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Mary Waters and Shri Thanedar
Update: 8:30 a.m. Wednesday -- Congressman Shri Thanedar defeated challengers, Detroit City Council Mary Waters and Shakira Hawkins in Tuesday's Democratic primary.
With 89 percent of the vote in, Thanedar got 39,807 votes or 54.5 percent compared to Mary Waters' 25,029 or 34.2 percent and Hawkins' 8,251 or 11.3 percent.
Update: 12:08 a.m. Wednesday -- Congressman Shri Thanedar retook the lead Tuesday night against Detroit City Councilwoman Mary Water in the 13th Congressional District race with about 35 percent reporting.
Thanedar had 13,151 votes or 45.5 percent compared to Waters' 12,972 votes or 44.9 percent. Shakira Hawkins had 2,756 votes or 9.5 percent.
No victor has been declared as of 2:10 a.m. Wednesday.
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From late Tuesday Night
Detroit City Councilwoman Mary Waters has taken an early lead against first-term Detroit Democratic Congressman Shri Thanedar Tuesday night in the 13th Congressional District race.
With only about 2 percent of the votes counted as of 11:40 p.m., Waters had 859 votes or 49 percent compared to Thanedar with 659 votes or 37 percent and Hawkins with 242 votes or 14 percent.
No media outlet has yet to call the race with so few votes counted.
Thanedar ran a flood of negative ads against his main opponent, Waters. The ads seemed to ignor the third candidate in the race, attorney Shakira Lynn Hawkins.
The district includes parts of Detroit, Allen Park, portions of Dearborn Heights as well as Ecorse, Grosse Pointe, Grosse Pointe Farms, Grosse Pointe Park, Grosse Pointe Shores, Grosse Pointe Woods, Hamtramck, Harper Woods, Highland Park, Lincoln Park, Melvindale, River Rouge, Romulus, Southgate, Taylor, Wayne and Wyandotte.
Thanedar ran a stream of negative TV ads pointing out that Waters had been convicted in a scheme to bribe a Southfield City Council member. He also bombarded voters in his district with mailed literature mentioning the bribery and saying that Waters opposes same-sex marriage.
Some Black voters are still angry that the district does not have a Black representative in Congress. Michigan only has one Black representative in Congress, Republican John James.
In 2022, Thanedar beat out a crowded field in the primary, running against eight Black candidates, who split the vote among Black voters, which gave him a path to victory.
This time there were far less candidates, but the most promising Black candidate, Adam Hollier, who had the best shot of beating Thanedar, was booted from the ballot for not having enough legitimate signatures on his ballot petition.
Because the district is heavily Democratic, the winner of Democratic primary is all but assured a victory in November.
Thanedar earned the endorsement of U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York and the National Education Association.
Waters got the endorsement of the UAW and Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan. Some political observers speculated that Duggan plans to run for governor in 2026, and wanted to make sure he had the backing of Waters' supporters.
