New York, Aug 8
Shri Thanedar has won the Democratic Party Congressional nomination to run for re-election in a primary battle tinged with an undercurrent of racial politics.
Thanedar beat two challengers in the primary held on Tuesday, winning 54 per cent of the votes in a constituency that is a Democratic Party fortress that covers parts of Detroit in Michigan state.
He won the 2022 election with 71.4 per cent of the votes - a 47 per cent lead over the Republican candidate assuring him of a re-election this time.
The constituency has an African American majority and, according to the Detroit News, his two opponents had argued that the seat should be represented by African Americans like them because for over 60 years a member of the community had represented the city.
Earlier, the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus in Congress, Steven Horsford, had endorsed fellow African-American, Adam Hollier, against Thanedar in a break with the tradition of members of Congress not backing anyone against a fellow legislator.
But Hollier was disqualified after election officials acting on a complaint by Thanedar said some signatures on the petition nominating him for the primary were forged.
A scientist-turned-entrepreneur, Thanedar became the fifth member of the "Samosa Caucus" of Indian American members of Congress when he was first elected in 2020 from a differently configured constituency with 93 per cent of the votes.
He was born in Chikodi in Karnataka and came to the US in 1979 to do a PhD in chemistry.
Thanedar is a supporter of Israel and broke off from the Democratic Socialists of America, a leftist group within the Democratic Party, after it held what he called a "hate-filled and antisemitic rally" in support of Palestine after the Hamas attack in October.
His X account was hacked in December and an anti-Israel rant was posted on it to embarrass him.
(Arul Louis can be contacted at arul.l@ians.in and followed at @arulouis)