Donavan McKinney, a state representative backed by the Democratic Socialists of America, defeated incumbent Rep. Shri Thanedar in the Democratic primary for Michigan’s 13th Congressional District, the latest in a growing string of socialist-aligned challengers knocking off sitting House Democrats this cycle.
McKinney won with roughly 52% of the vote to Thanedar’s 48%, the Washington Examiner reported. The result makes Thanedar the eighth incumbent House Democrat to lose a primary this year, a toll that should alarm anyone watching the Democratic Party’s leftward lurch in real time.
The race was not close in ideological terms. McKinney ran as a proud democratic socialist, endorsed by Bernie Sanders and Squad members Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, and Ayanna Pressley. Thanedar, a self-made millionaire who once joined the DSA himself, had the backing of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, the highest-ranking Democrat in the chamber. Jeffries’s endorsement did not save him.
Thanedar’s biography reads like a classic American success story. He bought a small chemical analysis lab in 1991 for $75,000 and built it into a multimillion-dollar business through multiple acquisitions. He later founded Avomeen Analytical Services, a chemical testing company, and sold it. He then entered politics and won his House seat.
That résumé became a liability. McKinney’s campaign turned Thanedar’s wealth into a weapon, casting the incumbent as out of touch with the working-class voters of his Detroit-area district. In a campaign video, McKinney framed the contrast in blunt terms, as Fox News Digital reported:
“People like our congressman, Shri Thanedar, are the problem. A multimillionaire who spent millions to buy a seat in Congress, who has more in common with Donald Trump and Elon Musk than people like us.”
McKinney also laid out his priorities, affordability, environmental and climate justice, and getting money out of politics, in language designed to energize the DSA base.
“We deserve a Democratic Party that leads the fight against the billionaires that are robbing us blind. That stands up to corporate PACs. Our country and our children can afford nothing less.”
The message worked. And it worked in a district that is not a college-town enclave. The race was seen as a test of whether the DSA could expand beyond its traditional white, college-educated base, and McKinney’s victory suggests it can.
Thanedar had tried to inoculate himself against the socialist label. After the October 7, 2023, terror attacks that left 1,200 Israelis dead, he publicly renounced his DSA membership, citing the organization’s refusal to condemn Hamas. His official statement left no room for ambiguity:
“I can no longer associate with an organization unwilling to call out terrorism in all its forms. Sunday’s hate-filled and antisemitic rally in New York City, promoted by the NYC-DSA, makes it impossible for me to continue my affiliation. I stand with Israel and its right to defend itself.”
That move earned him no protection. McKinney and his allies attacked Thanedar over votes to send military aid to Israel, exploiting anti-Israel sentiment within parts of the Democratic primary electorate, the New York Post reported. In a heavily Democratic district, the pro-Israel stance that Thanedar adopted as a matter of conscience became a political millstone.
The irony is sharp. Thanedar joined the DSA, then left over a genuine moral principle, opposition to antisemitism and terrorism. The voters in his own party punished him for it.
McKinney’s win did not happen in isolation. It is part of a wave of socialist primary victories that has reshaped the Democratic caucus in the House this cycle. In New York, Darializa Avila Chevalier unseated Rep. Adriano Espillat, the veteran chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. In Colorado, 29-year-old democratic socialist Melat Kiros knocked off Rep. Diana DeGette, a roughly three-decade incumbent.
The pattern is consistent: long-serving Democrats with establishment credentials are falling to younger, further-left challengers who carry DSA endorsements and run on class-war platforms. The Democratic establishment keeps losing these fights.
Thanedar himself acknowledged the trend after his defeat. As Breitbart reported, the congressman said plainly: “The socialist movement that has defeated many sitting members in New York and elsewhere has come to Michigan, and we came out short.”
That is a remarkable admission from a sitting member of Congress, not spin, not excuse-making, but a frank concession that an organized socialist faction is systematically dismantling the Democratic Party’s moderate wing from within.
The trend is not limited to congressional primaries. A self-described socialist recently won the D.C. mayoral primary, signaling that the movement’s reach extends well beyond House races.
What makes this cycle different is the scale. Eight incumbent House Democrats have now lost primaries. That number is not normal. It reflects a party whose base has moved decisively to the left on economic populism, Israel, and the role of corporate money in politics, while its leadership class remains anchored to a more conventional liberalism.
Hakeem Jeffries endorsed Thanedar. It did not matter. The Congressional Progressive Caucus still counted Thanedar as a member even after he left the DSA. It did not matter either. The institutional support that once protected incumbents has lost its power against a motivated, ideologically disciplined insurgency.
The fractures within the Democratic Party are deepening across multiple fronts. In Michigan alone, state Sen. Mallory McMorrow recently exited a Senate race as internal divisions widened before a primary, another sign that the party’s coalition is under severe strain.
And the dynamic cuts both ways. While socialists are toppling establishment Democrats in blue districts, the establishment has also fought back in select races. Wesley Bell’s defeat of Cori Bush showed that the Democratic mainstream can still win when it marshals resources against the socialist wing. But those victories are becoming the exception, not the rule.
Thanedar’s story is instructive beyond the horse-race politics. Here is a man who immigrated to America, built a business from a $75,000 investment into a multimillion-dollar enterprise, won elected office, and, when tested by the October 7 attacks, chose to stand with Israel and against antisemitism, even at political cost.
Asked before the Fourth of July whether he was proud to be an American, Thanedar answered without hesitation:
“This is a great country. You know, we are a country of immigrants. Immigrants have contributed so much to our country, and you know this is the greatest country on earth. I am so proud to call myself an American citizen, although there are some concerns with the new administration.”
That kind of unqualified patriotism, from an immigrant, no less, is increasingly unwelcome in the Democratic primary electorate. The party’s activist base wants fighters against “billionaires,” not entrepreneurs who became them. It wants critics of Israel, not defenders. It wants democratic socialists, not Democrats.
Thanedar told reporters he had no “Plan B” for what to do after losing, but said he would remain involved in politics. Whether the party he served still has room for someone with his profile is an open question.
Intra-party conflict is hardly unique to Democrats, Republicans have their own internal disputes, but the ideological direction of the Democratic insurgency carries consequences that extend far beyond any single district.
McKinney will face a general election on November 3, but in a district this heavily Democratic, he is all but certain to win. The practical result: another DSA-aligned member of Congress, another vote for the socialist caucus’s priorities, another seat lost to the party’s shrinking center.
The Democratic Party’s leadership has a choice. It can keep endorsing moderates and watching them lose, or it can acknowledge what Thanedar already admitted, that the socialist movement has arrived, and it is winning. Neither option is comfortable.
When a party’s primary voters punish a member for condemning antisemitism and reward a challenger for running against wealth creation, the problem is not one bad election night. It is a value system in freefall.
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