McKinney takes early lead over Thanedar in Detroit US House primary

Summer Ballentine, The Detroit News on Aug 4, 2026

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DETROIT — Challenger Donovan McKinney was leading U.S. Rep. Shri Thanedar in the Democratic primary for the Detroit-area seat in early results.

McKinney was up 61%-38% in the latest contest across the nation that is pitting a democratic socialist against an incumbent.

A crowd of mostly 30-somethings dressed casually chatted and ordered from two taco food trucks while Rihanna and Kendrick Lamar songs played on a speaker outside the watch party for McKinney and U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Detroit, a fellow democratic socialist who wrapped up a Democratic primary victory earlier in the evening.

The Democratic primary is a test of Thanedar's two-term record, the self-funded millionaire's substantial financial advantage, and the loyalty and turnout of older Black Democrats in Detroit, who tend to skew moderate. Detroit, which has a 75% Black majority population, has been without an African-American representative in Congress since the ascension of Thanedar, an Indian-American, and U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a Detroit Democrat and Palestinian-American.

The nominee likely will win the general election in the 13th Congressional District, a Democratic stronghold.

McKinney — a state lawmaker with support from democratic socialists, including left-wing darling U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Tlaib — is trying to galvanize voters by casting Thanedar as an establishment candidate failing to represent the majority-Black district.

Thanedar's election to Michigan's 13th District in 2022 marked the first time Detroit didn’t have a Black lawmaker representing it in Congress since 1955.

Both Thanedar and McKinney campaigned as fighters against President Donald Trump who support progressive policies, including universal health care, eliminating the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency and ending the war in Iran. Thanedar also has introduced articles of impeachment against the Republican president.

Combatting Trump was a frequent demand from voters Thanedar spoke to during the Concert of Colors music festival last month in Detroit. The congressman repeatedly touted his unsuccessful attempt to impeach Trump in April 2025, which he proposed days before the president visited Warren and shortly after McKinney and another candidate entered the Democratic primary for Thanedar's seat.

The impeachment proposal was not coordinated with U.S. House Democratic leaders and was viewed as a distraction from their counter-messaging on House Republicans' efforts to cut spending on Medicaid, the government health care program for low-income residents, and federal food assistance programs. But Thanedar has said Michigan constituents demanded it.

McKinney is hoping to ride a wave of progressive unrest within the Democratic Party, resulting in four progressive candidates, including three democratic socialists, winning competitive primaries in New York City and in Colorado. He and U.S. Senate hopeful Abdul El-Sayed, who also has been endorsed by Sanders, a democratic socialist, have cross-endorsed each other in their bids to knock off Thanedar and U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens, respectively.

Still, political insiders view the Democratic primary in Michigan's 13th Congressional District as Thanedar's to lose with his sizable advantage in cash and name recognition.

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