'It's good to be alive': Minnesota state Sen. John Hoffman speaks out in first interview since assassination attempt

Ryan Faircloth, Star Tribune on Jul 21, 2025

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MINNEAPOLIS — Democratic state Sen. John Hoffman told a local radio host Monday that “it’s good to be alive” in his first interview since he and his wife were shot in an attempted political assassination last month.

Hoffman was in good spirits and cracked jokes while speaking with conservative radio show host Al Travis. He told Travis that he and his family are continuing to recover after the attack in their Champlin home.

Hoffman was shot nine times in the June 14 attack. His wife, Yvette, was shot eight times. Vance Boelter, the suspect in the attacks, also shot at and narrowly missed their daughter, Hope Hoffman, federal prosecutors revealed last week. After attacking the Hoffmans, the gunman went to the home of Rep. Melissa Hortman and fatally shot her and her husband.

The senator praised his daughter for calling 911 after they were attacked.

“She’s a hero, man. There’s people alive because of how she said something on 911,” Hoffman said. “She was very much in charge.”

Hoffman said his wife has recovered, and that his bullet wounds are gone. Now he’s dealing with “the aftermath,” he said.

“I’m just grateful to be alive.”

Hoffman was released from the hospital into a rehabilitation facility earlier this month. He said he’s been working with nurses to get his strength back, walking uphill and doing lunges while wearing a 25-pound weighted vest.

“I said at one point, ‘you know, I am considered a vulnerable adult,’” Hoffman recalled joking with his nurses. “As a vulnerable adult, I think somebody should report you to the vulnerable adults act.”

“I had to have humor in this because it’s hard as hell,” he told Travis. “The first time I walked steps, it was like, ‘whoa.’ My left freaking leg wasn’t telling me to do it.”

Hoffman said the only other person he knows who was shot nine times and lived to tell about it is the rapper, 50 Cent.

“You know what you should start calling me?” Hoffman quipped. “The 50-senator.”

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