(Headline USA) Democrat Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison—who overcame a series of personal scandals and led the prosecution team that won the conviction of ex-officer Derek Chauvin in the death of George Floyd—announced Monday he will seek a second term.
Ellison, a former congressman and vice chair of the Democratic National Committee had been known for his extreme racial rhetoric, which included his association with anti-Semitic Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan.
He was forced to resign after allegations of domestic abuse against a former girlfriend, but pressed on to win his position as Minnesota’s top law-enforcement officer in 2018, despite the litany of character flaws and other red flags that surrounded him.
Ellison saw his shining moment for redemption when the George Floyd death case fell into his lap and volunteered to personally oversee it. He assembled a team of attorneys in private practice and from his office that persuaded jurors earlier this year to convict Chauvin of murder
Ellison is Minnesota’s first back attorney general and was also the first Muslim elected to Congress.
Ellison and Public Safety Commissioner John Harrington led a task force that proposed steps in 2020 to reduce police-involved deadly force encounters, including a bill for a uniform standard for when such actions are justified and a measure to encourage development of new models for policing.
Those may have been the prototype for the defund the police efforts that sprung up following Floyd’s death, with Minneapolis having been their wellspring.
Party officials said in an announcement ahead of an afternoon news conference that some of Ellison’s endorsers would include U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar, St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter III and Minnesota Farmers Union President Gary Wertish.
Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press
