RBJ’s restaurant in Crookston welcomed District-5 congressman Keith Ellison on Thursday as a campaign stop in Ellison’s bid to become Minnesota’s next Attorney General. Ellison, a member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, has served in the U.S. House of Representatives since 2007 but announced his decision to leave Congress with hopes to serve as Minnesota’s next Attorney General on June 5. Ellison sat down with local community leaders in Crookston to answer their questions and explain his goals if elected. Ellison stressed that as his focus as Attorney General would extend beyond the Twin Cities, “we need to make sure that we have an Attorney General that is reaching out all the time, all over Minnesota, every inch of it.”
Just one month into his campaign Ellison has already made stops across Minnesota and the Congressman stressed the value he sees in Crookston while explaining his decision to visit the city during his campaign. “Crookston is a critically important community here in Minnesota. Crookston is a leader in many areas. Educationally, it helps hold up critical services for a lot of people, not just in Crookston, but around Crookston, (UMC) Crookston is an educational center and I just think it’s incredibly important to be here,” said Ellison. “I will tell you this, people in Crookston care about what happens in the state. They’re passionate about it, they’re concerned about our country and they had a lot of important things to tell me.”
While Ellison didn’t address the current status of the Farm Bill during the public forum, he did provide some insight when speaking with KROX after the event. “On the Farm Bill I often confer with a very good friend of mine, Colin Peterson (DFL, Minnesota’s 7th District Representative), on the Farm Bill. He knows about as much, if not more so, than anybody about the Farm Bill. If he could not support the House version of that Farm Bill, then there is something wrong with that Farm Bill,” said Ellison. “I don’t believe that we should conditionalize food assistance on work requirements. I don’t think that’s necessary. I don’t think that’s helpful to anyone. I think it’s sending a political message that you think low-income people are lazy. They’re not, in fact, low-income people are some of the hardest working people around because they do some of the hardest jobs for some of the least amounts of money.” As for what Ellison thinks it will take to get a new Farm Bill passed, “it’s going to take compromise and we’ve got to get our Republican friends to realize compromise is not a dirty word and if you want to get a bill passed there are going to have to be some things in it that we like to.”
Amid the shifting political climate Ellison’s decision to leave, what he admitted was a “safe seat” in Congress to pursue the state’s Attorney General position would not prevent him from effecting further changes on a national level. “As the state’s Attorney General my obligation is to represent the people of Minnesota, but the people of Minnesota often have interests that are consistent and common with other people in other states so there’s a lot of states that have combined their energies,” said Ellison. “I would look to look for other states to partner with and combine our energies to protect the people of Minnesota (and other states at the same time).”
Ellison will challenge fellow Democrats for the party’s nomination during the Primary election in Minnesota on August 14.
Keith Ellison listens to the crowd during his visit to Crookston
