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This article appears as part of a special issue of The American Prospect magazine on state policy divergence and aggression. Subscribe here.
Minnesota has four states on its borders; all of them have Republican legislatures, and all but one a Republican governing trifecta. It feels state policy divergence and aggression right on its doorstep. But Minnesota has also been a blue oasis among that sea of red, passing progressive policies and using its leverage to resist the conservative momentum. As state attorney general, Keith Ellison is at the forefront of that pushback. The former six-term congressmember talked about his strategies for countering the right’s ambitions at the state level.
TAP: In December 2023, you took the lead to organize a letter signed by other Democratic state attorneys general to push back against a campaign by right-wing state officials aimed at intimidating states and financial companies that embraced ESG criteria in their investments. What other actions can you take against these far-right campaigns?
Keith Ellison: We reacted to another completely offensive action by right-wing AGs who are trying to get the EPA to abandon activities to protect communities of color against environmental injustices. They term this “racial engineering.” This is led by Florida’s attorney general, Ashley Moody. She got 22 other Republican AGs to go on her letter. She doesn’t want the EPA to use civil rights laws to investigate actions and policies that resolve environmental harm to Black people or other minorities.
We wrote to the EPA as well. We said, you must be doing this. It’s your legal responsibility to enforce the law, to protect communities from additional pollution burdens.
Going beyond these dueling letters, is there some way you can take the fight to the other side?
That’s exactly what we need to be doing. My colleagues in the Democratic Attorneys General Association are looking to ways to do just that. This is really about returning America to a period before the Supreme Court decision of Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, and before the great civil rights acts of the 1960s. They want to tear down all that we have built. We need to go on the offensive.
When you were in Congress, you saw the partisan gridlock. Do you think that explains why the far right is using the states to try to make headway with right-wing policies?
I think they are trying to roll back policies of equal justice on all fronts. And not just the federal government and the states—school boards, too. They have a comprehensive strategy to return America to pre-1954 on all fronts.
In Minnesota, you border a lot of red states with extreme policies. Is being an island of blue an asset? Or is it more of a challenge?
It’s a tremendous asset. Because Minnesota is the envy of every single state around it. They all wish they could be Minnesota. I’m not just being provincial. Not only is our economy bigger. Not only is there more economic opportunity here, but you can live your life and have more freedom.
You can participate in a better school. You can have more housing options. A lot of things are just flat-out better. If the Dakotas and Iowa don’t want the LGBTQ community, fine. Come here, open a business here. If they don’t want women to be able to be CEOs or to succeed in the professions, we are looking for talent, and talent comes in all kinds of packages.
So I think it gives us an advantage, because what they’re essentially doing is shutting their doors on people who can help their state. And that means that we’re going to benefit. I guarantee you, if they keep this up, Minnesota will be known as the place that is freer, fairer, and more prosperous.
People like Ken Paxton, the Texas attorney general, are trying to export their policies to more progressive states. Paxton wants to track down and punish women who travel out of state to get abortions, and he wants other states to cooperate with Texas, as in the Fugitive Slave Act. How can Minnesota resist that?
Paxton has two constititional problems. One is the freedom to travel. The other is the provision on the Minnesota Constitution guaranteeing women the right to choose. So if he tries to get records on someone who arguably travels to Minnesota and tries to get Minnesota to cooperate, we will block that and I will be in a Texas court.
