By Cody Yarbrough, Contributing Writer
For almost a year now, Hill Harper has been running an intense grassroots political campaign for Michigan’s senate seat. He’s stopped at every small business opening he could. He’s visited a new church almost every Sunday morning. And he’s spoken to every local community leader who would hear him out.
His strategy seems to be working, too, depending on who you ask. According to a survey sponsored by the MIRS (Michigan Information & Research Service), his community-based campaign strategy has landed him the No. 2 spot in the Democrat primary polls. The bad news, however, is that the survey has Democrat frontrunner Elissa Slotkin commanding a huge 57% of the vote compared to Harper’s 11%. It goes without saying that the former actor and author has some catching up to do, and with the August primary less than three months away, he has to catch up fast.
The deficit Harper faces might come as a surprise to some. After all, a well-known Black man running as a Democrat should be doing pretty well in a state with a Black mecca such as Detroit. However, once you speak to Black voters in the city of Detroit, the struggles of Harper’s campaign start to make a lot more sense.
“Nobody really knows him here,” an undecided voter from Detroit’s west side stated when asked about Harper’s bid for senate. “You see him on TV, but he hasn’t really done much in the city. I didn’t even know he lived here till he started campaigning. He just kinda popped up. So people are just starting to get to know him, and that can take some time.”
Her husband, sitting next to her, chimed in. “I feel like he would’ve been better off building a relationship with the people first before running. He says a lot of good things, but I don’t really have anything to go on to say that he’s really about the things he speaks on. You’d just have to trust him, I guess. But trust has to be earned.”
Despite public perception, Hill Harper has a long history of political activism and political action. From his support of Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign to the scholarships given to young people through his non-profit, the Manifest Your Destiny Foundation, he’s always stayed in touch with political and social issues. The only problem is that some voters feel like he’s failed to focus his activism efforts, specifically the people of Michigan.
Harper’s time in Michigan over the past few years has been short and considerably quiet. Outside of his ownership of a downtown coffee shop and moving into the historic Charles T. Fisher mansion in 2018, he has made virtually no waves in the city of Detroit before his campaign announcement. From this perspective, his many in-person events can be seen as not only a chance to express his ideas and goals to a crowd of voters but as a chance to introduce himself to the Michigan public for the very first time.
His recent appearance at Detroit’s Baker’s Keyboard Lounge is a great example of how Harper has spent the last 11 months connecting to communities across the state. The historic jazz club was packed with an almost completely Black crowd edger to see Harper in person. And when he hit the stage, he didn’t disappoint.
Like many charismatic Black politicians, he channeled the energy of a seasoned preacher on a Sunday morning. Harper paced the stage and touted his talking points with conviction and boldness. He spoke about political issues with colloquial language sprinkled throughout his sentences. He addressed his opponent, Elissa Slotkin, like a pastor would a lukewarm Christian: someone who knows the difference between good and evil but is too seduced by the ways of the world (or, in this case, the ways of Washington, D.C.) to fully commit to the righteous path. The small space of Bakers worked to his advantage as he was able to gaze into the eyes of the people around him, scanning the room as if he were looking for a witness.
Most candidates ask voters to send them to Congress to “get the job done” or to “make a change.” Harper, however, asked the crowd of Black voters to send him to D.C. as if he were going to preach the gospel overseas. Applause from the audience erupted at the end of his speech, followed shortly by a call for donations from one of his staffers. Harper may not be well known in politics to the greater Black population of southeast Michigan, but he certainly knows how to relate to them on a deep social level. If he were to pull an upset this August, his in-person presence would be the reason why.
“Anyone who is doubtful or unsure about him should come out and see him,” a supporter at the Baker’s event said afterward. “People, especially young people, don’t like coming out and doing things in real life. They’d rather get all their information from a computer screen. But you can’t truly get a sense of what a person is all about like that. You have to get up, put on some clothes, and come listen to what he has to say. And I think if people do that, they’ll see that he’s for real.”
Haper’s cadence and personal touch when talking to voters is a skill that few political candidates have mastered to the level he has. Of course, his speaking ability would mean next to nothing if his talking points didn’t connect to the people. Like many Democrat politicians, education, universal health care, and women’s reproductive rights are all at the top of his list of issues he wants to tackle as a congressman. Even his more unpopular views, such as ending the Israel-Hamas War and erasing the filibuster, seem to strike a chord with Black voters once he explains those views. If unfamiliarity is what’s plaguing Harper’s campaign, his frequent public appearances are the cure. The question is, how much of this cure can be administered before the August primary?
Harper and his team seem confident in their chances. When asked by the Michigan Chronicle about the current state of his campaign, he said: “This campaign continues to build grassroots momentum. Our mission of putting people before money has resonated across Michigan. When we meaningfully engage voters – instead of talking at them – they will respond with enthusiasm about the work that needs to be done in Washington.”
While such certainty might be comforting to his supporters, Harper has his work cut out for him. Closing the gap between him and Slotkin will require him to blitz through Michigan multiple times over the course of three months. It would be a mistake to count him out, though. Political upsets happen every election, and Harper shows no signs of slowing down. Ultimately, only time will tell if he’ll see the Senate floor come January, and only your vote can help sway the balance in his favor.
