American voters on Tuesday elected the country's first ever Muslim member of Congress. Democrat Keith Ellison, from Minneapolis, Minnesota, easily beat his opponent Alan Fine in a district the Republicans haven't carried since 1962. Ellison also became Minnesota's first black representative in Washington D.C.

Ellison, who insisted that his race and religion are not of primary importance, immediately called for the United States to withdraw troops from Iraq.

"I think the most important thing about this race is we tried to pull people together on things we all share, things that are important to everyone," he said following his victory. "We all need peace and this Iraq policy is dangerous to our country."

Ellison, 43, converted to Islam at 19 when he was a college student in his native Detroit. He succeeds Democrat Martin Sabo, who is retiring after 28 years.

Given that Ellison's district is solidly Democrat, his main challenge was making it through the September primary. He managed to squeak past a number of strong candidates in that race, likely helped by the diverse nature of the liberal 5th District in Minneapolis in which he ran. While Muslim voters in the United States make up only 3 percent of the electorate, Ellison benefited from a significant community of Somali immigrants in Minneapolis, many of them voting for the first time.

His campaign, Ellison emphasized, focused on labor issues, minority communities and Iraq. "We were able to bring in Muslims, Christians, Jews, Buddhists," Ellison, who was endorsed by a Jewish newspaper in Minneapolis, said. "We brought in everybody." He also said that Muslims in the United States have been treated differently since Sept. 11, 2001.

Opponents of Ellison focused on his personal shortcomings regarding unpaid taxes, late reporting on the financing of his campaign, a raft of unpaid parking tickets and his one-time affiliation with the anti-Semitic Nation of Islam. Ellison denounced Nation of Islam leader Louis Farakhan during his campaign and said he only worked with the group to help promote the Million Man March in 1995.