A whopping nine Democrat candidates were on the August 2 ballot to represent the newly redrawn 13th Congressional District. In the GOP primary, Martell Bivings breezed through because GOP candidates are a rare sight.
“What makes me unique is I'm very comfortable, and I'm welcomed, in rooms where most Republicans wouldn't go,” he tells AFN. “If most Republicans walked in, the room would stop and be perplexed."
According to a pre-primary story by Axios, Michigan lost a congressional seat after the 2020 census and so the 13th District was redrawn. It is now the only majority-black congressional district under the redrawn state map and includes most of Detroit and a portion of suburbs in Wayne County.
In its story, Axios predicted one of several well-known black politicians would come out ahead on Election Day but voters chose Shri Thanedar, a wealthy Indian-American businessman and state lawmaker. He is known to many voters after running for governor in 2018.
By all accounts the Democrat mecca will send Thanedar to Congess in November but Bivings says he is telling voters the Republican Party will be the majority party in 2023, and that should matter to one of the country’s poorest districts where Democrats hold power.
“I'm going to be able to argue for their interests,” he says of the 13th District. “And I'm going to be able to bring dollars home.”
