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Primary
vote
could
mean no
Black
Detroit
member
in
Congress
By COREY
WILLIAMS
apnews.com
DETROIT
- State
Rep.
Shri
Thanedar
won
Michigan’s
13th
Congressional
Democratic
primary,
topping
a field
of nine
candidates
in a
district
that
covers
most of
Detroit
and
potentially
leaving
the
predominantly
Black
city
next
term
without
Black
representation
in
Congress
for the
first
time
since
the
early
1950s.
Results
from
Tuesday’s
election
show
Thanedar,
an
immigrant
from
India,
defeating
state
Rep.
Adam
Hollier
and
attorney
Portia
Roberson.
Martell
Bivings,
who is
Black,
ran
unopposed
in
Tuesday’s
Republican
primary
for the
13th
District,
but is a
longshot
to win
the
general
election
in the
heavily
Democratic
district.
Detroit
has not
been
without
a Black
representative
in
Congress
since
before
Charles
Diggs
Jr. took
office
in 1955.
Diggs
was
joined
in
Congress
in 1965
by
Democrat
John
Conyers,
who
retained
his
congressional
seat for
more
than 50
years.
Detroit
is about
80%
Black
and all
of the
other
candidates
in the
primary
were
Black.
“This
race was
not
about
me,”
Thanedar
said in
a
statement
Wednesday.
“Michigan’s
13th
Congressional
district
is one
of the
poorest
in the
country,
and I
will
fight
for
economic
and
racial
justice
in
Congress.”
The 13th
District
—
redrawn
through
redistricting
after
Michigan
lost a
seat
following
the
census —
is
currently
represented
by
Democrat
Rashida
Tlaib,
who ran
in the
redrawn
12th
Congressional
District
and won
Tuesday.
The
Independent
Citizens
Redistricting
Commission
in
January
finalized
the U.S.
House
and
legislative
maps
that
will
last 10
years.
The
plans
are
fairer
politically
to
Democrats
but have
drawn
criticism
from
Black
legislators
and the
state’s
civil
rights
department
because
they
slash
the
number
of seats
where
African
Americans
account
for a
majority
of the
voting-age
population.
A
federal
lawsuit
subsequently
filed on
behalf
of a
group of
current
and
former
Black
state
lawmakers
in
Detroit
seeks to
block
the
newly
drawn
districts,
contending
they
illegally
dilute
the
voting
strength
of
African
Americans.
Thanedar’s
victory
confirms
that
claim,
according
to Nabih
Ayad, an
attorney
for the
group.
The suit
alleges
violations
of the
U.S.
Voting
Rights
Act and
the
Michigan
Constitution.
The No.
1
map-drawing
criteria
for the
panel
was to
comply
with the
1965
law,
which
bans
discriminatory
voting
practices
and
procedures.
“We’ve
been
alleging
this all
along,
that it
will
take a
miracle
for some
of these
individuals
to win,”
Ayad
said
Wednesday.
“This is
no
surprise.
Why
should
they be
the
sacrificial
lambs.
It’s a
very,
very sad
day for
the
African
American
power
base
that
worked
for
decades
to get
where
they
are.”
Former
state
Rep.
Sherry
Gay-Dagnogo
has been
vocal
against
the
redrawn
districts
and was
one of
the
candidates
who
failed
to
advance
in the
Democratic
13th
Congressional
District
primary
Tuesday.
“At a
time
when the
Black
community
is
reeling
from a
rollback
of
voting
rights
and
Black
women —
who
already
face
inequity
with
maternal
health
and
barriers
to safe
abortion
care —
deal
with the
impact
of the
Roe v.
Wade
reversal,
Black
representation
in
Congress
for
Michigan
and for
Detroit
matters
now more
than
ever,”
Roberson
said
Wednesday.
“Many
people
woke up
this
morning
justifiably
concerned.”
University
of
Michigan
political
science
professor
Ken
Kollman
said the
crowded
field of
candidates,
and a
lack of
coordination
in the
district
and
among
groups
of
voters,
may have
been
major
factors
in
Thanedar’s
win.
“I would
assume
to many
voters
in
Detroit
it’s a
big deal
and I’m
sure it
is
something
that’s a
big
disappointment
for many
voters
in
Detroit,”
Kollman
said of
the
possibility
of the
city
having
no Black
voices
in
Congress.
“Whether
it will
lead to
different
representation
on
substance
or
issues
depends
a lot on
how the
particular
people
who
represent
Detroit
act in
Congress.”
“Detroit
members
of
Congress
have
been
very
important
and
active
in
things
like the
Congressional
Black
Caucus,
and very
visible
Black
leaders
in the
country,”
he
added.
Roberson
said
there
would be
talk
about
Black
candidates
dividing
the vote
in the
primary,
and that
the
political
establishment
had
tried to
“manufacture
a
consensus
African
American
candidate.”
“The
first
step in
having a
consensus
candidate
is
picking
the most
qualified
candidate,”
she
said.
“That
did not
happen
in this
race.”
Thanedar,
an
entrepreneur,
moved to
Detroit
from Ann
Arbor
and was
elected
in 2020
to
Michigan’s
3rd
House
District.
He spent
more
than $10
million
of his
own
money to
run for
governor
in 2018
but
finished
third
that
year in
the
Democratic
primary.
Thanedar’s
campaign
website
says he
contributed
$5,040,404
to his
campaign
for
Tuesday’s
race.
___
The
story
has been
corrected
to say
Rashida
Tlaib
represents
the 13th
Congressional
District,
not
Brenda
Lawrence.
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