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Shri Thanedar makes pitch for congressional run in Detroit's new 13th District
Shri Thanedar, a current state rep for Detroit is looking to elevate his position in Michigan politics with a run for Congress in Detroit's 13th District. He cited his work on Michigan's education budget as part of his contribution to the city while representing it.
DETROIT - After a campaign for Michigan governor and a term in the state House, Shri Thanedar is setting his sights on a new position within the state's political apparatus: Congress.
"This allows me to work on issues that I can help my district at the federal level," said Thanedar, a businessman currently serving Detroit's 3rd District in the legislature.
Thanedar is running in Michigan's new 13th Congressional District, which encompasses much of east Detroit, including its downtown and midtown areas. He attributes his contribution to Detroit during the legislature's new education budget as one of his accomplishments.
So I was able to do a lot of good work in the state House. I brought a lot of money from the state house to the Detroit district," Thanedar said. "We passed the biggest education budget. My bill - $94 million for the literacy program in Detroit Public Schools."
Thanedar enters the race in a new era of Michigan politics, now that redistricting has resettled the boundaries of a shrunken Michigan Congressional Delegation from 14 to 13 following the release from the U.S. Census.
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Along with education he also had ideas for reducing crime in the city, which surged during the pandemic and saw a 20% increase in homicides.
"Every family has a right and expectation to raise their family in a safe environment. I met constituents who carry a gun just to put their trash can to the curbside. That's no way to raise a family. We need to get illegal guns out of the street."
In addition to removing illegal guns, he said the next pandemic - "the mental health pandemic" - will need to be addressed. "We need to provide mental health services and since Gov. Engler's time, Michigan has curtailed mental health services. I would want to bring that back," he said.
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Thanedar is among more than a dozen Democrats vying for the party's nomination in August. His previous runs for office do give the businessman some name recognition in the crowded field at the state level.
But in Detroit, where he's only lived for a few years, he'll have to compete with Detroit figures like John Conyers III and Sherry Gay-Dagnogo, both staples of the motor city's politics and longtime figures of representative offices.
FOX 2 is conducting interviews with an array of candidates in Metro Detroit districts following redistricting interested in representing communities in the metro area. See more of our interviews here.