Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, were in stable condition at a hospital Saturday after they were shot in their Champlin home by a would-be assassin.
Hoffman, 60, was shot six times and his wife five times, but they are expected to make a full recovery, said Mat Ollig, Hoffman’s nephew.
Hoffman’s wife shielded their daughter, Hope, as the shots rang out, Ollig said.
“The family is in shock,” Ollig said. “These two are the kindest, most giving and caring people I know. He knew his neighbors and everybody knew him.”
Hoffman, DFL-Champlin, entered state politics after he struggled to obtain insurance for his daughter, who had spina bifida. He figured others were having the same difficulty.
“He hated being in politics,” Ollig said. “He loved helping people, and you got to do one thing to do the other.”
A former marketing and public relations director, Hoffman was elected to the Anoka-Hennepin school board in 2005 and served as vice-chair before running for the Minnesota Senate. He beat incumbent Benjamin Kruse in 2012 and has represented Districts 34 and 36 covering parts of Anoka and Hennepin counties ever since.
He served as the minority whip from 2017 to 2020, and as a chair of the Human Services committee during the last half of the 2025 session. He also was a member of committees in the Senate overseeing energy, utilities, the environment and climate.
