Congressional Black Caucus chair backs Hollier over Rep. Thanedar for Detroit seat

Washington — The chair of the Congressional Black Caucus is endorsing a challenger to first-term U.S. Rep. Shri Thanedar, a Detroit Democrat, in a striking pass over of a fellow member of the House Democratic Caucus.

Democratic U.S. Rep. Steven Horsford of Nevada, chairman of the CBC since January 2023, on Friday endorsed former state Sen. Adam Hollier in the Democratic primary contest in Michigan's 13th District, which covers much of Detroit, the Grosse Pointes and Downriver communities.

“From the U.S. Army to Governor Whitmer’s cabinet, Adam Hollier has spent his life serving his community and his country. I know he will continue that service as an effective representative and put people over politics,” Horsford said in a statement.

“Adam is the kind of leader who understands the importance of protecting our freedoms, fighting for our rights, and ensuring opportunities for everyone.” 

Also endorsing Hollier is the immediate past chair of the Black Caucus, Ohio U.S. Rep. Joyce Beatty, who said Hollier "is exactly the kind of leader we need standing with us in Congress."

"While some politicians would rather tweet than show up, Adam always steps up, shows up, and delivers results,” said Beatty in a pointed swipe at Thanedar, who's been criticized for over-focusing on his social media likes.

Thanedar's campaign did not respond Friday to a request for comment on the endorsements for his Democratic primary opponent.

It's uncommon for House Democrats to endorse a primary challenger to one of their sitting colleagues in Congress. Hollier, who is of Black and Native American decent, has one other congressional endorsement from a sitting member, Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Wisconsin, as well as former U.S. Rep. Brenda Lawrence, D-Southfield.

Thanedar's campaign said he has been endorsed by 10 of his colleagues in the House this cycle, including Reps. Marcy Kaptur of Ohio, Ro Khanna, Ted Lieu and Judy Chu of California and Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois.

Thanedar's election marked the first time in nearly 70 years that majority-Black Detroit doesn't have a Black lawmaker representing the city in Congress after Lawrence retired at the end of last term.

It's also the first term that Detroit has had no representation in the CBC since it was co-founded by the late-Detroit U.S. Rep. John Conyers Jr. in 1971. CBC rules limit membership to Black lawmakers and it has about 60 members.

The CBC through Friday's endorsements is saying the group thinks there ought to be at least one black Detroiter in the Congress, said consultant Adrian Hemond, a Democrat and CEO of the firm Grassroots Midwest.

"Separate of what anyone thinks of Shri, the endorsement is partly the message here ― that there’s not a Black Detroiter in Congress, which for one of the Blackest cities in America feels weird," said Hemond, who has donated to Hollier's campaign.

Thanedar, who is Indian American, won a nine-way Democratic primary contest in 2022, with Hollier coming in second with 24% to Thanedar's 28%. The vote splintered among eight African American candidates, leading to victory for Thanedar, who put $6 million of his fortune into his campaign and whose TV ads ran on heavy rotation.

Hollier has tried to cast Thanedar as an "out-of-touch millionaire" who doesn't understand working families and hasn't made tangible progress on priorities such as affordable housing or gun violence. The congressman, also a former state lawmaker, has chided Hollier for being over-focused on political "insiders" and has criticized him for negative attacks and benefiting from "dark" money.

Thanedar is self-funding his campaign again, having loaned his campaign over $3.3 million since December and reporting over $5 million cash on hand in his campaign account as of March 31.

"That hopefully will be more than sufficient to be able to communicate with my constituents, and we intend to extensively communicate about the work that I have done in Congress and the positions that I will be continuing to work on," Thanedar said this week about his campaign.

"I'm big on workforce development and promoting entrepreneurship, making small business grants and loans accessible to small business owners, especially in the Black and brown communities. Also working on low-income housing and flood relief."

Hollier this week noted it was the second quarter during which he'd outraised Thanedar in terms of donations to his campaign. He raised just over $347,180 last quarter and closed out with $570,207 in the bank. 

"Thanedar’s biggest supporter is his pocketbook, but people are sick and tired of out-of-touch multi-millionaires who buy their way into Congress and then don’t lift a finger to help hard working families here at home,” Hollier said.

At-large Detroit City Councilwoman Mary Waters also has filed to run in the Democratic primary in the 13th. She reported $9,811 in receipts and just over $5,000 in cash reserves as of March 31.

mburke@detroitnews.com