‘Workhorse’ Kelly Morrison learning the ropes as state’s newest member of Congress

WASHINGTON – When her colleagues in the state Senate wanted to lunch together, they’d always ask Kelly Morrison to join them, even though they knew their offer would likely be rejected.

“We said, ‘We’ll go out to lunch, and Kelly can’t come because she’s working on something,’” said state Sen. Alice Mann.

Mann and others interviewed for this article used the word “workhorse” to describe Morrison, who has been elected to represent the 3rd District in Congress.

Morrison, 55, has risen quickly in the world of politics, serving four years in the state House, then two years in the state Senate – and winning approval of dozens along the way.

Now the Democrat, who is a doctor, is in training to take her place in the next Congress. She’s in Washington, D.C., for a two-week orientation for Democratic and Republican freshmen.

Morrison will have a very different job in Congress than she had as a practicing OB-GYN and state legislator. 

As a member of the minority party in the U.S. House, and as a freshman in a place where clout is determined by seniority, Morrison will find it hard to move any legislation forward. Instead, she will likely spend a lot of her energy helping House Democrats block GOP initiatives.

Still, she is optimistic that as a moderate she can work across the aisle to win approval of her initiatives, which in the Legislature centered on extending health care coverage and protecting women’s reproductive rights.

“I’ve served in a divided Legislature and was still able to get legislation over the finish line,” she said.

Rep. Betty McCollum, D-4th District, said she’s confident Morrison will be able to handle the challenges of being a new member of a party in the minority as Republicans hold a lock on the White House and both chambers of Congress.

“She has walked into the job with her eyes wide open,” McCollum said.

Morrison was elected to Congress by handily defeating her Republican opponent, Tad Jude, by 17 percentage points in a district that was once a reliable GOP stronghold. But that suburban-based district has drifted to the Democrats in recent years and is represented by retiring Rep. Dean Phillips.

An affluent district

The 3rd District is the wealthiest congressional district in Minnesota, with an average household income of $104,674 in 2022, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

It encompasses the suburbs west and south of the Twin Cities. The blue-collar cities of Brooklyn Park and Coon Rapids are in the district, as is middle-income Bloomington and the more upscale towns of Eden Prairie, Edina, Maple Grove and Plymouth and stately neighborhoods with pricey homes on the shores of Lake Minnetonka.

Morrison, who said her parents were solid Republicans, is a reflection of the district’s affluence, having attended The Blake School, a private preparatory high school in Minneapolis, as a classmate of Phillips and having completed her undergraduate work at Yale University.

Like Phillips, she considers herself a moderate Democrat and will join the New Democratic Coalition, a group that now includes both Phillips and Rep. Angie Craig, D-2nd District.

“She’s a workhorse, not a showhorse,” Craig said.

Morrison said she was pressed into politics after Donald Trump was first elected to the White House in 2016. She was concerned Trump would fill Supreme Court vacancies with justices that would overturn Roe v. Wade, a landmark abortion access law. And Trump did.

That threat to maternal health propelled her to run for the Legislature in 2018 and she is bringing that passion for women’s reproductive rights to Congress, where she will be the only OB-GYN who supports abortion rights.

As a doctor, Morrison is seeking a seat on a committee with jurisdiction over health care to be able to make the best of her background in medicine and continue efforts to bring down the prices of prescription drugs.

“We’ve exhausted what we can do at the state level,” she said.

Morrison is also interested in the House Veterans Affairs Committee, especially since her husband, John, is an Army combat veteran.

As of now, she and other congressional freshmen are housed in a hotel a few blocks from the U.S. Capitol, learning the ropes and attending seminars on House rules, hiring office staff, security procedures in the Capitol, and many other things.

“It’s like drinking from a fire hose,” Morrison said. “There’s a lot to take in.”

She’s also met some of her freshmen colleagues – from both sides of the aisle. “I’m reminded that when you get to know individuals, they are just people,” she said, even if they belong to a rival political party.

Morrison said she’s impressed with the history that surrounds her and being able to walk through the rooms and hallways where it happened.

“Just standing in the Capitol is very humbling,” she said.

She said she has not decided yet where her district office will be, and her office on Capitol Hill will be determined through a lottery held this week. But she’s made a key hire: senior campaign staffer Megan Hondl, who will be her chief of staff.

‘An iconic moment’   

Mann, who is also a physician, said she met Morrison when they both were elected to the state House in 2018. “We bonded because we saw our patients struggle and knew what that looked like,” Mann said.

Both Mann and Morrison were elected as DFLers to the state Senate where a situation arose that put them at odds with each other. The position of vice chair of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee was up for grabs and both women were interested.

“(Morrison) said, ‘I’m going to step down. There’s no way I’m going to be in competition for something like this with you,’” Mann said.

State Sen. Matt Klein, who is also a physician, called Morrison “authoritative and thoughtful” when it came to legislating. He also said she often took politically risky positions, such as her defense of legislation that would protect the Boundary Waters Canoe Area from mining operations in the majestic park’s watershed, a stance that riled some of the DFL’s labor supporters.

“She leans in and is not afraid to advocate for her convictions,” Klein said.

He also said he was impressed with Morrison’s equanimity when she was tasked with calling out the votes at the end of the last session in a chaotic Senate chamber. He called it “an iconic moment.”

For now, Morrison will be among the newest members of a very partisan Congress when she is sworn in early next year. Yet, she is self-assured and optimistic.

“I am hopeful that there are people here who want to solve problems,” she said.

Editor’s Note: Ana Radelat wrote this story for MinnPost.com. Radelat is MinnPost’s Washington, D.C., correspondent. 

This article first appeared on MinnPost and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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