created a permission structure for violence.
In the immediate aftermath of a tragedy, as happened in Minnesota, when we rush to characterize the perpetrator as a lone wolf, as crazy, we miss the forest for the trees. We begin to normalize the ideologies and conditions that contributed to the violence, risking more harm as they seep more deeply into our culture.
For example, proud evangelical and self-proclaimed “amateur historian” David Barton once called “the most influential evangelist you’ve never heard of,” has secured the ear of lawmakers, both local and national, and has had his fingerprints on “28 bills that have cropped up before 18 states this year,” including my home state of Oklahoma. He’s also one of the leading voices behind the movement to dismantle the US Department of Education—an initiative straight from the pages of Project 2025, which has become the Trump administration’s policy roadmap.
I’ve watched first hand as Oklahoma became a testing ground for Project 2025 and our schools dropped to among the worst in the nation. State Superintendent Ryan Walters has pushed for legislation requiring the Ten Commandments to be displayed in every classroom. Walters even went so far as to buy Bibles branded with Trump’s name, which he intended to place in every classroom in the state, while seeking to force teachers to teach liturgy instead of literacy.
We cannot, therefore, divorce what happened in Minnesota from the actions on Capitol Hill, in state legislatures, or at school board meetings across the country, for they are bound by an ideology that preaches power by any means necessary.
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