Keith Ellison, the 30th Attorney General of Minnesota, is the first African American elected to statewide office in Minnesota and the first Muslim elected to statewide office anywhere in the United States. Before he took office in January 2019, Ellison had been a criminal-defense and civil-rights attorney in Minneapolis for sixteen years, executive director of a nonprofit legal-rights center, a four-year member of the Minnesota House of Representatives, a six-term U.S. Representative for Minnesota’s 5th congressional district, and Deputy Chair of the Democratic National Committee. His tenure as Minnesota AG produced one of the most-watched state prosecutions of the past decade — the case against the four Minneapolis police officers involved in the death of George Floyd in May 2020 — and a series of consumer-protection, antitrust, and federal-policy actions that have established the Minnesota AG’s office as a national presence.

Early life and education

Keith Maurice Ellison was born August 4, 1963, in Detroit, Michigan. His parents — Leonard Ellison, a psychiatrist, and Clida (Martinez) Ellison, a social worker — raised the family Catholic and were deeply involved in the civil rights movement; Ellison’s maternal grandfather had been an NAACP member in Louisiana, and the family’s civil-rights orientation shaped Ellison’s early political identity.

Ellison attended Wayne State University in Detroit, where during his undergraduate years in the mid-1980s he converted from Catholicism to Islam. He graduated from Wayne State in 1986 with a bachelor’s degree in economics. He then earned his J.D. from the University of Minnesota Law School in Minneapolis in 1990.

Sixteen years in private and nonprofit legal practice

From law school graduation in 1990 through his entry into electoral politics in 2002, Ellison spent sixteen years as a Minneapolis criminal-defense and civil-rights attorney. He represented criminal defendants in state and federal court and worked on civil-rights matters including police-misconduct cases. For five of those years, he served as executive director of the Legal Rights Center, a Minneapolis nonprofit that provides legal representation to clients of color and low-income communities, founded in 1970 by the American Indian Movement and the Way Community Center.

The Legal Rights Center years were the foundational experience that connected Ellison to the broader Minnesota civil-rights community and that shaped his approach to criminal-justice questions throughout his subsequent political career.

Minnesota House of Representatives, 2003–2007

Ellison was elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives in 2002, representing District 58B (parts of north and northeast Minneapolis). He served two two-year terms in the House from January 2003 through January 2007, focusing on criminal-justice reform, voting rights, and civil-rights legislation.

Twelve years in the U.S. House of Representatives, 2007–2019

In 2006, Ellison was elected to the U.S. House seat for Minnesota’s 5th congressional district, succeeding Martin Sabo who retired after fourteen terms. He took office on January 3, 2007, becoming the first Muslim elected to the U.S. Congress. He was re-elected five times, serving six total terms through January 3, 2019.

During his congressional tenure, Ellison served on the House Financial Services Committee for twelve years, where his portfolio included oversight of the financial-services industry, the housing industry, and Wall Street. He served as Co-Chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus from 2017 through his resignation from Congress, and as Deputy Chair of the Democratic National Committee from February 2017 through November 2018, working alongside DNC Chair Tom Perez.

Election as Minnesota Attorney General

In 2018, with longtime Minnesota AG Lori Swanson running for governor, Ellison entered the AG race and won the Democratic primary. In the November 2018 general election he defeated Republican Doug Wardlow with 49.0% of the vote in a close three-way race. He was sworn in on January 7, 2019, as the 30th Attorney General of Minnesota — and as both the first African American elected to statewide office in Minnesota and the first Muslim elected to statewide office anywhere in the United States.

He was re-elected in 2022, defeating Republican Jim Schultz with 50.3% of the vote — another close margin reflective of Minnesota’s evenly-divided statewide electorate.

Notable cases and AG portfolio

The George Floyd prosecution

The defining matter of Ellison’s first term — and one of the highest-profile state prosecutions of the past decade — was the state’s case against the four Minneapolis Police Department officers involved in the May 25, 2020 death of George Floyd. On May 31, 2020, Governor Tim Walz transferred lead prosecutorial authority from Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman to Ellison’s office. The state team Ellison assembled tried lead defendant Derek Chauvin in March-April 2021, securing a conviction on second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter. The three other officers — Thomas Lane, J. Alexander Kueng, and Tou Thao — were subsequently prosecuted on aiding-and-abetting charges; all four ultimately faced both state and federal civil-rights prosecutions, with all four convicted.

Wage theft and worker protection

Ellison created Minnesota’s first dedicated Wage Theft Unit within the AG’s office and brought enforcement actions against construction-industry, hospitality, and retail employers for unpaid wages and overtime violations. Minnesota’s wage-theft enforcement statute, strengthened in 2019, gives the AG criminal as well as civil enforcement authority — a relatively unusual structure that has produced felony charges against employers found to have systematically underpaid workers.

Multistate consumer protection and antitrust

Minnesota under Ellison has been an active state in the multistate antitrust enforcement landscape — joining the multistate actions against Google search, Meta, Visa, and Live Nation/Ticketmaster, and the state-level challenge to the proposed Kroger-Albertsons merger that was ultimately blocked in December 2024.

The 3M PFAS settlement

Minnesota inherited a long-running case against 3M for groundwater contamination by PFAS chemicals manufactured at 3M’s Cottage Grove plant. The case predated Ellison’s tenure but his office continued the litigation and contributed to the broader multistate PFAS-enforcement framework that has produced billions of dollars in settlements with 3M and other manufacturers nationally.

Federal-policy litigation

Since January 2025, Ellison’s office has joined or led numerous multistate lawsuits challenging federal executive actions on immigration, federal-employee due process, federal-funds disbursement, and federal-agency rulemaking. The Minnesota office’s filings have been particularly prominent on environmental-protection and consumer-protection matters within the broader Democratic state AG coalition.

Personal life

Ellison and his former wife, Kim Ellison (now a member of the Minneapolis Public Schools Board of Education), divorced in 2012. He has four adult children, two of whom — Jeremiah Ellison, a Minneapolis City Council member, and Amirah Ellison — have themselves entered Minneapolis civic life.

Frequently asked questions

What was Keith Ellison’s career before becoming Minnesota AG?

Ellison practiced criminal-defense and civil-rights law in Minneapolis for sixteen years (1990–2006), including five years as executive director of the Legal Rights Center. He served two terms in the Minnesota House of Representatives (2003–2007), six terms in the U.S. House representing Minnesota’s 5th congressional district (2007–2019), and as Deputy Chair of the Democratic National Committee from 2017 to 2018.

Is Keith Ellison the first Muslim attorney general in the United States?

Yes. Ellison was the first Muslim elected to statewide office in the United States when he was sworn in as Minnesota Attorney General on January 7, 2019. He is also the first African American elected to statewide office in Minnesota. Ellison had previously been the first Muslim elected to the U.S. Congress in November 2006.

What was Ellison’s role in the George Floyd case?

Governor Tim Walz transferred lead prosecutorial authority for the case from Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman to Ellison’s office on May 31, 2020. Ellison and his team tried lead defendant Derek Chauvin to a March-April 2021 conviction on second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter, and subsequently prosecuted the three other officers involved on aiding-and-abetting charges. All four officers were convicted at the state level and on federal civil-rights charges.

What law school did Keith Ellison attend?

Ellison earned his J.D. from the University of Minnesota Law School in Minneapolis in 1990, after earning his undergraduate degree in economics from Wayne State University in Detroit in 1986.

How long was Keith Ellison in Congress?

Twelve years — six two-year terms representing Minnesota’s 5th congressional district (Minneapolis and inner-ring suburbs) from January 3, 2007 to January 3, 2019. He resigned his House seat upon being elected Minnesota Attorney General. He served twelve years on the House Financial Services Committee and was Co-Chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus during his final term.

Sources

This profile is part of TheCompleteLawyer.com’s series on the U.S. state attorneys general. Profiles are intended as a neutral biographical resource focused on professional and legal career; they are not endorsements and do not represent the views of TheCompleteLawyer.com.