U.S. Representative-elect Kelly Morrison, an OB-GYN, readies for first term in Congress
MINNEAPOLIS — U.S. Representative-elect Kelly Morrison is set to be among about two dozen lawmakers who are trained physicians and the only OB-GYN who supports abortion rights in Congress in a post-Roe v. Wade America, which has given her national attention.
She will represent the 3rd Congressional District, succeeding U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips, who didn't seek re-election during a failed bid for president. She previously served in both the state House and most recently, the state Senate.
But her experience in medicine has shaped her approach to elected office and it prompted her to launch her first campaign in 2018, she said. At the time, President Trump was running for his first term and promised to appoint justices to the Supreme Court who would overturn the decades-old case that guaranteed a fundamental right to an abortion.
"That's what he did, and that's what the court did, and we're seeing the ramifications of that Dobbs decision," Morrison said in an interview Monday while at new member orientation in Washington. "We have a maternal health crisis unfolding across the country, and so I am concerned about the possibility of future and further restrictions being imposed on the American people."
While she was in the legislature, she was one of the leads on the bill that codified abortion rights last year. That happened during a DFL trifecta that gave Democrats control of the House, Senate and governor's office the last two years.
But in Washington, the balance of power will look different: Republicans are poised to have majorities in both chambers and will have a Republican president in the White House.
Morrison vows to work on a bipartisan basis.
"It'll be a very narrow governing majority [in the U.S. House], so there will be opportunity and room for finding common ground and solving problems together," she said. "I'm an optimist. I know there are a lot of patriotic Republicans who are coming in, in this class. We're all staying in the same hotel right now. I've met several of them, so I feel optimistic that there are areas where we're going to be able to find that common ground and work together to solve problems for Minnesotans and for the American people."
She is also eager to work on lowering the prices of prescription drugs and boosting resources for veterans. She's also "hopeful" Republicans won't push for a federal abortion ban, citing voters' support for access in red states and blue states where it's been on the ballot. Trump has said he would veto such a measure.
In last week's election, proposals that would protect abortion rights succeeded in 7 out of 10 states where the issue was before voters, according to the Guttmacher Institute.
"I am hopeful that that is not the direction that they're going to go, but if they do, I will certainly use my voice as the only pro-choice OB-GYN in Congress to try to explain why that is such a dangerous idea," she said.
The Congresswoman-elect easily defeated her Republican opponent by 17 points, according to unofficial results, in a district that once was a reliable GOP stronghold, but has leaned more for Democrats in recent years.