U S Democrat seeks to be first Muslim Congressman

MINNEAPOLIS, Sep 13 (Reuters) A Minnesota state legislator who advocates a US withdrawal from Iraq was favored to become the first Muslim in Congress, a day after he won his Democratic primary race.

State Rep Keith Ellison, a lawyer who made little mention of his Muslim faith during the campaign and who is considered an eloquent orator, would also become the state's first black congressman if he wins the general election in November to represent a solidly Democratic district.

''In this election, we had people who say 'shalom.' We had people who say 'as-salaamu aleykum.' We had people who say all the words of greeting to each other in peace, because peace must be the guiding principle of our nation,'' the 43-year-old Ellison told his raucous victory party in Minneapolis on last night.

A representative of the Council on American-Islamic Relations welcomed the nomination as a step forward.

''We think it's a very encouraging sign, a sure sign of the growing empowerment of American Muslims and their growing participation in the body politic,'' spokesman Corey Saylor said.

Ellison will face Republican nominee Alan Fine.

Ellison, a Detroit native who represents a predominantly black Minneapolis district in the state legislature, had won the party's endorsement earlier in the year to replace retiring Democrat US Rep Martin Sabo.

Sabo has represented the solidly city-suburban congressional district since 1979 and had sought to have his former top aide, Mike Erlandson, succeed him in the House of Representatives.

But Ellison won more than 40 percent of the vote in a seven-way race in which he drew support from peace activists loyal to Sen. Paul Wellstone, the Minnesota liberal firebrand who died in a 2002 plane crash, and from an expanding immigrant population in Minneapolis.

Ellison referred to Wellstone frequently during the campaign and used ''Wellstone green'' as his campaign's colour. He advocated an immediate withdrawal of U S troops from Iraq, citing the cost and what he said was a desire by Iraqis and Americans to pull them out.

His two main Democratic opponents, both white, appeared reluctant to focus on either Ellison's race or his faith.

However, he was criticised for ties to Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan -- primarily as one of the organizers of the 1995 ''Million Man March,'' political scientist David Schultz of Hamline University said.

Farrakhan, leader of the National of Islam black nationalist group, espouses Islamic teachings but has been accused of making racist and anti-Semitic remarks.

''There was always a murmur right below the proverbial radar screen (about Ellison's Muslim faith). There were stories he was associated with Louis Farrakhan. But they never became the subject,'' Schultz said. ''I don't have a sense from talking to him that he is very public with his religion.'' Ellison's biggest challenges during the campaign turned out to be dozens of unpaid traffic tickets and a record of unpaid taxes.

Ellison, a father of four who attends a Minneapolis mosque, has said it might be good to have a Muslim in Congress.

Fine, his Republican opponent, sought to raise doubts about Ellison's candidacy: ''Having a person like this running for U.S. Congress with the background that he has and the things that have been revealed about him, we should all be concerned as Minnesotans having someone like Keith Ellison representing us,'' Fine said in a report on Minnesota Public Radio.

Reuters VJ RN0143