Senator Tina Smith of Minnesota woke early Saturday morning to a nightmare. Her friend, State Representative Melissa Hortman, had been assassinated in her home, killed alongside her husband.
Friends since 2011, when Ms. Smith worked as chief of staff for former Gov. Mark Dayton, the two women had been together the night before at an annual Democratic Party fund-raising dinner.
Ms. Smith soon learned from law enforcement officials that she, too, had been on the suspect’s target list, which included dozens of Democrats. Even for an official who has faced threats for years, both as a politician and earlier in her career as an employee of Planned Parenthood, the killings were both heartbreaking and chilling. Senator Chuck Schumer, the minority leader, requested extra security for Ms. Smith and her fellow Minnesota Democrat, Senator Amy Klobuchar.
In an interview, Ms. Smith attributed what she said was a political environment awash in violent threats and actions to a toxic atmosphere created by President Trump.
“The uptick in political violence and people being willing to use violence as a means to achieve their political ends,” she said. “I believe that it is fueled by the president’s willingness to use violent rhetoric and to cheer on the people that are doing violence on his behalf.”
She returned to the Senate on Monday to increased security concerns and what she saw as cruel treatment from one of her fellow senators, Mike Lee, a Republican from Utah.
Breaking with her typically measured presence in the Senate, Ms. Smith confronted Mr. Lee in the halls of chamber after he issued what she said were callous messages on social media about the deaths from his personal account.
Mr. Lee had written about the killing of Ms. Hortman and her husband, Mark, that “this is what happens When Marxists don’t get their way.” In a second message on X, he posted a photo of the suspect with the caption “Nightmare on Waltz Street” — an apparent reference to Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat and the party’s former vice-presidential nominee.
Mr. Lee has since deleted the messages and did not respond to a request for comment on them. But Ms. Smith, who plans to retire from her seat when her term ends next year, says that’s far from enough.
“Nearly eight million people interacted with those tweets. They contained false and vicious information and they included a picture of the man that murdered my friend probably taken just seconds before they opened the door and lost their lives,” she said. “That’s deeply irresponsible and heartless, and I think he needs to take responsibility for that.”
Our conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Hi, Senator. I’m very sorry for your loss.
It’s been a stunning and shattering several days. Just so deeply sad and also so disorienting in many ways to lose these people who we had just seen and who were so important to us and so well loved in their community. And then to be grappling with this massive uptick in political violence and this politically motivated attack and concerns about my own safety and safety of my colleagues and others that appeared on this target list. It feels like a very sad and dangerous time.
Are you worried about your safety?
I feel very safe right now. I was really grateful for how quickly the local law enforcement, along with Capitol Police, came to make sure that I was safe while we were waiting to apprehend this man. These murders happened on Friday night late, and he wasn’t apprehended until Sunday, so it was a long weekend.
There has been a series of violent episodes in politics in recent months. What do you think they say about the state of the country?
The uptick in political violence and people being willing to use violence as a means to achieve their political ends is unprecedented certainly in this century. I believe that it is fueled by the president’s willingness to use violent rhetoric and to cheer on the people that are doing violence on his behalf. It’s impossible to ignore the facts that he pardoned people who attacked the Capitol and assaulted police officers because he believes that they did it in his name.
And I can’t ignore the reality that he is pardoning nearly two dozen anti-abortion activists who were convicted under the FACE Act. I feel like we’re at a real tipping point, and the question is, are we going to keep on tipping forward into more chaos and more violence, or are people and leaders in this country going to pull us back from the precipice?
I was really struck by the photo of you talking to Senator Lee. What did you tell him? And why did you feel the need to confront him?
I try to focus on the work and not get involved in the drama of this place. But I was so hurt and offended on behalf of my state by what he had done. I also think that in national politics we tend to treat everything as part of a reality TV show. I wanted to have a person-to-person conversation. I did not approach him with the spirit of hostility. I wanted to communicate with him directly, so that he was hearing directly from me, what impact I thought his messages on X had on my state and on the people who lost loved ones.
He seemed a little surprised to find himself in this conversation. I think people who have this sort of social media life where they say whatever the hell they feel like saying on their social media are never really held accountable for it. I was holding him accountable.
How did he respond? He has since deleted those messages.
He wasn’t apologetic, but I felt as if he was listening to what I was saying. He said something that would indicate that he certainly wasn’t intending to hurt me or the people in my state. But of course, you have to take responsibility for what you do, and I have yet to hear him take responsibility.
I’m glad that those tweets are deleted, but over nearly eight million people interacted with those tweets, they contained false and vicious information, and they included a picture of the man that murdered my friend probably taken just seconds before they opened the door and lost their lives, and that’s deeply irresponsible and heartless. And I think he needs to take responsibility for that.
Do you think there’s any hope for cooling the temperature?
I will always have hope. I’m just struck by a conversation I had on the Senate floor when a number of my colleagues came over to wish me condolences after these terrible murders in Minnesota. The conversation turned to members on both sides of the aisle who deal with threats to their life. I hope that, as we all are exposed to this violence, we can come together and step away from the precipice.
Lisa Lerer is a national political reporter for The Times, based in New York. She has covered American politics for nearly two decades.
The post A Senator Who Was on a Hit List Fears the Fueling of Political Violence appeared first on New York Times.
