Overview
- The Associated Press called the race after unofficial returns showed Donavan McKinney winning roughly 75.5% of the vote, and he will succeed Rep. Shri Thanedar when the new Congress convenes in January.
- McKinney had unseated Thanedar in the August Democratic primary, ending the incumbent’s two-term tenure and clearing the way for a change in representation.
- His campaign ran on a labor-first progressive platform that included taxing the ultra-wealthy, Medicare for All, codifying federal abortion rights, transitioning to clean energy, and reducing corporate influence in politics.
- Michigan Democratic leaders and the Working Families Party publicly congratulated McKinney, and his primary run attracted endorsements from national progressives who backed his organizing background.
- The 13th District, centered on Detroit and nearby communities, has been held by Democrats since 1949, and McKinney’s election was framed as restoring Detroit-rooted Black representation while likely shifting the district’s priorities toward workers, housing, and healthcare in Congress.