Democratic activist and former DNC vice chair David Hogg announced it is supporting state Rep. Donavan McKinney, D-Detroit, over incumbent U.S. Rep. Shri Thanedar in Michigan’s 13th District.
“Shri Thanedar is exactly the kind of out-of-touch, ineffective, and out-for-himself incumbent we want to kick out of office,” Hogg said in a statement Monday.
Hogg is the founder and president of Leaders We Deserve, a political action committee of primary challengers to Democrats who Hogg says don’t represent the next generation of Democratic politics.
“Between his total failure at the most basic of constituent services, the almost 1 million in taxpayer dollars he spent buying ads promoting himself, and campaigning on not taking any corporate money only to sell out and collect big checks immediately after being sworn into office – he’s a terrible representative for the Democratic Party. This is our first incumbent challenge; it won’t be our last,” Hogg said.
Leaders We Deserve is also supporting Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee in Texas’s 18th Congressional District and Randy Villegas in California’s 22nd Congressional District.
Hogg served as vice chair of the Democratic National Committee for less than a year before promising to challenge incumbent Democrats he says are “asleep at the wheel.”
Black leaders from Wayne County backed McKinney’s bid to unseat Thanedar last month during a press conference.
Former U.S. Rep. Brenda Lawrence, Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist, Wayne County Executive Warren Evans, Wayne County Commission Chair Alisha Bell stood behind McKinney in September urging voters to vote for a Black candidate to represent Detroit in Congress.
Thanedar has defended himself against attacks from Black elected leaders who criticize Thanedar, who snapped the city’s 70-year streak of sending a Black representative to Congress, by pointing to the fact that he has won the majority of votes in the city of Detroit in each of his elections for Congress.
“As I travel across the district, and in various townhalls and events, constituents are overwhelmingly supportive of my work,” Thanedar said. “Constituents know I’m fighting for our healthcare, to stop ICE raids, protect our democracy, and stand up against hate and discrimination pervasive in the Trump administration and MAGA.”
Thanedar, an Indian American, told a crowd at Fixins last month he voted against a resolution to honor controversial activist Charlie Kirk because, “he was a racist,” he said.
Michigan’s 13th District covers part of Detroit, the Grosse Points and the Downriver communities.
Thanedar defeated a crowded field of Black Democrats including former State Sen. Adam Hollier and Portia Roberson, the president of Focus: HOPE.
