Former state Sen. Kelly Morrison defeats Tad Jude for Minnesota’s only open congressional seat

Former state Sen. Kelly Morrison, a DFLer, defeated former Hennepin County judge Tad Jude, a Republican, Tuesday, in the race to succeed Rep. Dean Phillips.

Phillips opted not to seek re-election in the Third Congressional District following his brief run for the Democratic nomination for president. His decision created an open seat in what had historically been a moderate Republican district.

“What my story shows is that every single one of us has a role in our democracy. Every single one of us has a contribution to make. Every single one of us can make a difference. All our voices matter. It is my incredible honor to be your next representative for the Third District, and I’m ready to get to work because we have so much that needs to get done,” Morrison said at an election night party at Boom Island Brewing.

Morrison quickly won the support of Phillips and other Democrats as the next successor of the seat. She also had a significant fundraising advantage over Jude, who raised about $330,000 compared to her more than $2 million war chest.

The congressional district was for a long time a bastion of moderate Republicans, but Phillips changed that when he flipped the seat and rode the 2018 blue wave to victory and held on to it ever since.

Sherrie Pugh, a Mound City Council member, has been phone banking, door knocking and helping family and friends make plans for supporting Kelly Morrison’s campaign all season as part of a group of Black women getting out the vote called We Go High.

“Kelly was a relentless door-knocker, because she got around the district two times, three times, in some cases,” Pugh said “It was really good to have a candidate who was really committed to doing the hard work and to get out there. She’s a good representative. She really listens to people in the district, so it’s easy to get behind her.”

DFL and GOP leaders have emphasized the importance of running a moderate candidate for the seat.

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

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

Morrison, an OBGYN by trade, made abortion rights central to her politics and had stressed her support for measures for national abortion rights bills and has hit at Jude’s view of abortion rights as a state issue.

“I’ve spent most of my career as a practicing physician, not a politician, and then the 2016 presidential campaign and election happened, and as an OBGYN, I knew what Trump’s election would mean for the health of women and girls here in Minnesota and across the country. I knew I had to get off the sidelines,” Morrison continued.

“We know that protecting women’s rights is possible. We know that when we stand strong and stand together, we can change our country for the better. Now we don’t know yet what Washington is going to look like next year .... But no matter who wins the White House or who controls Congress, we know what we need to do. We need to put our heads down, and we need to get to work,” she said.

Jude 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.

Josh Wilkening of Maple Grove stood wearing an orange “Tad Jude” T-shirt at the Republican watch party at Mall of America’s Radisson Blu on Tuesday night. Wilkening volunteered for Jude back in the mid-1990s and was attracted by his integrity and conservative values.

“Tad is a very solid conservative and he has an excellent track record in public service,” Wilkening said, noting Jude was elected as a Democrat the year he was born, 1972. “He seems to really fit the Third District,” even though he said he thinks it will be an uphill climb for any Republican to win the district.

Morrison won her first race in 2018, the same year Phillips was elected to Congress. 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.

Phillips congratulated Morrison following her victory.

“Sen. Kelly Morrison continues the longstanding tradition of competent, collegial, and courageous representation of Minnesota’s Third District,” Phillips said in a text. “A remarkable physician, legislator, wife, mother, and friend, she is destined to become one of America’s most effective, bipartisan leaders in Congress and will make Minnesota proud.”

Christopher Vondracek and Susan Du contributed to this report.