Democratic Rep. Keith Ellison is in a heated battle with Republican challenger Doug Wardlow as both candidates are tied for the attorney general race in Minnesota, according to a poll released Sunday.
KSTP/SurveyUSA conducted the poll between Sept. 6 and Sept. 8 and found both candidates had 41 percent of support with 14 percent undecided, KSTP reported Sunday. The poll comes less than two months away from the midterms in November.
“Ellison is vulnerable in a way other Democrats are not,” political scientist Steven Schier told KSTP.
Ellison was accused of domestic abuse toward former partner Karen Monahan by Austin Monahan, 25, her son, The Daily Caller News Foundation previously reported.
“In the middle of 2017, I was using my moms computer trying to download something and I clicked on a file, I found over 100 text and twitters messages and video almost 2 min long that showed Keith Ellison dragging my mama off the bed by her feet, screaming and calling her a ‘fucking bitch’ and telling her to get the fuck out of his house,” Austin Monahan wrote in a Facebook post on Aug. 11.
Karen Monahan claimed to have proof through videos and recordings, though Ellison denied the allegations.
“Karen and I were in a long-term relationship which ended in 2016, and I still care deeply for her well-being,” Ellison said in a press statement Aug. 12. “This video does not exist because I never behaved in this way, and any characterization otherwise is false.”
Austin Monahan’s allegations prompted another woman, Amy Alexander, to accuse Ellison of abuse from 2005. Ellison denied having a relationship with Alexander. (RELATED: Keith Ellison’s Domestic Abuse Allegations Match A Similar Incident Almost A Decade Ago)
Forty percent of voters said the allegations would factor into not voting for Ellison, 39 percent said it was not a factor while 21 percent were unsure, according to the poll.
The poll also found 59 percent of Minnesotans did not want to become a sanctuary state for illegal immigrants, Alpha News reported Monday. Ellison has openly supported open borders.
Ellison sported a shirt that said “I do not believe in borders” in Spanish for a May Day parade in Minneapolis, according to a separate Alpha News article from May 8.
“Voters are motivated to defeat [e]xtremist Keith Ellison,” Billy Grant, Wardlow campaign manager, told TheDCNF. “The contrast is clear, Doug Wardlow stands for law and order and a safer Minnesota, while Keith Ellison supports sanctuary cities, and he is under investigation for domestic violence allegations.”
Ellison holds a 49 percent to 31 percent lead among female “likely voters” despite the allegations, KSTP reported. Minnesota’s attorney general seat has been held by the Democrats for 47 years.
The poll surrounding whether which attorney general candidate people would vote for surveyed 574 likely voters and had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.9 percentage points. The composition of the voters were 37 percent Democrats, 33 percent Republicans and 25 percent Independents.
The poll regarding Minnesota becoming a sanctuary state surveyed 1,050 adults and had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.6 percentage points.
Ellison’s campaign did not immediately respond to TheDCNF’s request for comment.
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