About Melissa

Click Here to Read a letter from Melissa.

Married to Mark Hortman
Mother of Colin, age 11, and
Sophie, age 9

Born in Fridley, 1970
Raised in Spring Lake Park then Andover (lifetime north metro resident)
1988 Graduate of Blaine High School (educated in Anoka Hennepin Dist. 11)
1991 earned a B.A. magna cum laude in Philosophy and Political Science from Boston University
Jan. - May 1991: Legislative Intern for then-Senator Al Gore, Washington D.C.
May '91 to May '92: Legislative Correspondent for Sen. John Kerry, Washington, D.C.
1995: Earned J.D. cum laude from the University of Minnesota Law School
Summer 1995: Volunteer Attorney for the Housing Discrimination Law Project
1996 : Law Clerk to Hennepin County Judge John Sommerville
1996-1997: Attorney for Central Minnesota Legal Services (an organization providing free legal services to low-income members of society)
1997: Won record-setting housing discrimination verdict in first jury trial
1997-2000: Ran small business, Melissa A. Hortman, Attorney at Law, P.A.
2000-2002: Attorney at Rider, Bennett, Egan & Arundel, LLP
2001: Named a “Rising Star” by Minnesota Law and Politics magazine