Detroit City Council Member Mary Waters is taking another shot at running for Congress, arguing that incumbent U.S. Rep Shri Thanedar, D-Detroit, doesn’t deserve a second term. 

Waters announced her candidacy for the 13th District Democratic nomination outside Hamtramck City Hall, highlighting an endorsement from the city’s Mayor Amer Ghalib and her solidarity with Arab American and Muslim voters who are calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. The former three-term state representative said she was the “number one supporter” of a ceasefire resolution passed by the Detroit City Council last year. If elected, Waters said she would promote a “world peace agenda” and shift military spending to social programs. 

“Voters want the killing to stop,” Waters said. “Most human beings, when you care about other people, want to eliminate the violence. On the streets in the city of Detroit, I want that killing to stop, too. These kids over in Gaza are being killed by the thousands. It’s just wrong.” 

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Also in the race is former state Sen. Adam Hollier, who launched his campaign last fall and has since gathered a long list of endorsements from Democratic Party officials. Hollier finished second among nine candidates in the 2022 primary, collecting 3,797 fewer votes than Thanedar, who sailed to victory in the general election against his Republican opponent. 

U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Dearborn, was reelected in 2022 to a district representing Detroit’s northwest side. The 2022 election marked the first time Detroit has not been represented by a Black person in almost 70 years. 

Detroit Democrats who are looking to stop Thanedar from securing reelection worry that another crowded field could split votes and benefit the Indian-American millionaire. Waters said it’s up to voters to make the right choice. 

“I will be more than a picture on a card in your mailbox,” Waters said. “I will be more than an expensive TV ad.” 

Waters said she chose to launch her challenge in Hamtramck because it is the only American city with a Muslim City Council and mayor. Waters also denounced a recent column in the Wall Street Journal that called Dearborn “America’s Jihad Capital.” 

“We are Americans,” Waters said. “We must focus on what unifies us and gives us a foundation of hope.” 

State Rep. Karen Whitsett, D-Detroit, vouched for Waters at the Thursday press conference in Hamtramck. Whitsett has at times broken with her Democratic colleagues and recently signed a letter pledging not to support President Joe Biden in the Feb. 27 primary due to his administration’s refusal to call for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza. Whitsett said U.S. support for Israel is causing voters to distance themselves from the Democratic Party. 

“It can’t be brushed aside and glazed over, this is not going away,” Whitsett said. “The Black community cares, too. It’s not just a Palestinian issue. This is a humanitarian issue. There are Jewish people who care as well.” 

Thanedar, while a member of the Michigan Legislature, supported a resolution that labeled Israel as an apartheid state and called for ending U.S. military funding to the Jewish state. He’s since become a staunch supporter of Israel and traveled there in 2023 with a group affiliated with the influential American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).

The pro-Israel lobbying organization donated to Hollier’s campaign in 2022, but is now directing campaign cash to Thanedar’s reelection campaign. 

Pro-Palestinian protesters are putting pressure on Thanedar to support a ceasefire, but he strongly opposed doing so when asked by BridgeDetroit at a press conference in December.

“My position is that Hamas needs to be eliminated from the face of this Earth,” Thanedar said at the time. “It’s important to eliminate Hamas and it’s nearly impossible to eliminate Hamas without creating such unfortunate casualties.” 

Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 200 others hostage. Since then, Israel’s attack on Gaza has killed 27,500 people, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. A quarter of Gaza’s population, about a half-million residents, are starving, according to the United Nations, and 85% of the population has been displaced. 

“In the beginning, one side was chosen and lives should have been chosen,” Whitsett said. “I don’t understand how there wasn’t forethought as to how this would play out, with thousands of lives being lost.” 

The 13th District includes most of Detroit, along with Highland Park, Hamtramck, Harper Woods, the Grosse Pointes and southern Wayne County communities like Romulus, Taylor and a portion of Dearborn Heights. The district has a majority-Black population (44%). 

Waters unsuccessfully ran for Congress in 2012 and was disqualified from a 2018 special election for a partial term. She earned 3% of the vote in her 2012 bid for the 14th District Democratic nomination. Waters was elected to an at-large nonpartisan seat on the Detroit City Council in 2021, finishing second behind Council Member Coleman Young II. 

Waters served in the state House of Representatives from November 2000 to 2006 and was the first Black minority floor leader from 2003 to 2006.

She faces an uphill battle to take on opponents who have far more resources to spend on their campaigns.

Thanedar’s campaign committee reported having $2.6 million at its disposal at the end of 2023, in part thanks to a $2.1 million personal loan from Thanedar himself. He collected $363,872 from individual donors, including $62,440 from donors that earmarked funds through AIPAC. 

Hollier collected more from individual donors, $402,805 total, but ended 2023 with only $405,526 to spend on his campaign. 

Waters filed her candidacy committee in January, so financial statements are not yet available. 

Waters also pledged to increase social security payments, craft stronger border policies to protect Americans from fentanyl, lead federal intervention to lower car insurance and address environmental pollution. 

“We will be tackling issues confronting seniors, veterans, single mothers and families, including public safety, affordable housing, poverty, literacy challenges, foreclosure prevention, and our inadequate health system while growing entrepreneur opportunities,” Waters said. “Let’s get to work right now and shock the world.”