DFLers in the Fifth Congressional District are scheduled to meet Sunday to try to endorse a primary candidate for the newly open congressional seat.
The endorsement is functionally a symbolic gesture, since all five candidates will appear on the Aug. 14 primary ballot no matter what happens. But official party backing still confers some status in the heavily Democratic Fifth District, which includes all of Minneapolis as well as St. Louis Park, Edina, Golden Valley, Robbinsdale and other nearby suburbs.
U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison has represented the district since 2003 but decided this month to run for state attorney general. That set off a scramble among would-be successors, including three with some experience at the State Capitol: former House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher, state Rep. Ilhan Omar and state Sen. Patricia Torres Ray, all of Minneapolis.
The other two candidates filed to run as DFLers are Jamal Abdulahi of Minneapolis, president of a health care information startup and the founder of the DFL Somali-American Caucus, and Frank Nelson Drake of Edina, a Realtor who…
