DNC Chair Ken Martin released the following statement: <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cI offer a heartfelt congratulations to Xp Lee on his victory in tonight\u2019s special election. Xp’s commitment to expanding access to education, affordable health care, and good-paying jobs honors the legacy of our dear friend, Speaker Emeritus Melissa Hortman. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAcross Minnesota, our hearts are still broken by the horrific assassination that stole Melissa and her husband Mark. Political violence is a scourge that has taken far too many lives. Enough is enough. It must end now. And in every case, each of us has a responsibility to condemn and reject political violence wherever it rears its head. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe sacred duty of an elected representative is to work tirelessly for the interests of their constituents. I\u2019ve seen Rep-elect Lee\u2019s leadership up close while he was a Brooklyn Park City Councilmember and I have no doubt he\u2019ll continue that leadership as a statehouse member. Rep-elect Lee will be a champion for the constituents of his district, and through that work, proudly carry the legacy of a leader who worked tirelessly for all Minnesotans \u2014 my friend, the great Melissa Hortman.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Minnesota DFL Chair Richard Carlblom released the following statement:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cXp Lee\u2019s victory is proof of the positive momentum Democrats are creating across Minnesota and across the country, and we couldn\u2019t be prouder to stand with him tonight. Our party is committed to uplifting those who continue Melissa Hortman\u2019s legacy of public service, leadership, and compassion \u2013 Xp Lee\u2019s win is a clear testament to that dedication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIn nearly every election since Trump took office \u2013 including two special elections in Minnesota earlier this year \u2013 Democrats have been more energized, engaged, and ready to win elections than ever before. Nationwide, our candidates have either outperformed their 2024 margins or won in 42 out of 43 key elections this year. We\u2019re fired up and ready to build on this success all the way through 2026.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Tonight, Rep.-elect Xp Lee won a special election to replace the seat once held by former Minnesota House Speaker Emeritus Melissa Hortman following her tragic assassination in June. In response to tonight\u2019s election results in Minnesota\u2019s House District 34B, DNC Chair Ken Martin released the following statement: \u201cI offer a heartfelt congratulations to Xp Lee […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":292,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1056023","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
DNC Chair Ken Martin Congratulates Rep-elect Lee on His Victory, Honors the Legacy of Speaker Emeritus Melissa Hortman - Democrats<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/dnc-chair-ken-martin-congratulates-rep-elect-lee-on-his-victory-honors-the-legacy-of-speaker-emeritus-melissa-hortman\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Democrats\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-09-17T02:57:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-09-17T12:58:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Adrianna Tomasello\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Adrianna Tomasello\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/dnc-chair-ken-martin-congratulates-rep-elect-lee-on-his-victory-honors-the-legacy-of-speaker-emeritus-melissa-hortman\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/dnc-chair-ken-martin-congratulates-rep-elect-lee-on-his-victory-honors-the-legacy-of-speaker-emeritus-melissa-hortman\/\",\"name\":\"DNC Chair Ken Martin Congratulates Rep-elect Lee on His Victory, Honors the Legacy of Speaker Emeritus Melissa Hortman - Democrats\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-09-17T02:57:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-09-17T12:58:17+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/#\/schema\/person\/00292e8c1694c8322513663ebb5f246f\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/dnc-chair-ken-martin-congratulates-rep-elect-lee-on-his-victory-honors-the-legacy-of-speaker-emeritus-melissa-hortman\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/dnc-chair-ken-martin-congratulates-rep-elect-lee-on-his-victory-honors-the-legacy-of-speaker-emeritus-melissa-hortman\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/dnc-chair-ken-martin-congratulates-rep-elect-lee-on-his-victory-honors-the-legacy-of-speaker-emeritus-melissa-hortman\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"DNC Chair Ken Martin Congratulates Rep-elect Lee on His Victory, Honors the Legacy of Speaker Emeritus Melissa Hortman\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/\",\"name\":\"Democrats\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/#\/schema\/person\/00292e8c1694c8322513663ebb5f246f\",\"name\":\"Adrianna Tomasello\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f1caa4627f6a3abd6a1daf936cdbaf4406f86f7fcb6a945d915b685b27e7f9a3?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f1caa4627f6a3abd6a1daf936cdbaf4406f86f7fcb6a945d915b685b27e7f9a3?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Adrianna Tomasello\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/author\/tomaselloa\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"DNC Chair Ken Martin Congratulates Rep-elect Lee on His Victory, Honors the Legacy of Speaker Emeritus Melissa Hortman - Democrats","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/dnc-chair-ken-martin-congratulates-rep-elect-lee-on-his-victory-honors-the-legacy-of-speaker-emeritus-melissa-hortman\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_site_name":"Democrats","article_published_time":"2025-09-17T02:57:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-09-17T12:58:17+00:00","author":"Adrianna Tomasello","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Adrianna Tomasello","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/dnc-chair-ken-martin-congratulates-rep-elect-lee-on-his-victory-honors-the-legacy-of-speaker-emeritus-melissa-hortman\/","url":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/dnc-chair-ken-martin-congratulates-rep-elect-lee-on-his-victory-honors-the-legacy-of-speaker-emeritus-melissa-hortman\/","name":"DNC Chair Ken Martin Congratulates Rep-elect Lee on His Victory, Honors the Legacy of Speaker Emeritus Melissa Hortman - Democrats","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-09-17T02:57:00+00:00","dateModified":"2025-09-17T12:58:17+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/#\/schema\/person\/00292e8c1694c8322513663ebb5f246f"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/dnc-chair-ken-martin-congratulates-rep-elect-lee-on-his-victory-honors-the-legacy-of-speaker-emeritus-melissa-hortman\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/dnc-chair-ken-martin-congratulates-rep-elect-lee-on-his-victory-honors-the-legacy-of-speaker-emeritus-melissa-hortman\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/dnc-chair-ken-martin-congratulates-rep-elect-lee-on-his-victory-honors-the-legacy-of-speaker-emeritus-melissa-hortman\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"DNC Chair Ken Martin Congratulates Rep-elect Lee on His Victory, Honors the Legacy of Speaker Emeritus Melissa Hortman"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/","name":"Democrats","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/#\/schema\/person\/00292e8c1694c8322513663ebb5f246f","name":"Adrianna Tomasello","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f1caa4627f6a3abd6a1daf936cdbaf4406f86f7fcb6a945d915b685b27e7f9a3?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f1caa4627f6a3abd6a1daf936cdbaf4406f86f7fcb6a945d915b685b27e7f9a3?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Adrianna Tomasello"},"url":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/author\/tomaselloa\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1056023","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/292"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1056023"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1056023\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1056024,"href":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1056023\/revisions\/1056024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1056023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1056023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1056023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}