Two Texas congressmembers named on alleged Minnesota assassin’s hit list

Sign up for The Brief, The Texas Tribune’s daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news.

---

U.S. Reps. Veronica Escobar and Joaquin Castro said their names appeared on a list of targets compiled by the assassin who has been charged with killing the Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband and shooting two others on Saturday.

Authorities said Vance Boelter, 57, had a list of 45 elected officials, all Democrats, on his “hit list.”

In a Monday statement, Escobar of El Paso said that a string of recent politically motivated violence, including credible threats made against Texas lawmakers, serves as “jarring reminders that right-wing extremism has a foothold in our country.”

“Politically motivated violence, and violence of any kind, have no place in our democracy and we all have a role to play in moving our country toward healing,” she said.

Castro, a San Antonio Democrat, was also named in Boelter’s writings, according to his communications director, Katherine Schneider. The news was first reported by the San Antonio Express-News.

Boelter’s writings included “many, many notebooks full of plans, lists of names, surveillance efforts that he took to surveil and locate the home addresses and family members,” U.S. Attorney Joseph Thompson said at a Monday press conference.

Prominent Minnesotans were also on the list, including Gov. Tim Walz and U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar. But others from outside of the state have also reported they were named including Ohio Democrat Rep. Greg Landsman.

It is unclear whether any other Texas lawmakers were targeted or named by Boelter.

---

Big news: 20 more speakers join the TribFest lineup! New additions include Margaret Spellings, former U.S. secretary of education and CEO of the Bipartisan Policy Center; Michael Curry, former presiding bishop and primate of The Episcopal Church; Beto O’Rourke, former U.S. Representative, D-El Paso; Joe Lonsdale, entrepreneur, founder and managing partner at 8VC; and Katie Phang, journalist and trial lawyer.

Get tickets.

TribFest 2025 is presented by JPMorganChase.