JOHN YANG: Good evening.

I'm John Yang.

We're following two big stories tonight in the Middle East.

It's been another day of deadly attacks between Israel and Iran, but we begin in Minnesota, where a person posing as a police officer killed a Democratic state lawmaker and her husband in what the governor called an act of targeted political violence.

Former House Speaker Representative Melissa Hortman and her husband were fatally shot early this morning in their home.

The gunman also wounded State Senator John Hoffman and his wife in their home.

Both are expected to survive.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz called on Americans to stand up against political violence.

GOV.

TIM WALZ (D) Minnesota: Peaceful discourse is the foundation of our democracy.

We don't settle our differences with violence or at gunpoint.

JOHN YANG: Police are hunting for the gunman, who's described as a 57 year old man.

Police said they found in his vehicle a manifesto and a list of lawmakers names including the two who were shot.

And the risk of political violence extends beyond Minnesota.

In Texas, police warn lawmakers not to attend rallies at the state Capitol today after receiving credible threats against legislators.

Minnesota State Representative Leigh Finke is a Democrat first elected in 2022.

Representative Finke, thanks for join Tell me about your Melissa Hortman was speaker when you entered the House.

Tell me about your relationship with her.

LEIGH FINKE (D) Minnesota State Representative: Yes, Melissa was the speaker when I was elected.

She was a powerful, fierce leader who took being our leader very seriously.

But she also was warm and made space for new members like myself who to come in and find our place in the caucus and under her leadership.

JOHN YANG: Are authorities updating you on the investigation or how what steps are being taken to protect you.

LEIGH FINKE: Yes, we are getting updates occasionally from our local police as well as, you know, following the investigation in the media and from the sergeant at arms at the.

At the Capitol.

JOHN YANG: Obviously, I don't want to get into the details of security, but do you feel safe?

LEIGH FINKE: Well, I happen to be on the road, so I do feel safe.

I've been in touch with all of my colleagues.

We are all in various states of shock.

You know, we know that there was a list.

We know that this was planned.

We know that this was methodical.

And I think everyone is terrified, which is the point of political violence.

It is to create fear, and it has done so.

JOHN YANG: What do you think of the state of political discourse that, that this.

It's come to this, that people are attacking lawmakers?

LEIGH FINKE: Yeah, I think it's, obviously, we have crossed into some kind of deep end of politics here.

You know, Melissa was a wonderful and bipartisan leader in the state of Minnesota.

She was a beloved figure even by some of our Republican colleagues, and that she was the target of this and that she has now been killed by political violence.

I mean, it is a signal that whatever is happening in this country, it is going in the wrong direction.

It feels like the start of something, unfortunately, not the end of something.

And I think we all need to reflect upon how we got here and how to avoid getting even further down this road.

JOHN YANG: The start of something rather than the end of something.

How can we prevent this from going farther?

LEIGH FINKE: I think we have to view our neighbors as our at least compassionate community members, if not our friends.

You know, we do this work.

A lot of us do this work and feel like targets all the time, myself included.

I think that there is no doubt that if we do not start to see the humanity in all of our neighbors, we are going to continue down this road.

And unfortunately, there is great political stock right now in alienating and othering people rather than in welcoming them into our lives.

And I think that is the heart of this problem.

JOHN YANG: You know, Senator John Hoffman listed his home address on his website.

Obviously, you want to stay in touch with constituents.

You want to be able to have constituents reach you, but has this given you, do you think -- are you rethinking how you do things?

LEIGH FINKE: Yes.

Many, many public officials list their home address on their, you know, when they file to run for office.

You know, there are measures that people can take, measures that I have taken to keep my home address private when I first ran for office.

Those who are targeted or have a reason to.

I think everyone needs to take seriously the threat to public officials.

We legislated the threat to judges and other judicial professional staff members in the state of Minnesota this year.

And even during that debate, I remember thinking that we should be thinking about how to keep everyone safe, not just our judges, even our legislators.

And obviously, we need to do more to keep private and safe everybody who is serving the public.

JOHN YANG: What do you think it's going to be like when you return to the chamber when you're back in session, what it's going to feel like in there?

LEIGH FINKE: It's almost unimaginable to me to think of being a member of the DFL House without Melissa as our leader.

She's, you know, she's fierce, she's frustrating.

She has held our caucus together through everything that we have faced.

She is really the face of the work that we do.

And I haven't even started to imagine what it will be like when we get back in office without her.

But I know that it's going to be very difficult and that the DFL in Minnesota is changed forever after this tragedy.

JOHN YANG: Representative Leigh Finke, thank you very much.

And our condolences on this very difficult day.

LEIGH FINKE: Thank you.