Freep endorsement for the 13th Congressional district Aug. 6 Democratic primary

When it’s just you and the ballot, you’ve got to choose from the options you have, not the options you wish you had.

In the Aug. 6 primary for the 13th Congressional District seat, voters will choose among incumbent U.S. Rep. Shri Thanedar, D-Detroit, Detroit At-Large City Councilwoman Mary Waters and attorney Shakira Lynn Hawkins. (Former state Sen. Adam Hollier did not qualify for the ballot, after botching signature collection on his nominating petitions.) The winner of the Democratic primary will face Republican candidate Martell Bivings this fall, but because the 13th — comprising most of Detroit, the Grosse Pointes, most of downriver and portions of western Wayne County — is so heavily Democratic, the race will effectively be decided in August.

Thanedar won the seat in 2022 with a 28% plurality in a nine-way race, spending nearly $10 million to collect around 22,000 votes. (He’s reported $5.2 million this year, mostly self-funded. By the end of this year’s election, Thanedar will have spent at least $26 million in pursuit of elected office.)

Thanedar’s win was intolerable for some Detroiters, who believe the city should have Black representation in Washington D.C., and he has yet to prove himself in Congress, drawing frequent criticism for poor constituent services and for misaligning office resources with his district’s needs. In an endorsement interview with the Free Press Editorial Board, his explanations didn’t reassure.

Waters, a longtime public servant, won an at-large seat on the Detroit City Council in 2021. During her time on council, she has been a much-needed voice for fair housing, advocating for transparency and accountability for landlords who take advantage of vulnerable tenants.

She has deep community roots, and is accessible to Detroiters. A former teacher and union member, her care and concern for those causes is apparent, and she has won the endorsement of many elected officials in the 13th District, including Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan.

But Waters pleaded guilty in 2010 to a misdemeanor in connection with a public corruption case. She was sentenced to probation. In an endorsement interview, Waters struggled to speak about the episode, which she calls the only blemish on an otherwise untainted record — noting that she was not an officeholder at the time — but had little to say when the Free Press Editorial Board asked how she would reassure voters worried about her history.

Hawkins is a former criminal defense attorney who worked for a federally funded City of Detroit blight task force until late June, when she was fired for violating the Hatch Act, which bars employees whose salaries are fully paid with federal funds from campaigning for partisan office. We give her full marks for integrity — after her firing, she informed the Free Press of her change in status. Hawkins is intelligent and passionate about her campaign, but unprepared for this role.

It is a disappointing ballot. Detroiters deserve better.

And that brings us back to where we started.

Our choice

We believe Waters can continue to do important work on council, and that Hawkins could be a viable candidate for future elective office.

But in this primary, we reluctantly endorse SHRI THANEDAR.

Thanedar’s incumbent status means he ought to be able to be more effective over the next two years than a congressional newcomer. But if he wins re-election, Thanedar must get serious about the office he holds, and his responsibilities to the Michiganders who elected him.

Shri Thanedar, lightning rod

Few Michigan elected officials draw more disdain than Thanedar, an entrepreneur with an offbeat personality who made his fortune in medical testing.

It can be difficult to separate Thanedar’s genuine shortcomings from the overblown animosity that dogs him.

He has a clear affinity for the Detroiters he represents, saying the dirt-floor hardship of his childhood in India means he can connect with the most impoverished residents of his district in a way his more well-heeled competitors cannot — and he says that the Detroit voters he encounters don’t feel the same push to elect a Black U.S. Representative as the city’s political elite, pointing to his wins as evidence.

Thanedar speaks compellingly of the difficulty of immigrating to the U.S., and of the need for a more rational system. He says he wants to make it easier for small business owners and entrepreneurs to start and grow businesses.

Advertising isn’t the answer

His tenure in Congress has been spent in a Republican majority, leaving few possibilities for him to advance his policy objectives, if he were interested in doing so. That underscores the importance of providing outstanding constituent services, the broad category of help a member of Congress ought to provide district residents, from cutting through bureaucratic delays for benefits or federal programs to hastening the issuance of passports.

Shortly after U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Detroit, publicly criticized Thanedar’s constituent services, saying the people he represents often come to her for help, billboards (“Shri 24/7!”) went up around the district advertising the congressman’s availability. (More on that later.)

Thanedar purchased a building on Livernois between McNichols and Seven Mile roads last year (a former campaign office of U.S. Rep. Brenda Lawrence), blazoning it with his name and face and re-branding it the “Shri Thanedar Community Center.” But on weekdays, the building seems largely unoccupied. (Thanedar says he purchased and operates the building with his own money, that it is not in regular use but that he plans to hold community events there.)

Staffing

It is widely rumored that Thanedar has trouble keeping office staff, and a former employee wrote on Twitter last fall that the congressman had directed his staffers to focus on his re-election campaign, verboten under federal law, among other demands. Thanedar categorically denied the former staffer’s claims, saying the man had taken issue with the congressman’s position on the crisis in Gaza. (Thanedar says the U.S. must offer “unequivocal support” to Israel.)

In an endorsement interview last month, Thanedar defended his constituent services operation, saying he has helped 1,500 residents, and that in the last 15 months, 88% of those cases were closed successfully.

He said some constituents, confused by new boundaries after 2022 redistricting, may have contacted Tlaib or 6th District U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell in error.

But Thanedar could not provide a satisfactory accounting of his office staffing, first saying he has “an average” of 20 staffers — congressional offices are limited by law to 18 permanent employees — and when questioned, that he has 11 full-time employees, with an additional nine positions filled by fellows or interns (only four are allowed by law).

The congressman likewise was unable to adequately quantify his constituent services staff, first saying he had six dedicated staffers, before revising his estimate down to four or five.

Thanedar told the editorial board he operates with just 11 full-time staffers because he pairs interns with more experienced workers, a set-up we fear is ineffective at best and exploitative at worst.

In May, The Detroit News reported, Thanedar spent $789,000 on billboards and television ads touting his performance in Congress, nearly half of his office’s annual $1.9 million budget. Last year, he spent around 29% of his office budget on such advertising, while the average member of Congress spent just 5%. Thanedar told the editorial board that such self-promotion is necessary to ensure that confused constituents in newly drawn districts know whom to contact.

But all of this lends credence to reports that Thanedar has not prioritized staffing, and that his constituents have suffered as a result.

A to-do list for Rep. Thanedar

If voters return Thanedar to Washington, he’ll have two years of service under his belt; in theory, that experience should lead to more effective legislating.

But we have a specific prescription for Thanedar’s operation:

• Prioritize constituent services.

• Hire a full complement of qualified staffers, and pay them appropriately, and ensure interns and fellows have duties commensurate with their status.

• Ensure that all office functions and interactions comply with federal law and best practices of workplace management.

• Understand the reasons for staff turnover, and correct internal culture problems that cause it.

• Build relationships with members of Michigan’s Congressional delegation who might be able to advise their junior colleague on sound management practices.

• Limit the use of budget dollars on advertising that could be spent on staff.

• Forge or repair relationships with local leaders.

Residents of Detroit’s 13th District deserve capable representation in the U.S. Congress. If they choose to re-elect Thanedar, he owes them that much.

2026 is just two years away.

How to vote

Local clerks will mail absentee ballots to Michigan voters on June 27. Registered voters may cast ballots early, in person, from July 27 to Aug. 4 — check with your local clerk for the location of early voting sites and ballot dropboxes. And, of course, you can vote — and register to vote — in person on Aug. 6, Election Day.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Freep endorsement for 13th Congressional District Aug. 6 primary