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\n

A handful of members of the Congressional Black Caucus on Monday broke with Democratic Party leadership to endorse Michigan state Rep. Donavan McKinney in his bid to primary Rep. Shri Thanedar, an unusual move given that sitting members of the same party rarely endorse against each other.<\/p>\n

Democratic Reps. Steven Horsford (Nev.), the former chair of the CBC, and Lateefah Simon (Calif.) called McKinney a \u201cfighter.\u201d Rep. Ilhan Omar (Mich.) praised McKinney as \u201cthe only trusted candidate\u201d in the race. And Rep. Ayanna Pressley (Mass.) touted McKinney for \u201cnever [losing] sight of the people.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need Donavan in Congress,\u201d said Pressley.<\/p>\n

The race between McKinney and Thanedar, who was elected in 2022, is the latest battleground in the ongoing ideological clash between the Democratic establishment and its progressive flank.<\/p>\n

McKinney is hoping to capitalize on the latest wave of progressive successes in primaries, but Thanedar retains the power of the incumbency \u2014 and the backing of House Democratic leaders Hakeem Jeffries, Katherine Clark and Pete Aguilar.<\/p>\n

Thanedar\u2019s 2022 election marked the first time since 1955 that the majority-Black city of Detroit didn\u2019t have a Black lawmaker representing it in Congress. And he won two years ago only after Adam Hollier, who was viewed as his most credible primary challenger, was disqualified from the ballot.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s not just about having Black representation, but that is a part of what appropriate representation looks for,\u201d Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pa.), who had previously backed McKinney, told Blue Light News. \u201cYou have a majority-Black district, and I think that there is certainly an appetite to see that again, or to at least make sure that a Black candidate has the opportunity to present themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a phone call, Thanedar emphasized that he has worked closely with members of the CBC during his time in office, noting that the late Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) was a mentor of his and, in addition to Jeffries, he has the endorsement CBC members like Rep. Bennie Thomspon (D-Miss.).<\/p>\n

\u201cI am fully aware that I am representing the Blackest city in America and I\u2019m proud of it,\u201d Thanedar, who is Indian-American, said. \u201cMy story is like Detroit\u2019s story \u2014 I struggled through poverty, never say die, never gave up and I have that resilience that Detroit has. The resilience of Detroit is what my life is about.\u201d<\/p>\n

McKinney on Monday said he was \u201chonored\u201d by the endorsements.<\/p>\n

\u201cMillions of lives across the country have been made immeasurably better because of the hard work these members have done in Congress, and I look forward to working alongside these incredible leaders to pass critical legislation to protect voting rights, get big money out of our politics, and ensure all families have access to the resources they need to not just survive, but to truly thrive,\u201d he said in a statement.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A handful of members of the Congressional Black Caucus on Monday broke with Democratic Party leadership to endorse Michigan state Rep. Donavan McKinney in his bid to primary Rep. Shri Thanedar, an unusual move given that sitting members of the same party rarely endorse against each other. Democratic Reps. Steven Horsford (Nev.), the former chair […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-congress"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26541","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26541"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26541\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}