DETROIT –Detroit elected its first African-American congressman in 1954, a funeral director named Charles Diggs, and its second, John Conyers, a decade later. For more than half a century, Michigan always had two Black members of Congress.
Then, in 2018, after Mr. Conyers resigned, died and Palestinian-American firebrand Rashida Tlaib replaced him, there was only one, Brenda Lawrence, whose district was mostly in the suburbs. Then, in 2022 she retired, and was succeeded by a multi-millionaire Indian-American, Shri Thanedar.
And with that, for the first time in seven decades, Detroit, a city that is nearly four-fifths Black, doesn’t have a single Black member of Congress. African-American leaders were dismayed and outraged and vowed to not let that happen next time.
Except … it did.
I’ll get to that in a minute. First, here’s what happened when Detroit’s leaders realized two years ago that the city would have no Black representation in Congress.
“Disenfranchised,” Warren Evans, Wayne County’s longtime county executive, said in a column in the Detroit Free Press after the last election. “Historically disenfranchised groups, which certainly include African-Americans, are much more likely to have their voices heard and their needs addressed when they are represented by someone from their own community.”
There is still one Black member of congress from Michigan – John James, a 43-year-old U.S. Army veteran, a freshman who won a narrow victory in a suburban district after losing two statewide races for the U.S. Senate. But unlike most African-Americans, he is a Republican, a Donald Trump supporter, and never lived in Detroit.
So why is Detroit no longer represented by any African-American congressmen? The answer is partly demographics, partly redistricting, and also the fault of Black politicians themselves.
Here’s what happened: It used to be easy to draw majority Black districts, because African-Americans tended to live in largely segregated areas. When they were doing redistricting, Republicans admittedly tried to “pack” as many Blacks as possible into two districts to give the GOP a much better chance at the others.
But today the African-American population is much more diffuse, and all of Detroit doesn’t even have enough people to fill a single district. Additionally, congressional and legislative districts are now drawn by an independent citizens’ commission which is supposed to prevent gerrymandering.
The result is that Michigan’s formerly majority Black districts are no longer so. As of the 2020 census, the 12th district, which Tlaib represents, was 46 percent white; 44.4 percent Black. The 13th, now held by Shri Thanedar, was 45.3 percent Black; 36.8 percent white, and 10.3 percent Hispanic.
Both those districts should be winnable by strong African-American candidates, and likely would have been, had African-Americans rallied around a single candidate.
But despite pleas from leaders like Evans to do just that, both races attracted multiple well-known African-American candidates to only one or two white contenders.
Both districts are so overwhelmingly Democratic that the August primary really is the election that matters.
In 2018, Rashida Tlaib barely beat Detroit City Council President Brenda Jones, 31 percent to 30 percent, mainly because two other Blacks with famous names, Coleman Young Jr. and Ian Conyers, nephew of the late congressman, also ran.
Two years ago, it was clear that the strongest African-American candidate in the 13th district was Adam Hollier, a 37-year old native Detroiter with an impressive resume; an athlete, a state senator and a volunteer firefighter who had earned a degree from Cornell University.
Shri Thanedar had few endorsements, but almost unlimited personal funds. Had the 2022 primary been just a Thanedar-Hollier race, the latter almost certainly would have won.
But once again, it was a crowded field with four other familiar Black names. Thanedar eked out a victory with 28 percent, and cruised to a general election victory in November.
This time was supposed to be different, essentially a real race in the August 6th primary between Hollier and Thanedar. The only other names on the ballot would be an unknown attorney and Mary Waters, a member of Detroit City Council.
But then it turned out that hundreds of the required 1,000 petition signatures Hollier had filed were fraudulent. Someone, presumably someone his campaign hired, had forged many phony signatures. The candidate didn’t have enough valid ones, and so his campaign was over.
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan then endorsed Mary Waters, but nobody really thinks she has much chance against the deep pockets and name recognition of the incumbent.
Lest you think petition fraud is just an inner-city thing, five white Republican candidates for governor were derailed by bad signatures two years ago. Not catching that was those campaigns’ fault. The problem of numerous candidates splitting or diluting the vote could be solved if Michigan had ranked-choice voting, so people could cast votes for their second and third choices. There’s a move to allow that, but it won’t be on the ballot for at least two years.
Until then, many Detroit voters will continue to be frustrated.
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(A version of this column appeared in the Toledo Blade)
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