Keith Ellison
Keith Maurice Ellison (born August 4, 1963) is an American politician and lawyer serving as the 30th attorney general of Minnesota. A member of the Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), Ellison was the U.S. representative for Minnesota's 5th congressional district from 2007 to 2019. He also served as the deputy chair of the Democratic National Committee from 2017 to 2018 and a member of the Minnesota House of Representatives from 2003 to 2007. In Congress, Ellison built a reputation as a progressive leader.[1]
This article is about the Attorney General of Minnesota. For other people named Keith Ellison, see Keith Ellison (disambiguation).
Keith Ellison
Born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, Ellison moved to Minnesota for law school. In 2002, he was elected to the Minnesota House and served two terms. After longtime U.S. Representative Martin Olav Sabo announced his retirement, Ellison announced his candidacy for Congress in the 2006 election. He won the race and was reelected five times. His district included Minneapolis, the state's largest city, and its inner-ring suburbs. In Congress, Ellison was a vice-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and a chief deputy whip. He also sat on the House Committee on Financial Services. Ellison was the first Muslim elected to Congress[2] and the first African American representative from Minnesota.[3]
Ellison's profile was raised when he ran for chair of the Democratic National Committee in November 2016,[4] gaining support from progressive groups and U.S. Senators Bernie Sanders and Chuck Schumer. His candidacy prompted renewed scrutiny of his past statements and affiliation with the Nation of Islam, which drew criticism from some moderate Democrats. Ellison lost to former Secretary of Labor Tom Perez, who subsequently appointed Ellison deputy chair, a decision approved by unanimous voice vote of DNC members.[5]
In the summer of 2018, Ellison announced that he would not seek reelection to Congress, and would run for Minnesota attorney general.[6][7] He won the Democratic primary and defeated nominee Republican Doug Wardlow in the general election, becoming the first African American elected to partisan statewide office in Minnesota, as well as the first Muslim in the U.S. to win statewide office. He was narrowly reelected in 2022 with 50.4% of the vote.
Early life, education, and career[edit]
Keith Ellison, the third of five sons, was raised Catholic[8] in Detroit, Michigan, by his parents, Leonard Ellison, a psychiatrist and Clida (Martinez) Ellison, a social worker.[9][10][11] Ellison and three of his brothers became lawyers; his other brother became a doctor. One of Ellison's brothers is also the pastor of "Church of the New Covenant Baptist" in Detroit.[10] Ellison's youth was influenced by the involvement of his family in the civil rights movement, including his grandfather's work as a member of the NAACP in Louisiana.[9]
Ellison graduated in 1981 from the University of Detroit Jesuit High School and Academy, where he was active in sports and a senator in the student government.[10][12]
At the age of 19, while attending Wayne State University in Detroit, Ellison converted from Catholicism to Islam, later giving the following explanation: "I can't claim that I was the most observant Catholic at the time [of my conversion]. I had begun to really look around and ask myself about the social circumstances of the country, issues of justice, issues of change. When I looked at my spiritual life, and I looked at what might inform social change, justice in society ... I found Islam."[13][14]
After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in economics in 1986,[15] Ellison married his high school sweetheart[8] and moved to Minneapolis to attend the University of Minnesota Law School. Ellison graduated with a Juris Doctor in 1990.[16][17]
After graduating from law school, Ellison worked for three years at the firm of Lindquist & Vennum, where he was a litigator specializing in civil rights, employment, and criminal defense law.[16][18] Ellison then became executive director of the nonprofit Legal Rights Center in Minneapolis, which specializes in the defense of indigent clients.[18] Upon leaving the Legal Rights Center, Ellison entered private practice with the law firm Hassan & Reed Ltd, specializing in trial practice.[19] Ellison has also been regularly involved in community service. He served as the unpaid host of a public affairs talk program at KMOJ radio,[18] and has also often volunteered as a track coach for several organizations, working with youth between the ages of five and 18. He said, "It's a great community-building device because it's for all ages and all genders. Everyone can find a way to fit in."[18]
Minnesota House of Representatives[edit]
In November 2002 Ellison was elected to his first public office, as a member of the Minnesota House of Representatives serving House district 58B. At the time he took his seat, his party was the smallest House minority in Minnesota history.[20] During this session Ellison was appointed to the Governmental Operations & Veterans Affairs Policy Committee, the Judiciary Policy & Finance Committee and the Local Government & Metropolitan Affairs Committee. He also spearheaded an ethics complaint against Rep. Arlon Lindner for a speech Lindner made that Ellison alleged amounted to a denial that homosexuals were persecuted during the Holocaust.[9]
Ellison was reelected to his seat in 2004 with 84% of the vote. During the 84th session, he served on the Civil Law & Elections Committee and the Public Safety Policy & Finance Committee. Upon his election to Congress, Ellison's seat in the Minnesota House of Representatives was filled by Augustine Dominguez, a Latino community activist and fellow member of the DFL.[21]
Political positions[edit]
Economy[edit]
Ellison supports the Reward Work Act of 2018 to reform US labor law and corporate law by guaranteeing the right of employees in listed companies to elect one-third of the board of directors.
Abortion[edit]
In 2009 and 2011 Ellison had a 100% rating from NARAL Pro-Choice America indicating a pro-choice voting record.[99][100]
LGBT rights[edit]
In a November 12, 2010, interview with the BBC's program Outlook, Ellison was asked to describe his constituents. He answered, "The district I represent is the kind of district where you can have a Member of Congress stand up for religious tolerance and against religious bigotry, against anyone, but also stand up for the rights of gays, too."[101] In Congress he served as vice-chair of the Congressional Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Caucus.
Gun rights[edit]
During a March 2014 appearance on Real Time with Bill Maher, Ellison said he was "for gun control, but I don't think you have got to eliminate ownership of all guns in order to get some common-sense gun rules." Host Bill Maher asked him, "Then why doesn't your party come out against the Second Amendment?" Guest Sheila Bair then interjected, "Fifty-one votes, that's all it takes." Ellison responded, "I sure wish they would. I sure wish they would." Ellison's campaign has stated he was responding to Bair, not to Maher. Bair has said that she was referring to President Barack Obama's nomination of Vivek Murthy for U.S. Surgeon General. Murthy supports stronger gun regulations.[102]
Iraq War[edit]
After President George W. Bush vetoed HR 1591 that provided military funding for the Iraq War because it contained timetables for withdrawal, Ellison and fellow Minnesota Rep. Betty McCollum, joined House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other top House Democrats in voting "no" to HR 2206 that provided the funding without any timetables. The bill passed the House on a 280 to 142 margin.[103]
Ellison joined fellow Minnesota freshman Democrat Tim Walz in opposing Bush's plan to increase troop levels in Iraq.[104]
On January 10, 2007, Bush announced his plans for the Iraq War troop surge of 2007. The gist of this announcement had been known around the Capitol for over a week, and when the Associated Press asked Ellison for his reaction to the idea on January 8, 2007, he said that it was "way too late, way too little. ... So rather than do something small and ineffective, why not get about the business of what we're going to have to do eventually, which is to begin to end the occupation?" Ellison called for an immediate withdrawal in Iraq: "We could describe it as a redeployment or withdrawal, but I think we have run the course in terms of our ability to resolve this conflict militarily. I think we need to have a political and economic and diplomatic engagement, and we need to encourage the forces that are in Iraq to begin to resolve the violence in Iraq." When asked if he would support Bush's call for an additional $100 billion to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Ellison said, "I want to see [the request] first, I want to actually look at it, but I'm not inclined to continue to support a war or an occupation that he has no plans to get us out of, and which is so costly in terms of dollars and lives of American soldiers but also Iraqis." When asked for a reaction to the comments, the White House referred to a previous statement by press secretary Tony Snow: "Democrats will have to decide where they stand on two issues: 'No. 1, do you want Iraq to succeed, and, if so, what does that mean? And, No. 2, do you believe in supporting the troops as you say, and how do you express that support?'"[105]
Freedom of speech[edit]
In 2019, the city of Bloomington passed an ordinance that forbade filming students of Dar Al-Farooq Islamic Center in a public park, which led to a successful lawsuit against the city in the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit to reinstate the First Amendment rights of the parties involved.[106] Ellison had asked the court to drop the case.[107]
Iran[edit]
Ellison has supported normalizing Iran-United States relations and reopening an interest section or embassy in Tehran; he was one of only five Democrats in Congress who voted against the 2015 Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act. In a speech to the National Iranian American Council, he said it does not make sense to cut off contact with the Iranian government, because "when we put up an embassy or an interest section in another country, it's not a gift to them ... You're not doing something for the other country by having someone to look after our interests there, and by withdrawing it, it's not a punishment."[108]
Bush administration[edit]
On June 28, 2007, Ellison cosponsored Representative Dennis Kucinich's bill to impeach Vice President Dick Cheney for "high crimes and misdemeanors." Ellison's spokesperson, Rick Jauert, said the effort was "largely to send a message" and that Ellison "has no illusions that this is going anywhere and that's fine. We've got more important things to do that affect people's daily lives. He basically signed on out of principle, as an expression of the importance of the rule of law—that nobody is above the law, not even the vice president."[109]
On July 8, 2007, Ellison gave a speech in Edina, Minnesota, denouncing Bush's commutation of Lewis Libby's sentence: "If Libby gets pardoned, then he should not have the cover of the Fifth Amendment. He's going to have to come clean and tell the truth. Now, he could get Gonzales-itis [referring to U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales], you know, with 71 lapses of memory within a two-hour period." He also criticized Bush's White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, saying, "This is basically the Department of Religious Outreach. ... It's essentially a public-relations outreach arm for the Bush administration to reach out to the far right of the evangelical Christian movement. That's really all it is."[110]
On July 25, 2007, Ellison voted in the House Judiciary Committee to issue citations of contempt of congress to White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten and former White House Counsel Harriet Miers for "failure to comply with subpoenas on the firings of several federal prosecutors".[111]
Trump administration[edit]
In 2017, Ellison said he was open to demands to start an impeachment process against President Donald Trump: "Donald Trump has already done a number of things which legitimately raise the question of impeachment."[112] By the December 2019 Impeachment of Donald Trump, Ellison was no longer serving in the House of Representatives.
Human rights[edit]
Ellison issued a statement on March 21, 2008, that criticized the Chinese government for its Tibet policy and for its relationship with Sudan's leaders "as they commit genocide on the citizens of Darfur."[113]
Ellison was arrested along with seven other people including U.S. Representatives James McGovern, John Lewis, Donna Edwards, and Lynn Woolsey for civil disobedience in April 2009 when they spoke at the Sudanese Embassy in Washington, D.C., to protest that the president of Sudan, Omar al-Bashir, had asked international aid groups bringing food, health care and water, to leave Darfur.[114]
Basic income[edit]
On August 17, 2017, Ellison said he supported guaranteed basic income.[115]
2016 U.S. presidential election endorsements[edit]
Ellison was the second U.S. Representative (after Raúl Grijalva) to endorse Bernie Sanders for president in the 2016 Democratic primary.[116] He endorsed Hillary Clinton after she secured the party's nomination.[117]
2020 U.S. presidential election endorsements[edit]
On June 28, 2019, Ellison endorsed Bernie Sanders for president, citing Medicare for All.[118] He endorsed Joe Biden after Biden won the Democratic nomination.[119]
Travels abroad[edit]
Middle East[edit]
In late March and early April 2007 Ellison was a member of a congressional delegation on a "fact-finding trip to the Middle East".[120] The group included Representatives Henry Waxman, Tom Lantos, Louise Slaughter, Nick Rahall, Dave Hobson, who were led by Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The delegation visited the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the Western Wall. Ellison called his visit to Islam's third-holiest site, the Al-Aqsa Mosque, as "personally moving".[121][122] The group met with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and discussed the peace plan devised by the Saudis in 2002.[121] The delegation also met with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.[123]
The group's visit to Syria was criticized by the Bush administration, which restated its view that the United States should not have diplomatic relations with state sponsors of terrorism. While there the delegation conveyed a message from Olmert to Syrian President Bashar Assad that "Israel is interested in peace if Damascus stops supporting terrorism".[121] In Lebanon the group met with Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and Speaker Nabih Berri. They also visited the grave of Rafik Hariri and met with his son Saad Hariri.[124] In Saudi Arabia the group spoke to King Abdullah and his Shura Council of advisers.[125] They praised his peace plan and advocated a greater role for women in his nation's political process. Ellison's inclusion in the delegation was praised by council member Abdul-Rahman al-Zamel.[124][125] Ellison called the king a "visionary leader" and said, "Even being in the same country where Mecca and Medina are located was personally uplifting for me."[122] Ellison also said he hoped his presence as a Muslim among the delegation conveyed a message to the Israelis and Palestinians that "people can come together. Reconciliation is possible."[120]
Public profile[edit]
Interview with Glenn Beck[edit]
On November 14, 2006, Glenn Beck of CNN Headline News[152] said to Ellison, "I have been nervous about this interview with you, because what I feel like saying is, 'Sir, prove to me that you are not working with our enemies.' And I know you're not. I'm not accusing you of being an enemy, but that's the way I feel, and I think a lot of Americans will feel that way." Ellison replied that his constituents, "know that I have a deep love and affection for my country. There's no one who's more patriotic than I am, and so you know, I don't need to — need to prove my patriotic stripes."[153]
When asked by Beck for his opinion on Muslim extremists, Ellison replied, "They're criminals. But I think that people who commit criminal acts should be treated like criminals, regardless of their faith."[152] Ellison has also said, "Osama bin Laden no more represents Islam than Timothy McVeigh represented Christianity."[154] Asked about the incident later, Ellison dismissed it, saying, "It's just shock TV. Some pundits think they have to ask the most outrageous questions."[155]
On January 2, 2007, Beck said on his radio program that Ellison did not take offense at the comments and the two had a friendly chat off the air. On January 9, 2007, at the Television Critics Association's semiannual press tour, Beck said it was "Quite possibly the poorest-worded question of all time." He clarified by saying, "My point to Keith Ellison ... is the same point that I make to my own faith, and that is — you must stand up before things get out of control ... And it's important for people of all faiths, when someone is hijacking their religion, to stand and say, 'That is not what we do. That is not who we are."'[156]
Nation of Islam affiliation[edit]
As a law student in 1989 and 1990 Ellison wrote several columns under the name "Keith E. Hakim" in the student newspaper, the Minnesota Daily. He defended Louis Farrakhan against claims of racism,[157] and further wrote that Farrakhan "is also not an anti-Semite" and called affirmative action a "sneaky" form of compensation for slavery, suggesting that white Americans instead pay reparations to blacks.[158][31][159][160] Mother Jones reported that, under the name "Keith X Ellison," he wrote defenses of Farrakhan against accusations of anti-semitism after the 1995 Million Man March, and again in 1997.[161]
Minister James Muhammad, a former leader of the Nation of Islam's Twin Cities study group, has said that Ellison served for several years as the group's "chief of protocol", in which capacity he acted as a liaison between Muhammad and local communities.[161]
Personal life[edit]
Ellison and his former wife, Kim, a high school mathematics teacher,[184] had four children between 1989 and 1997.[18] Keith Ellison is a Muslim, and although Kim Ellison is not, the Ellisons' four children were raised in the Muslim faith.[185] One of their sons, Jeremiah, was elected to the Minneapolis City Council.[186]
During Ellison's 2006 campaign Kim Ellison revealed that she had been living with moderate multiple sclerosis for several years.[187] Keith Ellison filed for a legal separation from Kim Ellison in 2010,[188] and their divorce was finalized on May 2, 2012.[189] Kim Ellison was elected to the Minneapolis School Board in 2012 as vice-chair and in November 2016 as an at-large member.[190][191]
Awards[edit]
The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee gave Ellison its Trailblazer Award.[192] He was named an Utne Reader visionary in 2011.[193]
Memoirs[edit]
Ellison's book My Country 'Tis of Thee was published in 2014.[194]
His personal account of the events surrounding the murder of George Floyd and trial of Derek Chauvin for that murder appear in his book Break the Wheel: Ending the Cycle of Police Violence.[195]