Democrats may be poised to elect Keith Ellison, a convert to Islam, to the House of Representatives from the Fifth District of Minnesota, a seat held by democrats since 1962, representing the city of Minneapolis and portions of Anoka and Ramsey counties. The candidate, who formerly called himself Keith E. Hakim, has also conveniently renounced previous associations with Louis Farrakhan’s Nation of Islam, along with inflammatory newspaper columns written in 1989 and 1990 during his period as a law student at the University of Minnesota.

Ellison’s slender primary victory featured strong support from a new Minneapolis Somali community, whose members began arriving in Minnesota in 1993 as refugees fleeing the civil war in Somalia.

If elected, he is expected to take the oath of office on the Koran.

New York Times story.