GOP’s Tad Jude, DFL former state Sen. Kelly Morrison vie for Minnesota’s only open congressional seat

The race for Minnesota’s only open U.S. House seat will be decided between former Hennepin County judge Tad Jude, a Republican, and former state Sen. Kelly Morrison, a DFLer.

U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips, a Democrat, is leaving the Third District seat open after announcing he would not seek re-election following his brief run for the Democratic nomination for president.

The district covers inner-ring suburbs around Minneapolis in Hennepin and Anoka counties, from Bloomington to Brooklyn Park and stretching west to Lake Minnetonka, encompassing some of Minnesota’s wealthiest enclaves.

Before Phillips won the district in three straight elections starting in 2018, it was a bastion of moderate Republicans. DFL and GOP leaders have emphasized the importance of running a moderate candidate for the seat.

Jude and Morrison have both worked to paint the other as more extreme or partisan.

Morrison noted her support for measures for national abortion rights bills and has hit at Jude’s view of abortion rights as a state issue.

Jude has worked to paint Morrison as a key player in the 2023 legislative session that many Republicans view as too liberal.

Jude was once Minnesota’s youngest state representative, winning his first election to the state Legislature at age 20. He also served on the Hennepin County Board of Commissioners, and as a judge in Hennepin County from 2010 to 2022.

Morrison won her first race in 2018, the same year Phillips was elected to Congress. She is a practicing OB-GYN, and has made abortion rights central to her politics.

Morrison resigned her state Senate seat at the end of the 2024 legislative session, leaving the chamber evenly split and setting up a race that could also change the balance of power in the Senate.