Latest news with #MinnesotaNice
BBC News
19-06-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
The vicious tone of national politics pollutes Minnesota after shooting
Jessie Ebertz held back tears as she stood in front of a makeshift memorial honouring Democratic politician Melissa Hortman and her husband who were killed last week. "Minnesota has felt a little bit like a safe haven," said Ms Ebertz, a government employee who lives in the state capital, "because we have been able to keep our atmosphere of respecting one another here." "This has blown that out of the water." The death of Hortman and her husband, Mark, has sent a shockwave through the state. They were shot dead early on Saturday morning by a man disguised as a police officer. Democratic state lawmaker John Hoffman and his wife were also injured - they are expected to survive. But the attacks, which appear politically motivated, have badly shaken confidence in the state's reputation for politeness, courtesy and respect, an attitude that has its own nickname and Wikipedia page: "Minnesota nice". Prosecutors say the suspect Vance Boelter also visited two other homes early Saturday searching for politicians. The state's largest-ever manhunt ended late Sunday when Boelter was captured near his home in a rural area dotted with farms, gravel roads and small villages about an hour away from the twin cities of Minneapolis and St Paul.
Yahoo
19-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Commentary: Minnesota's myth of exceptionalism
The assassination and attempted assassination of two Minnesota legislators should shatter, once and for all, the myth of Minnesota exceptionalism. The reality is that Minnesota has become a microcosm of the polarization and political tensions plaguing the United States today. It is, in effect, two states — separate and, if not unequal, at least very different. The myth of Minnesota exceptionalism runs deep. Minnesotans often celebrate what they believe is the uniqueness of their culture. This sentiment can be traced back to one of Minnesota's most famous writers, Sinclair Lewis, who satirized local boosterism through the character of George Babbitt. It lives on in the 1973 Time magazine cover featuring then-Gov. Wendell Anderson with the proclamation 'The Good Life in Minnesota.' Or in the pastoral image of Garrison Keillor's 'Prairie Home Companion,' with its portrait of a place 'where all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and all the children are above average.' Minnesota is known for its legacy of progressive Democratic politicians — Hubert Humphrey, Walter Mondale, Eugene McCarthy, and Paul Wellstone. The political scientist Daniel Elazar famously described the state as having a 'moralistic political culture' rooted in volunteerism and civic engagement. Minnesota consistently ranks among the highest in the nation in voter turnout, per capita income, and high school graduation rates. It is also the land of 'Minnesota Nice,' a concept suggesting decency and civility in public life. Yet beneath the surface of this Minnesota Nice lies another reality. The murder of George Floyd five years ago should have laid that bare. Minnesota has some of the worst racial disparities in the country. While white students thrive, graduation rates, college matriculation, and standardized test scores for students of color are among the nation's worst. Racial gaps persist in housing, employment, and the criminal justice system. Politically and geographically, Minnesota is deeply divided. Though often labeled a reliably Democratic state — having last voted Republican for president in 1972 — Donald Trump came close to winning in both 2016 and 2024. The state legislature is nearly evenly split: The state Senate has 34 Democrats and 33 Republicans, and before Melissa Hortman was assassinated, the lower house had 67 Democrats and 67 Republicans. Minnesota is one of just three states with a divided legislature, as political trifectas dominate much of the rest of the country. As I've argued for years, Minnesota is a political swing state. Sharp partisan divides exist between regions, with only about a dozen of the state's 87 counties consistently voting Democratic. Drive just 20 miles from where Hortman was assassinated, and the political terrain shifts rapidly. In 2024, one might see yard signs flip from Harris to Trump in a single stretch of highway. Geography divides us, but so too does culture. The same moralistic spirit that once defined Minnesota's politics now fuels passionate polarization. In 2022, Democrats briefly held a narrow trifecta and enacted a sweeping agenda that national Democrats could only dream of — codifying abortion rights in ways more expansive than Roe v. Wade. Despite being broadly pro-choice, the state also contains strongholds of intense opposition to reproductive rights. If this description of Minnesota sounds a lot like the United States more broadly, it is because it is. Minnesota is both unique and yet fully enmeshed in the same political, cultural, and ideological battles gripping the nation. It reflects the breakdown of political consensus and the rising temperature of our public discourse. The political assassinations in Minnesota were the first in its history. And yet, many friends, neighbors, and observers across the state and country still think — like the title of another Sinclair Lewis novel — that 'It Can't Happen Here.' But it did. And it can. In a state long thought exceptional, we must now ask: What does this tell us about the degeneration of political discourse in America today? _____ Schultz is a Hamline University distinguished professor of political science and legal studies in Saint Paul, Minn. _____
BBC News
18-06-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Minnesota's 'nice' culture shattered by political violence
Jessie Ebertz held back tears as she stood in front of a makeshift memorial honouring the slain Democratic politician Melissa Hortman and her husband."Minnesota has felt a little bit like a safe haven," said Ms Ebertz, a government employee who lives in the state capital, "because we have been able to keep our atmosphere of respecting one another here.""This has blown that out of the water."The death of Hortman and her husband has sent a shockwave through the state. They were killed early Saturday morning by an assailant disguised as a police officer, who also injured Democratic state lawmaker, John Hoffman, and his wife. Both are expected to survive. But the attacks, which appear politically motivated, have badly shaken confidence in the state's reputation for politeness, courtesy and respect, an attitude that has its own nickname and Wikipedia page: "Minnesota nice". Prosecutors say the suspect Vance Boelter also visited two other homes early Saturday searching for state's largest-ever manhunt ended late Sunday when Boelter was captured near his home in a rural area dotted with farms, gravel roads and small villages about an hour away from the twin cities of Minneapolis and St Paul. Many pointed out that Mrs Hortman was known for her ability to work with Republican colleagues, including recently to pass a state budget vote. On Monday local talk radio station WCCO replayed one of her last interviews, jointly done with Republican colleagues, where among other things they discussed what they might do if they spent some off time idea that this friendly state in the Upper Midwest could avoid the political rancour which is more frequently tipping over into violence elsewhere is an illusion, says Jenna Stocker, editor of Thinking Minnesota, a publication put out by the conservative think tank Center of the American centre's office was firebombed last year in what think tank officials called a politically motivated attack. Nobody has been charged with the crime."Some people even here in Minnesota have really let politics guide their thinking and how they feel about their neighbours, their friends and their relatives," Ms Stocker extreme cases, that has led to extreme actions. Several recent studies indicate that political violence is growing across the US, reaching a level not seen since the has tallied more than 300 cases of politically motivated violence since the January 2021 Capitol riot. A 2023 study from the Brennan Center for Justice, a left-leaning institute, found that 40 percent of state legislators had experienced threats or attacks in the three years widespread fears, fuelled in part by two assassination attempts against Donald Trump and the 2021 US Capitol riot, there was no large-scale violence around the time of the November 2024 presidential any supposed détente has been broken - several times over - since that April the residence of Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, was set on fire. Politics appear to have motivated the alleged killers of a health-care executive in New York and two Israeli embassy employees in Washington, members of the US Congress were set to get emergency briefings about security this in Minnesota, meanwhile, many people were lamenting what the attacks on the state's politicians mean in a place that prides itself on its openness and ability to avoid the viciousness of national the rawness of the recent attacks, inside the Capitol building there was little visible sign of heavy security – and no metal detectors – on Monday afternoon. Among the mourners, several of Hortman's relatives laid flowers in front of the state House chamber, where a table was laden with bouquets and signs reading "Demand Change" and "Rest in Power".In between the news cameras and flowers, a group wandered around the building on a guided tour and legislative officials went about their work in an eerie as people here mourned, nationally the partisan arguments Trump on Tuesday said he wouldn't be calling the state's governor, Tim Walz – the Democratic vice-presidential nominee in last year's election – calling him "a mess"."The guy doesn't have a clue," he told the wake of the attacks, several of Trump's top supporters and allies - including Utah Senator Mike Lee, Elon Musk, conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer and activist Charlie Kirk - attempted without evidence to link Walz and Democratic lawmakers to the wrote: "This is what happens When Marxists don't get their way" while Musk reposted a message including a line about the attacks with the comment "The far left is murderously violent".Both men, who did not respond to requests for comment, appear to have been sucked in by conspiracy theories floating around pointed to the fact that Walz and a previous Democratic governor had appointed the suspect to a position on a state economic the suspect Mr Boelter was a supporter of President Trump who held conservative views, according to interviews with friends and neighbours. And according to evidence revealed by authorities, his long target list included Democratic and progressive lawmakers, and he had flyers with information about anti-Trump "No Kings" rallies which happened in St Paul and other cities around the country on the exact motive is still under investigation, evidence has indicated that the suspect was targeting the president's opponents and left-wing and Democratic Party politicians. "It's terrifying," said Kameko White, a neighbour who lived near one of the suspect's homes, in north Minneapolis, which was raided by police on Saturday."I saw that man every day in his yard," Ms White said. "The other day I saw him outside smoking and writing something down in a notebook."While the capture of Mr Boelter gave some measure of relief here, discussions on the airwaves in Minnesota have turned towards what can be done to cool the political temperature and prevent future Stocker, the editor of Thinking Minnesota, said "there's good people here" and noted that the vast majority of Minnesotans reject an increase in "othering" and heated rhetoric makes her pessimistic about the chances of peace any time soon."It's going to take a whole generation of people to say we're not going to take this any more and it just needs to stop," she said."I think we need young people to rise up and say we're just not going to stand for it."
