Would you want your spouse running for public office? Your father or mother, your brother or sister? A son or daughter? Would you want them to be judge?
Seeking office and public service involves a family. All see the impact of death threats, public confrontations, and vile emails. All are targets of the zealots filled with hate, rage, and arrogant passion.
Saturday was the funeral for Minnesota House DFL Leader Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark. Murdered by a gunman driven to hatred of Democrats to the point of justifying killing them.
Their murder, and the wounding of state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, who was said to have been shot while shielding her daughter, are just the latest in a growing number of acts of political violence. These acts have led many to question whether they want to seek office or continue serving.
These questions and the threats of violence don’t involve just those seeking state and federal offices. It occurs at all levels of government, from school boards to city councils, to county commissions and judgeships. However, the higher the level of service, the more intense, cruel, and threatening the promises of violence become.
Two days after the Hortmans’ murder, someone sent pizzas to the home of DFL state Rep. Erin Koegel. It was an act of political terrorism. It was a message: “We know where you live.”
There are consequences to the divisive, uncompromising political atmosphere we’ve created, and the threats of violence generated. More quality incumbents will resign, and fewer people of integrity will run for office.
“Abusive messages, fear of physical violence and violations of privacy are the cost of elected office in the United States in 2025, according to nine Gen Z and millennial state lawmakers interviewed by The Washington Post,” its reporter Anna Lisa-Roy writes. Members of Gen Z eligible to run for office would be between the ages of 18 and 28. Those in the millennial generation are between the ages 29 and 44.
One state legislator told The Post he expected to see a record number of those in state legislatures around the country to not seek reelection out of fear for themselves and their families.
Around the country, legislators, Republicans and Democrats, are arming themselves and putting cameras around their homes. Still, the alleged murderer of the Hortmans drove up to their home in what looked like a law enforcement vehicle and was wearing a uniform. Legislators are taking anti-anxiety medication, and are afraid to open their mail, or open their front door.
“About a quarter (26%) say the quality of candidates running for office in recent years has been good, while 72% say it has been bad,” the Pew Research Center says.
Another consequence of political violence is the discouragement of moderates from running for office, which results in an increasing number of uncompromising, radicalized officials elected.
We are seeing more distance put between our elected officials and their constituents. We are likely to lose easy access to them as increased safety measures are required.
“Threats and attacks constrain how freely officeholders interact with constituents, narrow the spectrum of policy positions they feel safe to support, and make them less willing to continue in public service,” the Brennan Center for Justice says.
“Unaddressed, the problem stands to endanger not just individual politicians but, more broadly, the free and fair functioning of representative democracy — at every level of government,” it warns.
When those serving in federal public office appear in our communities, law enforcement is usually present as well. Will they be required when our state legislators show up? Will they increasingly be required at meetings of local elected officials?
“We’re in a new era here,” state Sen. Nick Frentz, DFL-Mankato, told MinnPost’s Matthew Blake. “I think the events of the last few days are going to cause people to evaluate and say that while accessibility is a virtue, it’s time to be more safety conscious.”
Death threats involve members of both parties. In 1921 during a “Republican gubernatorial candidate forum, Paul Gazelka, a state senator at the time, revealed that he routinely brought his gun to the Capitol.” He was the Republican leader in the state Senate at the time. “Frankly, I wish I didn’t have to carry at the Capitol, but the fact is I’ve had death threats,” he said.
It was simply idiotic when the state Legislature in 2015 allowed just about anyone to bring a gun into the state Capitol. Minnesota’s DFL legislators tried to pass a law this year that would have made it a felony to bring guns into the Capitol. It went nowhere. Maybe now legislators will find the courage to pass it.
“The government you elect is the government you deserve,” America’s third president, Thomas Jefferson, said. Jefferson was a realist. He understood human nature. That is why checks and balances were written into our Constitution to prevent abuses of power. He worried we would find ourselves where we are today.
Those with strong principles, a sense compassion and an understanding that all life is built on compromise for the common good are being driven out of politics. Republican politicians can no longer speak their minds. They fear retribution from their party leaders or primary voters, who select candidates to represent them on the ballot. Democrats are somewhat protected by a history of having a broader base.
“Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing,” English philosopher John Stuart Mill said. “He is not a good man who, without a protest, allows wrong to be committed in his name…because he will not trouble himself to use his mind on the subject.” We would add, “Or lack the courage speak his or her mind.”
Are you doing enough to stop the hatred? Are you selling your soul for political gain and opportunity? Too many are today.
