Melissa Hortman

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Melissa Hortman is an American politician in Minnesota. Hortman, a Democrat, represents district 47B in the Minnesota House of Representatives, which is constituted of portions of the cities of Coon Rapids and Brooklyn Park. In the Minnesota House, she serves on the Rules, Transportation, Transportation Finance, Higher Education and Workforce Development Finance, and the State Government Finance Committees.

Hortman won her first term by narrowly defeating incumbent Stephanie Olsen (R) in the 2004 election, by 402 votes out of over 20,000 cast. She had lost to Olsen in the 2002 elections.

In her first term, Hortman was an outspoken advocate for the Northstar Commuter Rail line, which runs through her district. Hortman also supported new stadiums for the Minnesota Twins and Vikings.^{[citation needed]} Hortman has also been a leader in the effort to bring the 2020 Summer Olympics to Minnesota.

Hortman had a resounding win over opponent Andrew Reinhart in the 2006 election, by 1968 votes out of 16570 votes cast. After the 2006 election, Hortman was elected Assistant Majority Leader.