Melissa Hortman will be the first woman in Minnesota history to lie in state at the State Capitol on Friday alongside her husband, Mark, and golden retriever, Gilbert, the governor announced Tuesday.

Their caskets will be on display in the State Capitol rotunda from noon to 5 p.m. on Friday, according to Gov. Tim Walz’s office. Members of the public can pay respects.

A private funeral for the Hortmans will be held at 10:30 a.m. Saturday and livestreamed on the Minnesota Department of Public Safety’s YouTube page.

The Hortmans and their dog were shot and killed in their home earlier this month in an assassination that shocked the nation.

Melissa Hortman was the longtime leader of the Minnesota House DFL Caucus. She served as House speaker from 2019-2025 and was known as an unflashy, no-nonsense leader who took care of her team and wanted to get things done.

Outside of the Capitol, the 55-year-old Hortman was an attorney and mother of two adult children.

Mark Hortman worked as a program manager at a tech firm in St. Louis Park. He enjoyed mountain biking, competitive pool, home beer brewing and woodworking. And he took joy in being Melissa Hortman’s husband.

An estimated 1,500 people attended a candlelight vigil in honor of the Hortmans outside the State Capitol last week.

June 24, 2025 marks three years since the Supreme Court decision was issued in Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization, a case that reversed the decision in Roe v. Wade, upending the legal framework protecting abortion access in the United States. Dr. Jamila Perritt, ob/gyn and abortion provider in DC and President & CEO of Physicians for Reproductive Health responds:

“For the last three years, we have witnessed first-hand what happens when politicians try to control the rights of people to practice basic bodily autonomy — with dire results. We have seen countless people forced to leave their communities to get basic health care, forced to remain pregnant when they wouldn’t have otherwise, criminalized for experiencing pregnancy loss, and ultimately, we have seen people dying after being turned away when seeking emergency abortion care.

“The truth is, these tragic circumstances were preventable; anti-abortion policymakers and judges, hellbent on controlling who has the right to start a family, the right to health care, and quite frankly, who has the right to stay alive in our health care system, have manufactured these conditions.

“Health care providers have been impacted drastically as the care they have been trained to provide has been criminalized many states. While some providers chose or were forced to move to continue providing full-spectrum care, many stayed in their communities, continuing to provide compassionate care for patients."

📌 Hortmans and their dog to lie in state Friday at Capitol

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📌 Abortion Access Community Resources from OurJustice