Michigan officials made Minnesota shooter list. Some want home address shield

• Two Minnesota Democratic lawmakers and their spouses were shot in their homes over the weekend, one couple dying from the attack
• The allegedly politically motivated shooting is now leading Michigan lawmakers to revisit the state’s campaign finance disclosure laws
• At least one Michigan House Republican says it’s likely legislation is coming on removing lawmakers’ home addresses from public forms

LANSING — Michigan lawmakers are considering changes to state disclosure laws to hide the personal addresses of elected officials in the wake of an alleged politically motivated weekend shooting in Minnesota.

Authorities say the suspected shooter, who killed a Minnesota lawmaker and her husband after injuring two others at their homes on Saturday, had prepared a list of other potential targets that included officials in Michigan and four other Midwestern states. 

The murders prompted Michigan lawmakers from both major parties to denounce political violence, and chilling revelations are fueling a renewed debate over whether to shield the home addresses of state officials from public view. 

“I’m looking at all the options right now, and it’s been something we’ve already been talking about, so I would anticipate something coming up,” Michigan state Rep. Sarah Lightner, a Springport Republican who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, told Bridge Michigan on Monday.

Michigan lawmakers in 2022 debated removing addresses from campaign materials, but the legislation ultimately stalled. The debate resumed last year when US Senate hopeful Nassar Beydoun was kicked off the ballot for listing a PO Box rather than his home address on campaign petitions, as required by law, a move he said was an attempt to protect his personal safety. 

Saturday’s shootings in Minnesota may bring the conversation “to the top” of the radar in the Michigan Legislature, “just because this is horrific — it’s scary and very, very sad,” Lightner said. 

But limiting publicly available information to protect lawmakers may pose another sort of risk, said Lisa McGraw of the Michigan Press Association, which advocates for government transparency. 

Michigan law requires state lawmakers to live in the districts that they represent, and shielding that information from public view could make it harder to identify officials who skirt the law, she said. 

“I don’t think one piece of legislation would put the genie back in the bottle,” McGraw added, noting that lawmaker addresses are already widely available on the internet — rendering it difficult to delete.

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Authorities say Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman, a Democrat, and husband Mark were shot and killed by 57-year-old Vance Boelter Saturday morning after he impersonated a police officer to gain entry to their home. 

He also allegedly shot Minnesota Democratic state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, at their home that same day, though the pair survived and are being treated for multiple gunshot wounds. 

Boelter, who fled but was apprehended by police late Sunday, also possessed a list of other elected officials, including some from Michigan, and other individuals who supported abortion rights, police said. 

"This was a political assassination," acting U.S. Attorney Joseph H. Thompson said Monday in a press conference on the Minnesota shooting.

It’s not yet known how many Michigan officials appeared on the suspected shooter’s list. But US Rep. Hillary Scholten, D-Grand Rapids, confirmed she had been named as she postponed a town hall meeting.

“Out of an abundance of caution and to not divert additional law enforcement resources away from protecting the broader public at this time, this is the responsible choice,” Scholten said in a statement. 

The Detroit News reported that other Michigan politicians mentioned in Boelter’s writings — all Democrats — included Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, US Sen. Elissa Slotkin, US Reps. Debbie Dingell, Hillary Scholten, Rashida Tlaib and Shri Thanedar.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday, nor did state police. But Lightner and state Rep. Kelly Breen, D-Novi, confirmed that authorities briefed Michigan lawmakers on the situation Saturday evening. 

In the wake of the shooting, Michigan Democrats and Republicans alike have raised concerns that state campaign finance laws — which require lawmakers to list their addresses in order to confirm in-district residency — could put officials here at risk.

“The more time that you can put between an impulse to cause harm and the actual pulling of that trigger, the more time between those two events, the better chance you have at saving a life,” said Breen, who co-sponsored the 2022 legislation to remove addresses from campaign materials.

“To me,” she added, “I think it would be fair for us to be able to withhold that information.”

It's not clear whether state Sen. Majority Leader Winnie Brinks, a Grand Rapids Democrat who knew one of the Minnesota lawmakers killed Saturday, would support any changes to state disclosure laws. 

"The leader takes concerns of political violence very seriously," a Brinks spokesperson told Bridge. "She is staying in close contact with state and local law enforcement."

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who was the subject foiled kidnapping plot in 2020, called the Minnesota shooting "yet another horrific act in the continued rise of political violence in America."

Whitmer has been calling on leaders on both sides of the aisle to come together to help turn down the heat on political rhetoric," spokesperson Stacey LaRouche said Monday in a statement.

"The rise in political violence in this country that we've seen for years is unacceptable. It's on all of us to work to prevent political violence wherever we see it and chart a better path forward for our politics."