Adam Hollier gets Jocelyn Benson's backing, racks up endorsements in race vs. Shri Thanedar
Three weeks into his challenge of first-term U.S. Rep. Shri Thanedar, D-Detroit, former state Sen. Adam Hollier is racking up some significant Democratic endorsements behind his cause, including one Thursday morning from Michigan's top election official, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson.
"As a resident of Detroit for the last two decades I wanted to tell you how proud I am to endorse Adam Hollier to be the next member of Congress from my home district," Benson said in a video endorsement given to the Free Press and released Thursday morning. "I’ve known Adam for a long time and I’ve seen firsthand how much this city needs someone like him representing it in Congress."
In the video, Benson never mentions that she is Michigan's secretary of state, elected statewide and serving her second term overseeing an agency that coordinates elections in the state along with other duties. But the significance of her endorsement is clear, especially since she's giving it not to an incumbent Democratic congressman but his chief rival.
"We have a once in a generation opportunity to send a battle-tested warrior to Congress who knows what families here face every single day and will never back down," Benson says in the video.
The endorsement is the latest in a string of Democratic endorsements for Hollier, who also lives in Detroit and lost by a 28.3%-23.5% margin to Thanedar in a crowded Democratic primary in 2022 for a predominantly Democratic-leaning congressional seat anchored in Detroit that came open. That loss to Thanedar, a millionaire Indian immigrant and entrepreneur, left Detroit without a Black member representing it in Congress for the first time since the late U.S. Rep. Charles Diggs was elected in 1954.
Benson did not endorse in the race in 2022.
Among the notable figures coming out early for Hollier this time are former U.S. Rep. Brenda Lawrence, D-Southfield; Wayne County Executive Warren Evans; state House Speaker Joe Tate, D-Detroit; former Gov. Jim Blanchard and a series of Democratic state senators including Mallory McMorrow of Royal Oak, Erika Geiss of Taylor, Sylvia Santana of Warrendale, Dayna Polehanki of Livonia and Sarah Anthony of Lansing, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee.
Former Detroit Mayor Dave Bing and Wayne County Commission Chair Alisha Bell are supporters as well.
Hollier, who left his state Senate seat to run for Congress in 2022 and most recently ran the Michigan Veterans Affairs Agency for Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, announced he would challenge Thanedar — and one-term state representative — in mid-October, just as questions were being raised about Thanedar's constituent services, treatment of his staff and his position on Israel.
Thanedar publicly quit the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), denouncing statements that laid the blame for Hamas' deadly attack on Israel on Oct. 7 on its blockade of the Gaza Strip and the treatment of Palestinians, even though his colleague, U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, also D-Detroit, made similar statements and Thanedar had, while a state legislator, offered a resolution calling on the U.S. to stop sending funds to Israel. A local DSA chapter, meanwhile, said it had already expelled Thanedar for his support of the nationalistic Hindi-Modi regime in India.
Thanedar also visited Israel with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), a pro-Israeli group, this year. AIPAC's affiliated campaign arm supported Hollier in last year's election.
Thanedar's actions — and the support he voiced for Israel following the Hamas attacks — led to some former employees and elected officials last month complaining about Thanedar's behavior and job performance, including a statement to that effect from Tlaib to the Detroit News. Thanedar has defended his constituent services and behavior, meanwhile, and said as far as he knew he remained a DSA member until the time he resigned.
On Wednesday, Thanedar said, in a news release, he had hosted a breakfast for state and local elected officials in Detroit to talk about issues on their minds and give them information about services his office can provide, adding that his staff has "directly helped nearly 1,000 constituents" since he took office in January. Some quotes from local officials spoke highly of the meeting.
“The most important thing in my office is to be responsive to my constituents and the local leaders in our community,” Thanedar said.
Contact Todd Spangler: [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter@tsspangler.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Adam Hollier gets Jocelyn Benson endorsement in U.S. House race