Labor- and DFL-endorsed Keith Ellison is quick to provide the main reason he’s running for U.S. Congress: “restoration of the right to organize.” He adds: “the right to organize has been eroded. It has led to an imbalance between corporations and working people.”
Ellison’s bid for Fifth District U.S. Congress has been endorsed by the Minnesota AFL-CIO, AFSCME, SEIU Minnesota State Council, Teamsters DRIVE and other unions. The Fifth District includes Minneapolis and adjacent suburbs.
“It is really the labor movement which balances out our democracy,” Ellison says. “Unbridled corporate power is not a good thing… We need a more robust labor movement.”
“Whenever people are fighting for better wages and working conditions, I will be standing in solidarity with them,” he continues.
“Whether he’s speaking to a labor crowd or not, he’s talking about union organizing as a way to lift people out of poverty and into the middle class,” says Bill McCarthy, president of the Minneapolis Central Labor Union Council.
Labor’s ally at state legislature
First elected in 2002, Ellison currently serves in the Minnesota House representing District 58B in north Minneapolis.
He has earned a 96 percent lifetime AFL-CIO voting record on working family issues.
He has backed legislation to increase the minimum wage, increase education funding, and reduce environmental hazards.
“I’ve been able to be effective even in the minority party,” Ellison says. “I’m a proven fighter and leader for working people and I have delivered.”
In 2003, Ellison won the annual “Progressive Elected Official Award” from the Minnesota Alliance for Progressive Action, a labor-backed coalition.
Ellison won the DFL Party’s endorsement May 6 but he faces several challengers for the Primary Election September 12.
In addition, he’s faced intense media scrutiny over his 1995 involvement in the Million Man March, parking tickets and traffic tickets, and late filing of campaign finance reports.
“The record they should be examining for Keith is his voting record at the State Capitol,” says Ellison campaign manager Dave Colling. “There hasn’t been enough attention on the issues that working people care about.”
“The stakes are high and they’re going to be swinging hard,” Ellison says. “Anybody who’s going to be a strong voice for working people is going to get their share of hits.”
Ellison, 42, is a 1990 graduate of the University of Minnesota Law School. He grew up in Detroit and graduated from Wayne State University. He and his wife Kim, a teacher, have four children.
Steve Share edits the Minneapolis Labor Review, the official publication of the Minneapolis Central Labor Union Council. E-mail him at laborreview@mplscluc.com
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