MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
This week marks two months since Minnesota State Representative Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark were gunned down in what authorities believe was a politically motivated attack. Since then, some lawmakers in the state have vowed to approach politics with cooler heads. Here's Minnesota Senate Leader Erin Murphy speaking in Boston at a national conference for lawmakers earlier this month.
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ERIN MURPHY: I've heard many suggest that in response to the evil that visited us, we should turn down the vitriol in our rhetoric.
KELLY: Minnesota Public Radio's Dana Ferguson has more.
DANA FERGUSON, BYLINE: After coming home from Boston, Democratic Leader Murphy told me that she wanted to emphasize to colleagues around the country that this has to be the moment things turn around.
MURPHY: June 14 was and is an inflection point. But I think it's important for us to say out loud it's only an inflection point if we treat it that way.
FERGUSON: At least a dozen lawmakers in Minnesota have promised to do just that after a gunman killed Representative Melissa Hortman and her husband and seriously injured Senator John Hoffman and his wife Yvette.
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Whispering) Nice to see you. Thanks.
FERGUSON: Two at a time, lawmakers walk up to a podium inside a community center in St. Paul, pick up a pen and sign a pledge to engage peacefully and seek out common ground. Shannon Watson organized the event last month.
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SHANNON WATSON: I know that there is still some fear of public events.
FERGUSON: Watson leads Majority in the Middle, a nonprofit group that promotes civility in public life.
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WATSON: This is a movement to honor those lost and wounded by choosing community over conflict, dialogue over division and courage over cowardice.
FERGUSON: Democratic Secretary of State Steve Simon adds his name. He says the pledge embodies the way Hortman worked.
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STEVE SIMON: She could be a real fierce advocate. She could be a fighter. She could have a salty tongue. But she also knew that you could disagree without being disagreeable.
FERGUSON: Simon says the attacks that killed the Hortmans, believed to be politically motivated, make it imperative to reevaluate how officials communicate.
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SIMON: This is not a call for people to be muted or marshmallowy, or water down their opinions or their passions at all. This is just a call for people to not burn people down.
FERGUSON: Representative Matt Norris, a Democrat, acknowledges there are skeptics.
MATT NORRIS: It's easy to profess that you're going to change right after some sort of horrific event takes place. I think the true test will be as time goes on, can all of us maintain that same level of commitment?
FERGUSON: It's a tough pitch as political rhetoric gets ever sharper on the national scene. President Donald Trump frequently dishes out insults to those who disagree with him. Some Democrats have edged up their responses to the president, sometimes matching his tough tone. Senator Michael Kreun says there are incentives to be a bomb thrower in politics - more airtime and party backing than those who work across the aisle. The Republican hopes that can change.
MICHAEL KREUN: I think we have to get - as a society, culturally kind of get back to the point where we reward people that are conducting themselves in a way that polls say they want us to conduct ourselves.
FERGUSON: But it might also mean keeping his peers in check.
KREUN: It's easy to blame the other side and say, you guys aren't doing it right, but it's much more difficult but more effective to police your own side.
FERGUSON: Legislators say the shootings were devastating, and not just here. They're hopeful the calls for cooler discourse will resonate.
For NPR News, I'm Dana Ferguson in St. Paul.
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