Barb Davis White Enters Race Against Rep. Keith Ellison

White has a lengthy resume of social justice and religious work. She was formerly the pastor of Light Foundational Ministries of South Minneapolis, a congregation of mainly African-Americans, has traveled to the Congo to minister to rape victims, founded a ministry in Loring Park offering free meals to homeless individuals affected by HIV and, according to her campaign's political director, Daniel Riojas, she "was once held in Jordan by Islamic militants."

White was born in North Minneapolis and graduated from North High School. She currently lives in the 3rd Congressional District, where she was considering a run for the seat soon to be vacated by Rep. Jim Ramstad. "Barb considered a run for the open seat in the 3rd. We met with 3rd CD executives and the state party chair, so this idea was considered seriously," said Riojas.

Instead, she is focusing on her old neighborhood. "The issue which really tipped the balance toward running in the 5th was crime," said Riojas. "Barb, as a former funeral director who had presided over many funerals, counseled the families and grieved with the relatives.

"Barb simply felt that she could not continue her life as usual when the matter of living safely is itself in question for too many innocent people in this district," he said. Candidates for Congress are not required to live in the district for which they are running, but they must live in the state they plan to represent.

Asked what motivated White to seek Ellison's seat, Riojas responded, "Watching the cost in lives and opportunity which have resulted from many years of dangerous policy wrapped in inclusive language and the apparent inability of DFL leadership to discipline themselves to acknowledge failure of "progressive" policies and their terrible cost, which always affect the poor disproportionately."

Barb White says that in addition to crime issues, she is committed to investigating minority vote dilution and violations of the Voting Rights Act. She will also focus efforts on gang-related drug use and violent crime.

In addition to the 5th District's solid DFL base, another challenge White will face is a sizable lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender vote, one of the largest in the country.

"I'm angrily trying to adjust to the whole idea of the homosexual community trying to ride on the back of the civil rights movement,'' she told the Pioneer Press in November 2005. "I'm a Bible-preaching pastor, and homosexuality is still listed as a sin in the Bible. It's not a matter of my just having an intolerance, but my whole premise for participating (in the summit) is because the African-American family is already dying with two women — usually mothers and grandmothers — leading families because their fathers are gone. And the family is disintegrating.''

Those remarks were made in reference to the pastor's summit hosted by the Minnesota Family Council, a group that opposes homosexuality.

But despite that, Riojas says that White has the support of people from many different backgrounds. "Barb is well-known and respected among the broadest range of demographics and groups of any candidate in recent memory in Minnesota politics" because of her work, Riojas said.