Rep. Shri Thanedar Loses Michigan Primary to Socialist State Lawmaker

Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-MI) lost his primary race on Tuesday night to an even more progressive foe, marking him as the latest Democrat to be ousted by an open socialist in this midterm election cycle.

The India-born congressman lost to Detroit native, Donavan McKinney, a state representative in Michigan’s House of Representatives and member of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). McKinney won with 51.9 percent of the vote over Thanedar’s 48.1 percent, with the race being called on Wednesday morning by the Associated Press.

While Thanedar was endorsed by U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and the Congressional Progressive Caucus, McKinney won the support of well-known socialist lawmakers like Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and “Squad” members Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), and Ayanna Pressley (D-MA). 

McKinney also secured endorsements from other members of the Congressional Black Caucus, which Omar and Pressley are both a part of. Former caucus chairman Rep. Steven Horsford (D-NV) and Rep. Lateefah Simon (D-CA) called the Detroiter a “fighter,” Politico reported. 

Thanedar used to be a member of the DSA himself, but denounced the organization after the October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, citing the group’s failure to adequately condemn it. This came after the DSA moved to expel Thanedar anyway, with a spokesperson for the Detroit chapter telling Forbes that Thanedar’s “views are not—and have never been—representative of Detroit DSA.” 

According to the spokesperson, the congressman had been dropped from the chapter in September “due to his support of the far right, violent, Islamophobic Modi regime in India.”

Thanedar, who ran with the support and funding of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), was the latest pro-Israel Democrat to fall to a pro-Palestine challenger. Reps. Diana DeGette (D-CO), Dan Goldman (D-NY), and Adriano Espaillat (D-NY) were also defeated by progressives in their primary races this summer.

Speaking to the New York Times after he officially lost the race, Thanedar said that “The socialist movement that has defeated many sitting members in New York and elsewhere has come to Michigan, and we came out short.”

Despite his loss, he pledged to support McKinney in November’s general election in the solidly-blue district, which he will likely win.

Olivia Rondeau is a politics reporter for Breitbart News based in Washington, DC. Find her on X/Twitter and Instagram.