AP Photo Bernie Sanders gets second congressional endorsement

Sen. Bernie Sanders got his second congressional endorsement on Monday, from Rep. Keith Ellison.

"I’m endorsing Bernie because he is talking about the issues that are important to American families,” Ellison (D-Minn.) said in a statement to MSNBC. “His candidacy is important for many reasons, but I believe the most important part of his candidacy is that it has the ability to create a renaissance in voter participation, which was at its lowest in decades this past election cycle. We’ve all seen the massive crowds he is attracting, and I think that is a testament to his message connecting with people — people we will need to turn out in November.”


The endorsement came less than a week after Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.) endorsed Sanders, the first congressional member to do so. Ellison, an African-American and the first

Muslim-American elected to Congress, is co-chairman of the Progressive Congressional Caucus, along with Grijalva.

The endorsement from Ellison came the same day a new CNN/ORC poll found that just 4 percent of black voters in South Carolina and Nevada said they support Sanders in the Democratic presidential primary, in contrast with 59 percent for rival Hillary Clinton and 27 percent for Vice President Joe Biden, who is currently mulling whether to join the primary race. That's a stark difference from the poll's findings on white voters — 44 percent said they back Sanders, while 31 percent back Clinton and 22 percent said they back Biden.