A familiar face in Olympia a decade ago is now familiar face across America after appearing on national TV Tuesday night.

U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, who represents Eastern Washington’s 5th Congressional District, gave the Republican response to President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address to Congress and the nation.  McMorris Rodgers was first elected to Congress in 2004 and is now the No. 4 ranking Republican in the House and the highest-ranking GOP woman in Congress.

You can watch her response here.

In her 10-minute talk, McMorris Rodgers outlined broad Republican goals. She also gave an intimate look at her personal life, including how she and her husband Brian are raising three children (the oldest has Down syndrome and the youngest was born just eight weeks ago), how she went from working at a McDonald’s to help pay for college (she is her family’s first college graduate) to being the 200th woman to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives. McMorris Rodgers also touched on growing up in northeastern Washington’s Kettle Falls, where she worked in her family’s orchard and fruit stand.

Several D.C. pundits have given a thumbs-up to McMorris Rodgers’ rebuttal. In First Read, MSNBC’s Chuck Todd says it was the best response in the Obama era.  The Washington Post also gave a positive review.

Longtime Olympia observers know McMorris Rodgers from when she was then-7th Legislative District Rep. Bob Morton’s legislative assistant in the early 1990s. When Morton was appointed as the district’s state senator in 1994, McMorris Rodgers was chosen to take Morton’s House seat and was elected five times. In 2002, McMorris Rodgers became House Republican leader before embarking on her successful first run for Congress two years later.

This isn’t the first time a Washingtonian gave the official response to a president’s SOTU address. In 1999, Congresswoman Jennifer Dunn (R-8th District) joined Oklahoma Rep. (and former Seahawk great) Steve Largent in responding to President Clinton’s address.