Michigan officials made Minnesota shooter list. Some want home address shield
A makeshift memorial for Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark is seen at the state Capitol, Sunday, June 15, 2025, in St. Paul, Minn. Photo redit: George Walker IV/Associated Press.
by Jordyn Hermani (Bridge Michigan)
Michigan lawmakers are considering changes to state disclosure laws to hide the personal addresses of elected officials in the wake of an alleged聽politically motivated weekend shooting聽in Minnesota.
Authorities say the suspected shooter, who killed a Minnesota lawmaker and her husband after injuring two others at their homes on Saturday, had prepared a list of other potential targets that聽included officials in Michigan聽and four other Midwestern states.
The murders prompted Michigan lawmakers from both major parties to denounce political violence, and chilling revelations are fueling a renewed debate over whether to shield the home addresses of state officials from public view.
鈥淚鈥檓 looking at all the options right now, and it been something we鈥檝e already been talking about, so I would anticipate something coming up,鈥 Michigan state Rep. Sarah Lightner, a Springport Republican who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, told Bridge Michigan on Monday.
Michigan lawmakers in 2022 debated聽removing addresses聽from campaign materials, but the legislation ultimately stalled. The debate resumed last year when US Senate hopeful Nassar Beydoun was聽kicked off the ballot聽for listing a PO Box rather than his home address on campaign petitions, as required by law, a move he said was an attempt to protect his personal safety.
Saturday shootings in Minnesota may bring the conversation 鈥渢o the top鈥 of the radar in the Michigan Legislature, 鈥渏ust because this is horrific 鈥 it scary and very, very sad,鈥 Lightner said.
But limiting publicly available information to protect lawmakers may pose another sort of risk, said Lisa McGraw of the Michigan Press Association, which advocates for government transparency.
Michigan law requires state lawmakers to live in the districts that they represent, and shielding that information from public view could make it harder to identify officials who skirt the law, she said.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think one piece of legislation would put the genie back in the bottle,鈥 McGraw added, noting that lawmaker addresses are already widely available on the internet 鈥 rendering it difficult to delete.
Authorities say Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman, a Democrat, and husband Mark were shot and killed by 57-year-old聽Vance Boelter聽Saturday morning after he impersonated a police officer to gain entry to their home.
He also allegedly shot Minnesota Democratic state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, at their home that same day, though the pair survived and are being treated for聽multiple gunshot wounds.
Boelter, who fled but was聽apprehended by police late Sunday,听also possessed a list of other elected officials, including聽some from Michigan, and other individuals who supported abortion rights, police said.
“This was a political assassination,” acting U.S. Attorney Joseph H. Thompson said Monday in聽a press conference聽on the Minnesota shooting.
It not yet known how many Michigan officials appeared on the suspected shooter list. But US Rep. Hillary Scholten, D-Grand Rapids, confirmed she had been named as she postponed a town hall meeting.
鈥淥ut of an abundance of caution and to not divert additional law enforcement resources away from protecting the broader public at this time, this is the responsible choice,鈥 Scholten said in a statement.
The Detroit News reported that聽other Michigan politicians聽mentioned in Boelter writings 鈥 all Democrats 鈥 included Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, US Sen. Elissa Slotkin, US Reps. Debbie Dingell, Hillary Scholten, Rashida Tlaib and Shri Thanedar.
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel office did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday, nor did state police. But Lightner and state Rep. Kelly Breen, D-Novi, confirmed that authorities briefed Michigan lawmakers on the situation Saturday evening.
In the wake of the shooting, Michigan Democrats and Republicans alike have raised concerns that state campaign finance laws 鈥 which require lawmakers to list their addresses in order to confirm in-district residency 鈥 could put officials here at risk.
鈥淭he more time that you can put between an impulse to cause harm and the actual pulling of that trigger, the more time between those two events, the better chance you have at saving a life,鈥 said Breen, who co-sponsored the 2022 legislation to remove addresses from campaign materials.
鈥淭o me,鈥 she added, 鈥淚 think it would be fair for us to be able to withhold that information.鈥
It’s not clear whether state Sen. Majority Leader Winnie Brinks, a Grand聽Rapids Democrat who聽knew聽one of the Minnesota lawmakers killed Saturday, would support any changes to state disclosure laws.
“The leader takes concerns of political violence very seriously,” a Brinks spokesperson told Bridge. “She is staying in close contact with state and local law enforcement.”
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who was the subject foiled kidnapping plot in 2020,听called the Minnesota shooting聽“yet another horrific act in the continued rise of political violence in America.”
Whitmer has been calling on leaders on both sides of the aisle to come together to help turn down the heat on political rhetoric,” spokesperson Stacey LaRouche said Monday in a statement.
“The rise in political violence in this country that we’ve seen for years is unacceptable. It’s on all of us to work to prevent political violence wherever we see it and chart a better path forward for our politics.”
This article is being republished through a syndication agreement with聽Bridge Michigan. Bridge Michigan聽is Michigan largest nonprofit news service and one of the nation leading and largest nonprofit civic news providers. Their coverage is nonpartisan, fact-based, and data-driven. Find them online at聽聽.
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