Xp Lee beats Republican Ruth Bittner for vacant seat after Melissa Hortman and her husband were killed in June

Democrat Xp Lee won a special election to fill the state house seat of the former Minnesota house speaker Melissa Hortman, who was killed in June alongside her husband in what officials described as a “politically motivated assassination”.

Lee, a health equity analyst, former Brooklyn Park city council member and a mentee of Hortman’s, triumphed over Republican Ruth Bittner, a real estate agent, in a heavily Democratic, suburban district. His victory restored a legislative tie in the state house, with each party controlling 67 seats.