Minnesota Shooter’s “Hit List” Included 3 LGBTQ Democrats
Tammy Baldwin, Angie Craig, and Mark Pocan were among the Democrats named by the alleged shooter, a right-wing pastor with a history of anti-LGBTQ rhetoric.
At least three out LGBTQ Democrats in Congress have been told their names appeared on a list kept by Vance Boelter — a right-wing preacher suspected of shooting two Minnesota state lawmakers, killing one.
The LGBTQ lawmakers — Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) and U.S. Reps. Angie Craig (D-Minn.) and Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) — were among several dozen Democrats at all levels of government whose names appeared on Boelter’s alleged “hit list.”
Boelter is accused of killing Minnesota Democratic State Rep. Melissa Hortman (Brooklyn Park) and her husband at their home on June 14, and of shooting Democratic State Sen. John Hoffman (Champlin) and his wife at their home. Hoffman and his wife are expected to recover.
According to acting U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson of the District of Minnesota, Boelter visited the homes of four Minnesota lawmakers “with the intent to kill them.”
Disguised as a police officer, he reportedly drove a black SUV with flashing emergency lights and a “police” license plate. He was armed with a 9mm handgun, wore a black tactical vest and a realistic silicone mask, and banged on lawmakers’ doors in the middle of the night.
Boelter initially evaded arrest but was apprehended on June 15 and charged with federal counts of murder, stalking, and firearms violations.
“Obviously, his primary motivation was to go and murder people, Thompson said, according to Politico. “They were all elected officials. They were all Democrats. Beyond that, I think it’s just way too speculative for anyone that’s reviewed these materials to know and to say what was motivating him in terms of ideology or specific issues.”
Craig, a fellow Minnesota Democrat now running for the U.S. Senate, eulogized Hortman during a June 15 appearance on MSNBC, while also calling on politicians and social media influencers to tamp down incendiary political rhetoric.
“I, unfortunately, for the last several years, have been part of a Congress where we’ve seen increased threats to our offices, our staffs, our families, and ourselves,” Craig told MSNBC host Alex Witt. “I think the political rhetoric continues to rise, but it didn’t start in the past 48 hours. It’s been rising alongside the political divisions in our nation. We got here one thing at a time, where we’re not civil to one another anymore.”
Craig also joined all ten members of Minnesota’s congressional delegation — six Democrats and four Republicans — in issuing a statement condemning the shootings and politically motivated violence.
A spokesperson for Baldwin confirmed she was aware her name appeared on Boelter’s list, saying the senator is “grateful for law enforcement’s swift action to keep the community safe and remains focused on the things that matter most here: honoring the legacy and life of Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, praying for the other victims who are fighting for their lives, and condemning this abhorrent, senseless political violence.”
Baldwin also honored Hortman and Hoffman in a social media post, saying she was “stunned, terrified, and heartbroken” by Boelter’s violent actions.
“Political violence like this is not who we are as a country,” she posted. “It’s on all of us to condemn and stop it at every turn.”
Pocan, the openly gay congressman representing Madison, Wisconsin, also confirmed that his name appeared on Boelter’s list.
Other lawmakers named include U.S. Sen. Tina Smith and U.S. Reps. Gwen Moore (D-Wis.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio), Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) — who is notably pro-life — Greg Landsman (D-Ohio), Shri Thanedar (D-Mich.), Hillary Scholten (D-Mich.), Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.), and Veronica Escobar (D-Texas).
Some of those lawmakers have had their security increased in the wake of the attacks, with Scholten canceling a scheduled town hall.
Most of the names on Boelter’s alleged “hit list” were prominent Minnesota Democrats and pro-abortion advocates from across the country. Many of those lawmakers also have strongly pro-LGBTQ voting records. However, what specifically motivated Boelter to carry out the shootings remains unclear.
Boelter, a pastor, reportedly traveled to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where he delivered an anti-LGBTQ sermon in line with the kind of messaging American evangelicals have promoted while proselytizing abroad.
That influence has been credited with inspiring efforts across Africa to criminalize pro-LGBTQ advocacy and same-sex relations — including Uganda’s infamous law that calls for the imprisonment, and in some cases execution, of known LGBTQ individuals.
“There’s people, especially in America, they don’t know what sex they are — they don’t know their sexual orientation, they’re confused. The enemy has gotten so far into their mind and their soul,” Boelter said in a sermon clip posted online by Steve McGuire, a campus free speech advocate and fellow at the American Council of Trustees and Alumni.
Conservative influencers have worked to tie Melissa Hortman’s murder and John Hoffman’s attempted murder to the issue of immigration — a topic they appear more comfortable debating — by citing a recent vote in which Hortman was the sole Democrat in the Minnesota House to support stripping health care from undocumented migrants.
Hoffman had no such vote on his record. Still, it has become Holy Writ on the political right that Boelter is a left-wing, pro-immigrant “radical.”
Despite those efforts to cast Hortman as a conservative martyr, her final social media post was a message recognizing Pride Month. In it, she wrote, “Republicans spent all session trying to erase LGBTQ+ equality laws. Democrats stopped them.”
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