sparks remains the onl ukrainian-born member of congress, whoece a vocal advocate for aiding the war against russia in the early stages of the conflict. she shared the psident's comments and replied, donald trump makes veryalid points here. solesky and joe biden did failed the american people and the ukrainian people. >> if you ever miss any of c-span's coverage you can find it anytime online at c-span.org. videos of key hearings, debates, and other events feature markers that guide you to interesting and newsworthy highlights. these points of interest markers appear on the right-hand side of your screen when you hit play on select videos. this timeline tool makes it easy to quickly get an idea of what was debated and decided in washington. scroll through and spend a few minutes on point of interest. >> and now, meet new members of

congress as they talk about their early lives, previous careers, famie and what drove their interest in running for office. coming up next, conversations th represeates troy downing of montana, shumway figus alamamark harris of north carolina, adam grayf california, nick begich of alaska, and kelly morrison of minnesota. >> one of more than 60 new members of the u.s. house is troy downing of montana. republican has been a scientist, teacher, and businessman, who also served as montana state auditor. congressman downing tells the story of his career, including his lisman in the air force after the attacks of september 11. -- his enlistment in the air force after the attacks of september 11. >> i didn't have any family connections. my mom worked in a grocery store.

somehow i was able to be successful. went to new york university, and up getting hired there as a research scientist, and taught there briefly in the information to elegy department. i left there to do a startup company. of course my mom is like, what is a startup company? i successfully merged that with a nasa and jan who -- yahoo! inc. that was in the 1990's. fast-forward to 2001, and i spent time in technology, time in education, and worked a lot on helping others do the same thing i did. a lot of angel financing and mentoring of other startup companies. when september 11 happened it really hit in the chest. i thought, this country has been good to me. what have i done to deserve it? i didn't have a good answer. i was moose hunting in alaska when september 11 happened. i was one of the last people on the planet to find out about it.

i got stuck there because the borders were closed. i couldn't fly over canada. as soon as i could get home i walked into a recruiter's office, i said, i've got a pilots license. i was a researcher at nyu. what can you do with me? the recruiter says, how old are you? i go, 34. he goes, good, 35 is the cut off. ended up getting recruited -- it's interesting, because i had no idea what i was doing. they sent me off to take the asvab, to see what you are good at, and i come back with my test scores and the recruiter rolled his eyes and said, ok, you qualify for any job i offer i said, i want to do something meaningful. he said, have you ever thought about going into intel? i never thought about going into anything, so i said i wanted to do something meaningful. i talked to them a bit. i said, it looks like i'm going to be sitting in a dark room staring at a computer. i do think i'm going to thrive there.

chief rhodes talks to me and says, i've got this horrible job. i'm losing my hearing, i knees are blown out, but it is the best thing i can imagine doing with my life. i said, what do you do? he said, take these helicopters and fly them in formation 50 feet off the deck in the middle of the night with night vision goggles on, find busted up kids, and bring them home. in the hair stood up on the back of my neck and i go, that's me. i got sworn into combat search and rescue squadron. i just turned 35 when i went to basic training. i was too old for a commission. i went out to lackland air force base, 35 years old. i was grandpa, but graduated honor grad there, and went off to kirtland air force base and got distinguished graduate there. so ended up doing two tours in afghanistan. >> all of those experiences, how did they prepare you for a career in congress? >> oh boy. going into that, like i said, i needed to feel like i deserved everything that this country has

meant for me. there is so much opportunity, and it is not lost on me. going into the military was interesting, because i came out of technology and education. i had no idea what that cultural -- culture was like. the people i deployed with are still some of my best friends, some of the best people i have known. they care about this country. they are willing to sign at the dotted line and put themselves at risk. but their families at risk of losing, you know, a son, father, husband one of the things cap daily, really made me smile is when i got sworn in last week i had a bunch of guys from my former squadron come out for my swearing in and it was like a little reunion, you know, the air force guys. one guy i went to schoolhouse with in kirtland and deployed with, and i will tell you, we did a capital tour here.

congressman zinke from the first district of montana. between me, him, and a bunch of air force guys, we had an awesome late-night tour of the capital. it made me smile. >> how would you describe yourself in terms of your political thinking and what do you plan to bring to your comfort -- to the conversation here? >> i consider myself a very conservative person. i think a lot of the opportunities that i enjoyed our x risk of being squandered. i think that american dream is getting further and further away from our kids and i worry about that. inflationary pressures and everything. i worry about how a kid starting out their family ever has a path -- ever have a path to even by their first home. how do they do that? i think we need some pretty serious fiscal constraint. need to stop printing money. we need to start working on balancing budgets, you know? or at least being thoughtful about our appropriations and how we are spending money, because more you put into any system the more expensive everything gets.

i think the more expensive everything gets the further away that american dream goes. i consider myself a very conservative person, but i also understand this is a team effort. we need to actually get wins on the board. we need to figure out how to get those working together, not against each other. >> mentioned those grandkids. tell us about your family and what they are thinking about your new career? >> i think everybody is a little in shock. heather, my wife, is here in d.c. with me and we have four kids. no, they are in their early 20's to almost 30. they are very excited about this. it is very different for all of us and they are very different, but as most families know they can come from the same place and grow with the same people, they all end up very different. everyone is excited about it. my mom was out here for my swearing in and she is excited about it.

here's the deal. we have a lot of work in front of us. i have gotten pretty strong feelings on where we need to get, but we need to work together, start getting wins on the board and making sure we continue to them -- to protect everything that makes america great and everything they gave me the opportunity, a poor kid from nowhere, to be sitting here and talking with you right now. >> democrats tomorrow figures is one of more than 60 new members of the house. he is a he is -- he is an attorney and also spent time on capitol hill as counsel for former senator sharad brown of ohio. the congressman talks about his career, including becoming the first representative for the newly-redrawn second district of alabama. >> recently redrawn, but it includes a lot of the historical parts of the state. i come from mobile, birthplace of mardi gras.

district now extends up i-65 all the way to montgomery, which obviously is the birthplace and heartbeat of the civil rights movement as we know it. and then extends east all the way to the georgia state line to areas like phoenix city and you follow alabama and in between those points you have a few other cities that people may have heard of. the birthplace of john lewis in troy, alabama. the home of harper lee and truman capote. the home of the tuskegee university. it is a very diverse community, or diverse district. very large, but also very diverse. but it shares a lot of the same issues across it. we have two primary urban areas. urban for the purposes of alabama. but between that we have a lot of rural areas that have a lot of rural struggles and a lot of issues that are common and a lot of needs, and in a lot of rural areas we see across the country. >> what does it mean for you to be the first congressman for

that district? >> it is always significant to be the first of anything. we are certainly grateful and humbled and blessed to have the opportunity and for me personally that means we have a chance to get to work. we didn't get in this race to win an election. he got in this race to have the opportunity to complete washington and seek solutions to new issues. especially in areas where people feel like they have not had the opportunity to have the type of seat at the table when it comes to federal representation. >> you are not a total newcomer to washington. he worked in the obama administration and here on capitol hill. what were you do? >> i started my federal service as a law clerk way back when, and after that i came to d.c., where i was in the white house in president obama's white house , where we worked across my portfolio, which included agencies of justice, hud, labor, hhs, and a few others in terms of rolling out the teams

implementing the president's policies. that then went over to the department of justice, and came to the hill. at the hill i was a hill stafford first senator sherrod brown out of ohio. i had a very, very broad portfolio that included, obviously, judiciary-related issues. law enforcement, civil rights, but also jumped into immigration matters and child welfare matters, small business matters. we had a lot we were handling. telecom matters are also in my portfolio. i have the opportunity to learn so much about government. >> what did all of that mean to you as you get started in this part of your career? >> i think it informs you and gives you insight into the different levers of government you can pull. being in congress, you have access to not really the judiciary unless you are in court, but certainly across the executive space. you have so much access to so many things are having that sort

of inside knowledge of how agencies work -- work, one of the grant programs, who are the grant program decision-makers? those sorts of answers, right? having relationships already with staff on the house side as well as the senate side. all of that helps to be able to hit the ground running and helped us staff up with a very experienced staff very quickly or in d.c. and helps us to be able to go out and assign tasks and pursue our priorities in a manner we think is efficient. >> you are the son of political figures in alabama. tell us about your parents. >> both of my parents, my mother and father, have been in elective office or at the entirety of my life. there has not been a single day of my life where one or both of my parents were not an elected official. my father was elected to the state senate in alabama in 1978. he served in that capacity until 1996, when he died suddenly. was elected as the first black president pro tem, first black

leader of any party in the statehouse house at the time. i mother was on the city council in mobile, and then she ran for that state senate seat and has been in the state senate since then. >> your father also did legal work involving the kkk. tell us about that. >> he did a lot of work in civil rights in general. my father integrated the university of alabama's law school. following that experience he came back home and launched into a civil rights -- among other things. it was a labor lawyer as well. he spent a lot of time focusing on civil rights. one of the more noteworthy things he did was bringing a lawsuit against the united klans of america after they had lynched a young man in 1981 in mobile. that resulted in the financial bankruptcy of the klan. not bankrupting their mission, but putting a dent in their

capacity to execute that mission. that is a case that has loomed large over my life. it is something my father was very well known for, and there are several members around here that still know him for that case. >> footage her parents teach you about public service? >> that you have an obligation to give back to the people responsible for you being here in the first place. every day we have something to be grateful for. there are people and places across the state of alabama, obviously given its history, but across the country, people you have an obligation to make sure you're going to work everyday to make government work for them. make it work in the way it is supposed to work. i come from alabama. estate that has a very well documented history in terms of the federal government having to step in and make that state right by its people. with that comes an obligation for younger generations to step up and be involved, to make sure it can continue to do that is something my parents preached to us. >> tell us about the rest of your family back home. >> it starts with my wife.

have three kids, three children, ages 5, 3, and one. we had them on the house floor without doing the swearing in. that task was tougher than winning this seat, going the kids. my wife is wonderful. she is the reason we were able to do this and be successful doing this and having the capacity to be able to hit the road and campaign trail. she is an enormous success in her own right. several degrees. she hates when i said, but i wife has four different greece from three different ivy league institutions. the daughter of immigrants that came to america and have really made a way for themselves. >> you are only 39 years old, correct? longer-term thoughts? >> i don't have any longer-term thoughts beyond getting to work here every day to try to improve the lives of the people in the district back home. we'll see what the future leads to, but we got elected to do a job here in washington, d.c., and i look forward to doing it every single day. >> one of the more than 60 new

members of the house is republican mark harris of north carolina. it is his first time in elective office, and he comes to washington with a long career as a pastor. he talks about how his faith and desire for public service come together in his new role. >> i have been a pastor for 35 years. a long time, it seems, but certainly served churches mostly in north carolina. i did serve at a church in augusta, georgia. but primarily i have been involved in leading churches. the first baptist church in charlotte, and currently trinity baptist church there just north of charlotte. >> when in your life did you know you wanted to be a pastor? rep. harris: i had grown up, went to appalachian state university, major in political science, proceeded to law school like many political science majors do and actually was accepted to campbell university school of law and was getting to

start their that fall, and i met my wife at appalachian state. we were planning to get married that summer, 1987, and fascinatingly, two weeks before my wedding and two months before i was to start law school, god called me to preach, and it was very clear in my heart what god was asking me to do, needing me to do. instead of law school, i shifted course and went to southeastern baptist theological seminary. >> when did you start thinking about politics? rep. harris: i had an interest at age 14. that is when i would say i got my start because i worked in the americans for reagan office senator jesse helms has started. in my congressional office, i have that reagan poster that was hanging on the door where i would go in and out, so i was always involved. again, thought that i would just always be involved but never really had thought that much about running for office until later on after i was pastoring

and became very involved in 2011, 2012, and the marriage amendment. >> what do you remember most about that experience in the reagan years? rep. harris: i was excited not only to make phone calls and send out mailers and all the things people do -- put up signs -- but i got the opportunity to come to the inauguration and here i am years later about to attend another inauguration. in 1981, i had the privilege of seeing ronald reagan inaugurated as president of the united states, and that is one of my fondest memories for sure. >> back to your work as a pastor and now congress, how do faith and service come together for you as you begin your career here? >> for me, and one of the things i have often said in interviews and talking with folks that makes things a little unique for me is there's a lot of political footballs, and a lot of issues that are on the table and people toss them back and forth and debate them back and forth. for me, as a pastor, as someone

said -- i think it was mike huckabee, probably the first to say this -- that when you do the pathology report on america and see the situation for what it is, a pastor has that unique ability to put a name and a face to just about every issue. all the issues we debate, the political issues we are out there, if it's a family going through joblessness, a young girl that found herself pregnant and not sure what she's going to do, counseling people and meeting people, i just have had an opportunity to put a name and face to many of the issues that often times political footballs and that gives me a unique perspective. >> you have given a shot at running for congress a few times not quite getting here. what made you run again? rep. harris: in 2018, i went through a unique situation. decided not to run in the new election. harris: in 2018, i wet through a unique situation. decided not to run in the new election.

then bishop stepped in and ran that time. i have known dan and he was a great friend in the state senate. he ran for the seat and won it, so he has been serving faithfully. when he called me in the summer of 2023 to say, look, i believe you need to run for attorney general if you still have the stomach for this, he said, i think you would make a great candidate. my wife and i prayed about it, thought it through, and thought this was perhaps our time, and it turned out to be. >> tell us about your family and what i think about you being here. rep. harris: they were all appear for spring. we have a great family. i have three children that are grown and married. they gave us 10 grandchildren. i had the privilege of having six of my 10 grandchildren on the floor with me during swearing in. that was exciting. the four youngest were not quite ready to do that, but they range in age from nine all the way down to two. we are blessed. i have a daughter who is a teacher, a son who was an

attorney and youngest son who is a pastor as well. >> this place keeps people busy. will you be able to continue your work as a pastor? rep. harris: i don't know how great a pastor i will be as far as always being there, but i have a great staff, so i am able to preach. when i am there on weekends, i will be able to continue preaching on sundays. >> what kind of mark would you like to make here in washington? rep. harris: if you like we have to restore the confidence of the american people that we are going to do what we say. when president trump had the theme promises made, promises kept, that just really rings true, not only with me but with so many people across my district and across america, and what we are working on is to try , the very issues we ran on, trying to do something about them. when you see me give a floor speech, it will probably be about something that happened on the border, protecting girls and girl sports, speaking about those issues that we ran on that

are very important. getting this economy moving again, and inflationary issues. getting us energy-dominant once again. all of those are things i want to make my mark on and i want to just move the ball forward. >> democrat adam gray of california is one of more than 60 members of the u.s. house. the democrat spent 10 years in the california state assembly before running for congress. in the 13th district of california. his race was the last to be called in the 2024 elections, and he talks about the month it took for him to find out that he flipped the seat from republican to democrat. rep. gray: in california, we have a vote by mail system, and a lot of our ballots require signature verification, and the process goes on for up to a month after the election. voters need to be contacted, told that their vote has not been counted yet, and given the opportunity to go down to the county registrar's office and make sure that their vote is counted, so that month was full

of doing network. calling voters and saying, if you know your vote has not been counted, you should make sure you rectify that. >> you ran previously. tell us that story. rep. gray: iran in 2022 after serving in -- i ran in 2022 after serving in the state district. we ran a tough race and ended up losing by a little over 500 votes. that was certainly a disappointment, but got back in it won in 2024 by 187 votes. >> did you know at the time you lost that you would run again? rep. gray: i did not. i have been what i call a radical centrist my entire clinical career. i say that because i do not play a moderate on tv or say things to get reelected. that's where my head and my heart are. in a world where parties have become hypercritical and partisan and sharp in that way,

it does not encourage people like me who really are moderates, who believe that working together and common ground values, it discourages you from hunting to run because you are not only fighting the other party by fighting your own party have the time. i had to spend some time thinking, but as i watched the congress behave the last two years, coming out as one of the most unproductive congress is in u.s. history and just hyper partisanship and fighting and everybody blaming somebody else for not getting the work done, and encouraged me that congress needs people like me that believe in working together and believe that we are all americans and we have common goals and common interest. >> tell us about the early years growing up in california. what was that like? do you remember? rep. gray: i love california central valley. people always think of hollywood as -- california as hollywood and silicon valley. we have the largest agriculture

valley in the world. we produce fresh fruits and vegetables and specialty crops across the country. i have the largest barry district -- derry district -- derry --dairy district. my family sold dairy equipment. i just got appointed to the agricultural committee, so excited about doing that work. >> what did you learn from being in the agriculture business? rep. gray: i will tell you, my dad said, do something, even if it is wrong but don't just stand there. there is a work ethic in agriculture that i think congress could learn from. when i think about what goes on here, sometimes it feels like every politician you talk to back here has somebody to blame. it is the other party's fault, the other person's fault. i think about working for my dad

at the store, and if i would walk in and the job was not done that my dad had asked me to do and my answer was "it's paul's fault," i cannot imagine the look on his face. at the end of the day, people want results. they want communities that are safe, good education, good health care, and we ought to be doing that work every day. that's why i came to washington. >> was there a specific moment in your life when you realized this was going to be a career for you? rep. gray: no, it really just happen. in college, i think i wanted to play professional baseball, but my fastball was not that good. as i got involved in politics, coming from a rural community in california, i realized how a lot of rural communities get overlooked or ignored in california and i think around the country, right? the deeper i got involved, my family was always involved in community service.

my mom would go down to city council and give it to them if you thought they were not doing things good for the community, so that was the environment i grew up in. speak up, worked to make sure your community is a better place to live, and that is how i got involved in politics, and one thing led to another and one job led to another, and here i am standing in the united states congress, one of the great honors i think anyone could have. probably the thing i'm most known for is the radical centrist thing. i was the chairman of a moderate democratic group, and i really tried to work on bipartisan solutions. the problems that really are most critical in my district are water, water, and water. you can imagine representing a bunch of farmers, access to affordable, clean water is critical to the success of the industry, so i spent a lot of time in the state legislature.

i was a co-author of a bipartisan infrastructure at. -- act. we are seeing the first new reservoir in california being built in many years as a result of my work. another area i'm passionate about his health care in rural communities. i worked for 10 years in the state legislature to start a medical school in my hometown, the university of california merced. my next goal is to bring a full-blown uc hospital to the valley. i am hopeful that my work in congress can help achieve that. >> you mentioned bipartisanship. your a centrist. i know it is early, but where will we see you practice that mentality? rep. gray: i just got my first cnn appearance the other day on a show with jake tapper with four freshman congressmen. they asked me if there are opportunities to work with the new administration and i said,

of course there is. the new president has talked about border security, he has talked about dr. -- the aca -- he has talked about daca and fixing that for immigrants who have lived here their entire life. those are areas of common ground. i can develop a working relationship with anybody. one of my new colleagues on the same panel said he is here to destroy the democratic party's agenda, so that did not sound like working-together language to me, but i remain open-minded and i look forward to meeting with people like that and let sit down and see what we have in common. >> tell us about how your family feels. rep. gray: they are tremendously excited. they still call me and tell me to do the right thing. my parents to drive a hard bargain, and they want to see this place represent the people in the central valley of california, so they keep me

accountable and keep me humble, and i'm blessed to have a wonderful family that is supportive of what i do one of more than 60 new members of the u.s. house. he represent the entire state of alaska as its at large congressman. he is a businessman and talks about coming from a prom nation's capital alaska political family. >> this began with my grandfather, also named nick begich. he first ran for congress in 1968. was not successful in that race. ran again in 1970 and beat a gentleman named frank measure -- murkowski.sadly on a plane f, disappeared, nferl found in 1972 late in the election cycle. actually he ended up twinge race

anyway. there was a special election race because he was not found. winning that special election was don young who became as many people know the longest serving republican in u.s. house history. moving forward from that, i have an uncle named mark begich. he was a united states senator from alaska. defeated ted stevens in 2008 and served one term in the united states senate. i do come from a line of traditional democrats but i was actually raised on my mom's side of the family. mom's side of the family is conservative republican, father's side of the family is democrat and of course i'm a republican. >> did you waiver with that mixture? >> i didn't. i come from the business side so i sort of grew up in a entrepreneurial family. very conservative.

strong, christian roots. that's how i was raised. that set of policies that we were thinking made a lot of stones me growing up and i stuck with that throughout. >> first time in elective owfs, correct? >> that's correct. >> what did you learn from all of those names you just mentioned? >> you have great debate. when the family would get together for thanksgiving, christmas. there was always a debate among the democrats on policy. that would e represent on any opportunity the family had to get together. you learned that you can have a vigorous debate. that is good. that is ok. that is important, in fact. i'm ready to engage in that great debate in the halls of congress. >> you do come from business. you have an m.b.a. and previous business experience before rung for elective office. what were those experiences?

>> my undergraduate degree is from baylor university. i worked for a little while for a publicly trading company. interesting story. i actually asked my future father in law, girlfriend's dad at the time if i could marry his daughter. he said no. you're going to have to get a masters degree if you're going to marry my daughter. i said very good, challenge accepted. i worked in deerborn, michigan for a few years. i spend about a year working in the car group. they told me they were going to give me mustang. they gave me mini vans instead. i had a great opportunity to work in u.s. manufacturing and decided the detroit area was probably not the best fit for my wife and. we thought let's go back to alaska. went back to alaska. that was over 20 years ago now and that's our home.

>> we have talked about your business career and your political family. did you uls want to get in politics at some point in life? >> it was something that was around. ever present growing up but it was not something that i really thought deeply about. my view has been historically that most of the value that is created is created in the private sector. i wanted to be a value creator in the private sector. when i moved to alaska, i started a software business. built it up to about 150 people across multiple countries. we focused on supporting early stage companies predominantly working with start-ups. i think that innovation cycle is so important to the united states. it is such an important ingredient the mix of what makes america exceptional. i want to make sure those opportunities continue for new entrepreneurs and new businesses

and the people that they are going to employee. as we see the regulatory environment continue to encroach on the ability for an entrepreneur to start a business, run a business, raise capital for that business, grow that business in a competitive environment, we have to push back on that. that is part of the reason i wanted to run for this seat. >> what part of the state do you live in? >> a town just north of anchorage. no stop lielgt lights. it is a great place to raise a family. my wife and i have one son. it is 12 years old. it has been a fantastic community. it is, you know, it is near enough to anchorage that you have the convenience of a large city but small enough that you know your neighbors and understand who is in your community. we have really enjoyed it. that is reflective of much of alaska. we are a small community in a massive state. folks understand that alaska which is nearly 20% of u.s. land mass and more than half the

coastline only has 730,000 people in it. 40% of those people live in anchorage. you talk about rural, in my home state, rural means you don't have a road. that is rural in alaska. >> i was going to ask you about the unique challenges being at-large representative and from alaska. what else should people know? >> alaska has a role to play. i think a lot of people look at alaska and see the tv shows, the reality tv shows that talk about alaska. that is a great exposure for our state, but our state is so much more than what you see on tv. we have more estimated, undiscovered natural gas, oil reserves than any other state in the country. we have 2/3 of the critical minerals that we need on our critical minerals list in economic quantities in my home state. we provide more than 60% of the nation's seafood. we are a critical come opponent the resource economy and the things that president trump has

been speaking about for the last couple of years, drill, baby, drill, mining, these are industries that are critical to alaska, yes, but critical to our nation as well. if we're going to restore domestic production, if we're going to move those supply chains back to u.s. shores, that begins in alaska. >> we love asking the farther away members this question. how often will you be able to get home as a member of congress? >> as often as possible. we have a very heavy workload coming up. there is much work to be done now that we have the trifecta, the house, the senate, the office to have presidency. there are show horses and workhorses. i came here to work but i'll g getting back home to alaska as often as i can. >> one of more than 60 members of the u.s. house is democrat kelly morrison of minnesota. a physician, an ob/gyn who also served in the minnesota house and senate. the representative talks here

about her roles as a doctor and legislature come together in congress. >> bag physician is about trying to help people to make a positive difference in people's lives and listening. when i spent most of my days as a doctor, listening to what's on their mind, what's bothering them, to what hurts and then together to figuring out a health plan to go forward. being a legislature is a lot like that. we door knock. hold town halls and listen to our constituents and come wake up a plan which sometimes is in the form of a bill or legislation. i come from a science background. like evidence of facts and try to pursue policy evidence-based in that same way. >> you were born in minneapolis and talked about growing up in minnesota and your early life experiences. what do you remember most? >> i'm a sixth generation minute

societian. we're prowtd of our lakes and rivers. i have childhood memories of swimming in lakes. my family and i go up to the boundary waters and we take our three kids up to the boundary waters which is great to unplug and relax and listen to the quiet and see the stars. but as a kid, we went up north a lot, again, to play in our lakes. and i had a younger brother and the four of us were a pretty tight family. we moved a lot when i was a kid. we lived actually in mexico city, new jersey and boston, but we would always come back to minnesota in between and eventually we both settled there too. i'm really proud of our state and its people and am honored to represented the third district in congress. >> when and how did politics come into the picture for you? >> i was the a practicing ob/gyn

taking care of my patients and raising my three kids. when the presidential campaign and election happened, i had never been involved in politics. women's health get politicized but i was so concerned about the hyper partisanship and the polarization happening in the country in that election and the aftermath. i'm a lifelong democrat but i grew up in a republican family. so this point where we are, where your political affiliation equates with your morality and who you have are as a person. i got involved in our local senate distribute and learned that a pretty extreme anti-choice republican was holding the statehouse office there. so did a lot door knocking and listening to people and given that the president had run on appointing justices to the court that would overturn row vs.

wade, i was concerned about what that would mean for healthcare in our country. i decided to get off the sidelines and run for office. i approached that campaign like a community building exercise. we door knocked the district almost four times. i had thousands of conversations and i really think one conversation at a time we broke through and beat a three-term republican incumbent where it had never been held by a democrat before. four years in the house, two years in the senate. i worked really hard to be a bridge builder, to turn down the volume and do more listening than talking and passed one of 90 billes into law, many with bipartisan support and of course as the only ob/gyn in the legislature, i helped lead the effort to protect access to reproductive healthcare in minnesota which was in need of protection in the wake to dobbs decision. >> talk about the experience you had. washington right now is not

known as a place where bridges are built between the parties. how do you see yourself in the political debate here? >> i grew up in a republican family. my dad has theories about why i was a democrat. he has a lot of jokes about it, but he is one of my heroes. he is one of the people i'm closest to. he still would consider himself a republican. we had a lifetime conversation about policy and politics. i have the utmost respect for him and he has respect for me too. one of my proudest moments as a kid was listening to my dad talk to a friend of his, a republican friend. his friend said to him jack, what happened to kelly? what are all of these political views she has? he said we raised our kids to be ifnt thinkers. i'm really proud of her. that was important for me as a kid. we talked about politics a lot. we had rousing debates at the dinner table. we love and respect each other

and sometimes we learn something from each other. we need to be reaching across the aisle at all times, now more than ever in these hyper polarized times. we are -- door knocking is the antidote to this i think. you are reminded again and again that we have more in champion common than we don't. my favorite door knocks with with died in the wool trump supporters who would never vote for me but i promise you we can find something in common, sometimes just a shared love to have minnesota vikings. if we can share laugh, i see that as a win and a repair to our frayed social fabric. >> as a physician, this city and country, healthcare is always under debate in some form of fashion. as a physician, what are your thoughts on how the country with meet the challenges that rise ahead? >> oh, boy, that is a big important question. i dug into it in the minnesota

legislature, particularly around the cost of prescription drugs. i have seen patients struggle to afford the medications that they need. i passed a drug price transparency act and a prescription drug affordability board with bipartisan support. i also worked on prior authorization reform to shorten time and turn around times and make sure the care is not delayed for patients. spend more money on healthcare than any of our peer nation and we have the worst outcomes. we're not doing something right. we need to have a big picture conversation. i worked on the margins on drug costs and expanding access to medicaid in minnesota for example. we need to have a big national conversation about where we want to go from here. we can't continue to do what we're doing now and getting the outcomes that we're getting. >> you have -- phillips who left

to run for president in 2024. you are friend? >> we are, yes. >> this is hea told you anything about the job? what have you learned from him, if anything about how to go forth? >> he told me a lot about the job. we had parallel political experience because we both ran for office for the first time in 2018. i for the state legislature and he for congress. he has been a big source of health and support for me. the he has walked me through how this place works and pointed out people that i should reach out to in particular. i think he really enjoyed his time here. i think there were some frustrations of course. all members of congress face some frustrations. he like i am is a really patriotic american and loves -- about their early lives,

previous careers, families and why they decided to run for office. tonight at 9:30 p.m. eastern, our interviews include democrat congressman eugene vindman who served as a u.s. army officer and played a role in the story of his brother, alexander vindman who came to national attention in 2019 for his testimony before congress on president trump's relationship with ukraine. >> i was lt. col. assigned to the white house on a detail, deputy legal advisor on national security staff. the chief official on the national security council staff. i worked right across the hall from my twin brother. he had the portfolio of russia-ukraine-belarus-moldova. he listened to the phone call. he heard the president's attempt at extortion and he reported it directly to me. >> watch members of congress all

this week starting at 9:30 p.m. eastern on c-span. looking to contact your members of congress? c-span is making it easy with our 2025 congressional directory. get essential contact information for government officials in one place. this compact guide contains bio and contact information for every house and senate member of the congress, contact information on congressional committees, the presidential cabinet, federal agencies and state governors. the congressional directory costs $32.95 plus shipping and handling. scan the code on the right or go to c-spanshop.org to preorder your copy today. s s. officials continue to engage with ss on a possible end to the war in ukraine,

prident trump has openly criticized ukrainian president zelenskyaneurope's efforts on truthocl, claiming the united states has spent20 billion more than europe and europe's mey is guaranteed while the united states will get nothing bac he also refers to presiden zelenskyy as a dictator without elections who better moveas or he is not going to have a country left and says in the meantime, we are successfully negotiating an end to the war with russia, something i will adt only tru a the trump and administration can do. biden never tried. eupeas failed to bring peace anzelenskyy probably wants to keep thera train going. i love ukraine but zelenskyy has done trible job. his country is shattered and millions have unnecessarily died and so it continues. republicanonesswoman victoria spartz remains the only ukinn born member of congre w became a vocal advoca f aiding the war against russian e early stages of the conflict. e shared the president's