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Everyone's piling on this Michigan Democrat, from his new opponent to his House colleague [1]

['Daily Kos Staff']

Date: 2023-10-17  

Former state Sen. Adam Hollier announced Tuesday that he would seek a rematch against freshman Rep. Shri Thanedar, who defeated him 28-24 in last year's expensive Democratic primary for Michigan's safely blue 13th District. Thanedar's victory over Hollier, who is Black, made him the first Indian American to represent Michigan in Congress. However, it also meant Detroit, which has the highest proportion of Black residents of any major city in America, would not have an African American representative in Congress for the first time since the early 1950s.

Hollier, an Army veteran who recently resigned as director of the Michigan Veterans Affairs Agency in order to run again, launched his second campaign with endorsements from two prominent local Democrats: former U.S. Rep. Brenda Lawrence, who represented about 40% of this seat prior to her retirement in January, and Wayne County Executive Warren Evans, whose county includes the entire district.

Hollier's kickoff comes amid Thanedar's high-profile feud against fellow Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib, who represents the neighboring 12th District. Last week, Thanedar criticized Tlaib, who is the first Palestinian American woman to serve in Congress, for her initial statement about Hamas' attack on Israel that he argued failed to denounce terrorism.

But Thanedar himself had cosponsored a 2021 resolution in the Michigan House calling for the U.S. to halt aid to Israel, and the hawkish pro-Israel group AIPAC spent millions to help Hollier in the following year's primary; the congressman told the Jewish Insider in August that his views have since changed.

Tlaib's response took an entirely different direction. "While he is busy posting memes, his residents are calling my office asking for my assistance because he is absent from doing his job," the congresswoman charged. Adam Abusalah, who is Thanedar's former communications director, also took to social media to denounce his one-time boss, writing that the congressman had once told him, "I don’t care about policies or legislation right now, I just need you to focus on my re-election."

In the same thread, Abusalah, among other things, also accused Thanedar of failing to promote qualified Black women on his team, experiencing high staff turnover, and repeating "Republican talking points" after visiting the border with Mexico. "He’s the most ignorant, self-centered, and uninformed human I’ve ever worked with," Abusalah concluded.

Thanedar and his current team responded by defending his constituent service and questioning Abusalah's motives. "These untrue allegations are clearly a direct response to Congressman Thanedar’s principled stance in support of Israel’s right to self-defense and against the brutal terrorist attacks by Hamas," his chief of staff said in a statement. Thanedar also insisted that he and Tlaib have "an excellent relationship."

Hollier did not directly mention any of the controversy swirling around Thanedar in his kickoff, but he did echo Tlaib's complaints. "We need a congressman who delivers, and we need it right now," he said in a press release launching his campaign. "Sadly, out of touch multimillionaires like Shri Thanedar seem more interested in posting memes than delivering for the district, and we’ve had enough." Thanedar's wealth will likely play a role in his next race: Last time, he deployed over $9 million of his own money to defeat Hollier and the rest of his opponents, and there's every reason to expect that he's prepared to do more self-funding.

Hollier may also not have Thanedar to himself. John Conyers III, who is the son of the late long-serving Rep. John Conyers, told Politico last month that he was planning on announcing he's running "soon." The younger Conyers took fourth place with 9% last year, which was about twice the margin between Thanedar and Hollier. As in most states, candidates in Michigan only need a plurality to win their party's nomination, which is why Thanedar was able to prevail last year with less than 30% of the vote.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/10/17/2200006/-Everyone-s-piling-on-this-Michigan-Democrat-from-his-new-opponent-to-his-House-colleague?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_recent_news&pm_medium=web

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