DETROITERS have a new attitude;
Some Detroiters are finally waking up to the fact that no one else is going to do more for you than you do for yourself. Also, when people are elected, they look out for family first, friends second, and you a distant third. This tenet should be common sense, and to ignore it has consequences.
Detroiters elect other people to represent them, don’t hold them accountable, and then wonder why they have high unemployment, high taxes, poor schools, etc.
So does the election of Donavan McKinney over Shri Thanedar signal a shift. It should. If El Sayed and Talib win, it should be a concerted effort to improve Detroiters’ quality of life. They should, because Detroiters have been good to the Arab community. When they first started coming to this area, they occupied a small enclave in the 7 Mile John R neighborhood. Now, with Black support for their party stores, gas s, stations, and markets, they are building mansions in the suburbs, changing entire communities.
They also got support from Detroit’s leaders at the expense of Black-owned businesses. The so-called Minority Media, which included no Black-owned media, was awarded the 2020 Census media contract for the Detroit area. Their job was to use their media platforms to encourage Detroiters to register for the census.
The district primary has fundamentally shifted the state’s political calculus, making the relationship between progressive Arab and Muslim American leaders and the Black electorate a critical focal point.
When state Representative Donavan McKinney ousted the two-term incumbent on August 4, 2026, it didn’t just signal a win for the progressive left—it marked a pivotal moment for Detroit. The victory positions McKinney to restore Black representation to a historically significant, plurality-Black district that has lacked a Black voice in Congress since 2022.
With the political landscape transformed, it’s a vital question whether prominent progressive leaders like Representative Rashida Tlaib and U.S. Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed will have to work harder to earn and maintain Black voters’ trust. The answer lies in the shifting dynamics of representation, coalitions, and legislative priorities.
The Return of Black Representation in Detroit
For nearly 70 years, beginning with Charles Diggs Jr. in 1955 and followed by John Conyers, Detroit was defined by powerful Black representation in Washington. That era paused when Shri Thanedar and Rashida Tlaib won redrawn districts, leaving the nation’s Blackest major city without a Black member of Congress.
What contributed to this loss was local leaders not understanding the value of Black-owned, not Black-targeted media. This misguided 2020 Census initiative gave a contract to suburban so-called minority media to get Detroiters to register for the Census. Watch that press conf. This lack of investment in and support for Black media cost Detroit hundreds of millions in its share of government funds and directly led to the election of Thanadar and Tlaib with redrawn districts.
- The Core Grievance: While Tlaib and El-Sayed enjoy strong pockets of support, a segment of the Black electorate is exhausted by being treated as a dependable voting bloc while losing direct demographic representation in their own neighborhoods.
- The New Dynamic: Donavan McKinney’s victory means Black voters successfully reasserted their electoral power to reclaim a historic seat. This shifts the leverage. Progressive non-Black leaders can no longer assume that a shared “progressive” or “outsider” identity is a substitute for direct community representation.
The Divergent Paths of the Primary Season
The primary also exposed an ideological and demographic split that progressive leaders must address. In the high-stakes U.S. Senate primary, Abdul El-Sayed narrowly defeated establishment favorite Haley Stevens. However, the voting data revealed a sharp divide:
- The Establishment Lean: Older Black voters largely favored Stevens, trusting her pragmatic messaging and institutional backing.
- The Progressive Base: El-Sayed’s victory relied heavily on younger Black and brown voters, alongside highly educated progressive strongholds.
Political strategists have rightly noted that El-Sayed cannot rely on the broader Black electorate’s default loyalty heading into the general election against Republican Mike Rogers. He and Tlaib must intentionally speak to the economic and institutional concerns of older, more moderate Black voters who felt alienated by the primary’s fierce anti-establishment rhetoric.
Navigating Competing Coalition Priorities
To maintain a robust multi-ethnic coalition in Southeast Michigan, Tlaib and El-Sayed must show that their core platforms directly advance the Black community’s material needs.
- Foreign vs. Domestic Focus: The primary was deeply shaped by foreign policy, specifically debates over U.S. military funding to Israel. While highly motivating for Arab and Muslim American communities, some community leaders caution that international conflicts do not always resonate as deeply with Black voters facing systemic, localized domestic hardships.
- Translating Ideology to Progress: Tlaib and El-Sayed must show how their progressive visions—such as expanding public health initiatives, protecting labor unions, and pushing for federal investments—translate into lower grocery bills, safer neighborhoods, and improved local infrastructure for Detroiters.
A Coalition Based on Partnership, Not Default
Ultimately, asking what Tlaib and El-Sayed must do next is valid because it rejects the outdated political assumption that minority communities will naturally vote as a monolith.
By ousting Thanedar, Detroit’s Black electorate demonstrated that it expects its political power to be respected and reflected in leadership. For progressive figures like Tlaib and El-Sayed to secure the margins they need in future statewide and congressional races, they will have to approach Black voters not as a guaranteed baseline, but as partners who require explicit engagement, tailored policies, and authentic shared power.
Black Detroiters have always supported the Arab community. The dollars they earned from markets, gas stations, and party stores let their families move from an enclave in the 7 Mile John R area to mansions in the suburbs. We need Black leaders to leverage the power of the Black vote better.
