ROCHESTER — Today, people in public office or considering a run for public office are faced with a more urgent question: Is it worth it?

The murders of Minnesota Speaker Melissa Hortman and husband Mark Hortman in June and conservative youth activist Charlie Kirk on Sept. 10 have raised the stakes and thrown into stark relief how heated, polarizing and potentially dangerous today’s political arena has become.

Today, it’s not only the commitment in time, energy and money that must be weighed in running for public office. More insistently than in the past, they now must consider threats to their physical safety.

“Things are different today,” said Bill Kuisle, a former Rochester area state representative who, in a recent Facebook post , raised his concerns about today’s climate and i

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