Indian American state representative to contest US Congress election

Shri Thanedar, a first-term state representative from Michigan, has announced last week that he is running for the 13th district of the US Congress, which covers a large part of Detroit and Dearborn Heights. The seat is currently held by Rashida Tlaib. Thanedar, a Democrat, has already filed papers with the Federal election commission.

“My focus is on bringing federal dollars to Detroit to address infrastructure problems, economic inequalities, and to improve quality of life for the residents,” Thanedar told Detroit Metro Times. “I will also seek federal assistance in the form of reparations to address decades of systemic racism in urban America.”

Thanedar, who started his first term as the state representative of the third district in the Michigan House of representatives in January 2021, was a Democratic Party candidate in the primaries for the election of the governor of Michigan in 2018.

A first-generation immigrant who went to the US in 1979 from Karnataka for doctoral studies in chemistry, Thanedar then worked as a post-doctoral research scholar at the

University of Michigan

(1982-84) and then earned an MBA from Fontbonne College in 1987. According to his official profile, he paid for his education by working as a teacher’s assistant and, during that time, earned just $300 a month and sent $75 each month to his family, who were dealing with financial hardship. He then entered the private sector as an entrepreneur. For over 25 years, Thanedar, a multimillionaire, has built pharma businesses and created thousands of well-paying jobs that helped families. After he retired from the private sector, he decided to fight for social, racial and economic justice. He found inspiration and guidance in the works of Mahatma Gandhi and Dr

Martin Luther King Jr.

and his personal experiences and struggles with severe poverty and injustice in India.

Thanedar supports progressive solutions, including the $15 minimum wage, because he knows how important it is for Michigan families to have opportunities to earn a good-paying wage with one job instead of needing two or three jobs to make ends meet. “I am dedicated to racial, social and economic equity and justice for all. That means ensuring all Michiganders have access to early-childhood education, equitably funded K-12 schools and affordable healthcare,” he says in his website.

If elected to the US Congress in 2022, Thanedar plans to use his knowledge, expertise, passion and dedication to bring real change for Michigan families through progressive legislation to improve equality, access and security for all. He is passionate about promoting entrepreneurship, early-childhood education, equitable K-12 funding, affordable healthcare and racial, social and economic justice.