Keith Maurice Ellison is an American politician and lawyer who is the Attorney General-elect of Minnesota. Ellison has been the U.S. Representative for Minnesota's 5th congressional district since 2007 and the Deputy Chair of the Democratic National Committee since 2017. He is a member of the Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party , the Minnesota state Democratic Party affiliate. His district centers on Minneapolis and surrounding suburbs. He is a vice-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and a Chief Deputy Whip, and also serves on the House Committee on Financial Services.
Ellison was the first Muslim to be elected to the U.S. Congress, and the first African American to have been elected to the U.S. House from Minnesota.In November 2016, progressive groups and United States senators, including Bernie Sanders of Vermont, supported Ellison for chair of the Democratic National Committee. On February 25, 2017, minutes after defeating him on the second ballot, newly elected Chairman Tom Perez moved for Ellison to be elected his Deputy Chair, which was approved by a unanimous voice vote of DNC members.On June 5, 2018, Ellison announced that he would not seek reelection to a seventh term in Congress in 2018, but would instead run for Minnesota Attorney General. On August 14, Ellison won the Minnesota Democratic primary. On November 6, he was elected Attorney General, defeating Republican nominee Doug Wardlow and becoming the first African American elected to statewide office in Minnesota, as well as the first Muslim to win election to any statewide office.
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4. August 1963
