Kelly Morrison, Minnesota’s newest member of Congress, heads to D.C.

Former state Sen. Kelly Morrison is heading to Washington after she pulled off a decisive win last week to replace outgoing three-term Rep. Dean Phillips.

The Democrat is set to become the first OB-GYN who supports abortion rights elected to Congress at a time when Republicans could have full control of Washington. They won the executive branch, the U.S. Senate and could hold the U.S. House, depending on the outcome of a handful of races across the country.

But Morrison said she is prepared to work across the aisle to get things done.

“I grew up in a Republican family. I’m a lifelong Democrat, so I know that good ideas can come from both sides of the aisle and I’ve worked really hard in my time in the Legislature to be bipartisan,” Morrison said in a wide-ranging post-victory interview in Wayzata.

“I passed more than 90 bills into law, many with bipartisan support, and that will continue to be my ethic and my mission in Congress,” she continued.

Morrison said there’s a “proud tradition” in the suburban Third Congressional District of “having representation regardless of your party,” pointing out that the district was long held by Republicans before Phillips flipped the seat in 2018. She plans to govern with that history in mind and acknowledges she has “big shoes to fill.”

Protecting reproductive rights was central to Morrison’s campaign, an issue she believes played a role in her victory.

Seeing the potency of abortion after the 2022 midterms, Republicans attempted to get more specific on where they stood on the issue. Some called for states to decide their own abortion policy after the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision overturned Roe v. Wade, while others said they would oppose a national abortion ban.

The debate around abortion is all but certain to remain and Morrison is in a unique position as an OB-GYN to shape it.

“I think one of the challenges around abortion is there’s been so much myth and disinformation about it for so many decades that people have been told things that just aren’t true about reproductive health care,” she said.

“We have that hill to climb to educate people and I think that has been happening in the wake of the Dobbs decision, we’ve seen the maternal health crisis unfold across the country,” Morrison continued. “I think that is probably my role to have just a calm, clear discussion about what the facts are and what the ramifications of abortion bans are.”

Anti-abortion advocates have been pressing President-elect Donald Trump for more restrictions on abortion, including abortion pills, but Republicans have not unveiled their agenda on reproductive rights. Morrison said banning the abortion drug mifepristone would have “devastating” consequences across the country.

Morrison is still thinking through legislation she wants to work on in Washington but said her priorities remain lowering the cost of prescription drugs, strengthening the Affordable Care Act and fighting for veterans.

She sees herself in line with Phillips’ leadership style and approach to legislation. Like Phillips, Morrison plans to join the moderate New Democrat Coalition and is interested in learning more about the bipartisan Problems Solvers Caucus, which the outgoing congressman is also a member of.

She is interested in joining House committees on Energy and Commerce, Veterans Affairs, Foreign Affairs and Small Business.

“We’ll see, again, who has the majority, what the committee structure ends up looking like,” she said.

For now, Morrison is keeping an open mind as she heads to Washington. She will take part in new member orientation for the next week before she officially takes the reins from Phillips in January.

Asked what she anticipates will be the biggest challenges in what could be full Republican control of Washington, she said that remains to be seen.

“I certainly hope that there’s respect for the institutions and that we come together as legislators with the executive branch to do what’s right for the American people.”