Minnesota House Democrats elected Rep. Zack Stephenson as their new caucus leader on Monday, ending a months-long vacancy after the assassination of former House Speaker Rep. Melissa Hortman.
Stephenson, a representative from Coon Rapids, was first elected to the Minnesota House in 2018. He’s an assistant Hennepin County prosecutor and was the key House sponsor of the 2023 bill that legalized recreational marijuana in Minnesota.
Undated courtesy photo from the 2025-26 Minnesota legislative session of Rep. Zack Stephenson, DFL-Coon Rapids. (Courtesy of the Minnesota House of Representatives)
In a news release on his election as caucus leader, Stephenson said he was honored to receive his colleagues’ support and described Hortman as “irreplaceable” as a leader and friend.
“While I’ve been chosen to lead, it will take all of us, working together, to move forward, honor Speaker Hortman’s legacy, and build a Minnesota where everyone can succeed,” he said. “We are all still grieving, but I am confident we can carry our shared work into the future.”
Stephenson, 41, chaired the House Commerce Committee when the DFL held the majority. He also co-chairs the influential House Ways and Means Committee, which reviews fiscal aspects of bills before they reach the House floor.
Before entering the legal profession and elected office, Stephenson managed Hortman’s first successful campaign for the state House in 2004 and worked as a staffer for U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar before attending law school at the University of Chicago in the late 2000s.
Hortman had led the House Democratic-Farmer-Labor Caucus since 2017, first as the minority party. Her party elected her speaker after they won a House majority in the 2018 election, and she served in that role until the beginning of this year.
Hortman lost the speakership after Republicans ended the DFL majority in the 2024 election, which delivered a House tied 67-67 between the parties. She continued to serve as House DFL leader.
Hortman and her husband, Mark, were killed by a gunman at their home in Brooklyn Park on June 14. The alleged shooter, who faces federal and state charges, also shot and injured state Sen. John Hoffman, DFL-Champlin, and his wife, Yvette, at their home.
House DFLers are currently in the minority, though the Legislature isn’t scheduled to convene until February unless DFL Gov. Tim Walz calls lawmakers back to the state Capitol for a special session on gun violence — something he has signaled could happen in the wake of deadly shootings at a Minneapolis Catholic church and school last month.
The House DFL currently has 66 seats to Republicans’ 67, and that balance will remain until the Sept. 16 special election for Hortman’s former seat in House District 34B, which includes Brooklyn Park as well as parts of Champlin and Coon Rapids.
It’s widely expected that the DFL candidate, Xp Lee, will win that race and return the balance to 67-67.
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