Story highlights Rep. Keith Ellison defends Bernie Sanders' record

Rep. John Lewis said he never saw Sanders during key moments of the civil rights movement

Washington (CNN) Rep. Keith Ellison, Bernie Sanders' lone supporter in the Congressional Black Caucus, defended the Vermont senator's civil rights record after Rep. John Lewis said he never saw Sanders at key moments during the 1960s.

"He didn't see Bernie Sanders because Bernie Sanders was doing fair and open housing in Chicago -- that's why he didn't see him. No matter how good your eyesight is -- if you are standing in Alabama, you can't see people in Chicago," Ellison told CNN. "That doesn't mean he wasn't absolutely there, fighting for justice, fighting for open housing."

The Minnesota Democrat effusively praised Lewis, saying, "If he needs a kidney, he should ask me."

Asked about the vast majority of his fellow Black Caucus members supporting Hillary Clinton instead of Sanders, Ellison brushed it off and said, "I really feel that Bernie is going to win and when he does, you know, we'll all be supporting Bernie Sanders."

Ellison said he sought out Sanders when he came to Washington because he sat on the Financial Services Committee and "made friends with him." The two still frequently talk on the phone about the state of the campaign and are both "political junkies."

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