By Bill Salisbury, St. Paul Pioneer Press

U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison predicted Wednesday that his fellow Minnesota Democrat, Congressman Tim Walz, will be Minnesota’s next governor.

“I’m not advocating; I’m simply predicting,” Ellison said of Walz during an appearance at the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs. The event was co-moderated by political science professor Larry Jacobs and Pioneer Press Capitol Bureau Chief Rachel Stassen-Berger.

Walz, a six-term lawmaker from Mankato, announced last month that he will give up his southern Minnesota House seat to run for governor in 2018.

Ellison, the Minneapolis lawmaker who recently was picked as deputy chair of the Democratic National Committee, also predicted that Democrats will regain control of the U.S. House and Senate next year.

“We’re going to have a reverse Trump-effect in 2018. It’s going to be good,” he said. He said he would run for his Minneapolis seat again next year.

Looking ahead to the 2020 presidential race, Ellison named U.S. Sens. Christopher Murphy of Connecticut and Cory Booker of New Jersey and former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley as possible candidates for the Democratic nomination. The congressman said he would not run for president.

“You could pretty safely, you know, bet I will not be running for president,” said Ellison, who also guessed that current Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges would be re-elected.
—Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.