By David Montgomery

Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.

The partisan divide between Republicans and Democrats in Washington, D.C., has never been sharper. But a severe thunderstorm helped bring two Minnesota members of Congress together Friday despite their political differences.

U.S. Rep. Rick Nolan, a Democrat who represents northeastern Minnesota’s 8th District, was on the same flight home Thursday from D.C. with Rep. Jason Lewis, a freshman Republican from the south-suburban 2nd District. But severe thunderstorms in the eastern United States led to thousands of flight cancellations — including the one the two members of the House Aviation subcommittee were going to take back to the Twin Cities.

The two men talked Thursday as they were caught in the airport. On Friday, Nolan’s staff found a way to get the two most of the way back home: a flight to Madison, Wisconsin. They drove the rest of the way home Friday evening together with Nolan’s granddaughter Ellie Heggerston, a student at the University of Wisconsin.

“It’s been terrific,” Nolan said from the car, where he and Lewis passed a cell phone back and forth to talk to the Pioneer Press. “We’ve been threatening to get together for a cup of coffee, but I haven’t gotten around to it… I found Jason to be just wonderfully delightful, a good heart and soul, and tried getting to know him.”

The two mostly avoided politics, talking instead about their families, backgrounds, food in congressional caucus meetings and other personal topics — along with commiserating about the delays that turned a quick flight home into an ordeal lasting more than 30 hours.

“The red vs. blue tribalism has gone probably a little too far in the minds of most Americans,” Lewis said. “Showing that folks can get along, and even if they don’t get along… can converse in a respectful way and have fun doing it, is important.”

In addition to sharing their journey, the pair of lawmakers decided to broadcast live videos of the road trip they dubbed the voyage of “Lewis and Nolan” on Facebook.

Bipartisan road trips have become a sudden thing in Congress. Two Texas congressmen drove together from Texas all the way to Washington, D.C. last month after snow cancelled their flights, posting regular updates to social media along the way.

Nolan and Lewis’ newfound friendship hasn’t erased the real differences between them about the country’s direction. But they did discover they shared one position: skepticism about the missile strikes President Donald Trump ordered Thursday against Syria.

“We both feel rather strongly that the president should come to Congress for approval if he wants to engage in military strikes, which are the equivalent of acts of war,” Nolan said.

Heggerston was planning on driving home for break on Monday, but moved up her trip to take her grandfather and his colleague home with her. She and Nolan dropped Lewis off in the Twin Cities after 10 p.m. Friday, then headed north to Nolan’s home near Brainerd.

“This was just sort of happenstance,” Lewis said. “We were sitting here and said, what the heck, let’s have some fun.”