Shri Thanedar (Photo: Facebook)
It's official: Failed Democratic gubernatorial candidate Shri Thanedar is running for an open state House seat in Detroit.
Thanedar — also a millionaire chemist and businessman — is on Wednesday scheduled to kick off his campaign to replace Rep. Wendell Byrd, who is vacating the 3rd District seat due to term limits. The announcement comes after Thanedar mulled a possible bid for mayor.
The 64-year-old recently moved to Detroit's well-to-do Palmer Woods neighborhood after selling his house in Ann Arbor.
Raised in poverty in his native India, Thanedar has previously said he feels a strong connection to the city and wants to serve its residents in some capacity.
“I understand [Detroiters’] struggle. I have been in their shoes,” he said in a May interview with Deadline Detroit. “I’m happy to see the prosperity in downtown, but that needs to spread and we need to give hope and opportunity for all — improving the quality of life for the average Detroiter in terms of health care, jobs, skills training."
He was the top vote-getter in Detroit last fall in the race against now-Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and former Detroit health director Abdul El-Sayed.
In the 3rd District — which runs from Eight Mile to McNichols and Livernois to Gratiot — Thanedar has said he would focus on creating economic opportunity. In an interview with Deadline Detroit this summer, he stressed restoring to productive use the long-idling state fair grounds on Woodward and noted that black-owned businesses along Livernois are struggling to stay open amid a city road construction project.
His campaign launches at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at 19472 Livernois, near 7 Mile.
