A DSA-backed Michigan state representative unseated a millionaire Democratic congressman in Detroit on Wednesday, one of three socialist primary victories that signal the party's progressive wing is tightening its grip on safe blue seats.
Donavan McKinney, a state legislator backed by the Democratic Socialists of America, defeated Rep. Shri Thanedar in Michigan's 13th Congressional District Democratic primary, toppling an incumbent who had spent millions of his own fortune to win the seat in the first place. McKinney campaigned on affordability, environmental policy, and a promise to get corporate money out of politics, while hammering Thanedar as a wealthy outsider more aligned with billionaires than with the working-class voters of Detroit.
The result was not an isolated upset. On the same night, socialist-aligned challengers knocked off longtime Democratic incumbents in New York and Colorado, giving the DSA its most significant primary haul in years and raising pointed questions about where the Democratic Party's center of gravity now sits.
McKinney made Thanedar's personal fortune a central issue. In a campaign video, the challenger cast the incumbent as part of the problem.
"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."
Thanedar's business biography gave McKinney plenty of material. The congressman bought a small chemical analysis lab in 1991 for $75,000 and grew it into a multimillion-dollar enterprise through a series of acquisitions. He later founded Avomeen Analytical Services, a chemical testing company, and sold it before entering politics. That self-made wealth, once a selling point, became a liability in a district where the DSA's anti-corporate message found eager listeners.
The fundraising gap between the two candidates was staggering. The Washington Examiner reported that Thanedar held $5,029,239 in cash on hand compared to McKinney's $142,853, a disparity of more than 35-to-1. McKinney won anyway.
That lopsided financial picture makes the result harder for Democratic leaders to dismiss as a fluke. Money did not save Thanedar. Neither did the backing of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who had endorsed the incumbent.
The race also tested whether socialist candidates can build coalitions with Black voters, a demographic that polling suggests is less enthusiastic about democratic socialism than white Democrats. A Detroit News/WDIV poll found that only 42.6% of Black voters in Michigan said they would vote for a Democratic socialist, compared to 58.5% of white voters.
McKinney, however, secured endorsements from several Congressional Black Caucus members, including Reps. Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley, and Lateefah Simon. Former CBC Chairman Steven Horsford praised the challenger directly.
"Donavan McKinney has spent his career fighting for working people and families, not powerful interests."
Erin Covey of the Cook Political Report pointed to the layered dynamics at play, noting that opposition to Thanedar within Detroit's Black community predated the ideological fight. "The racial element obviously is a huge factor as well, and is just as big of a factor as kind of the ideological contrast between McKinney and Thanedar," Covey said.
The backstory adds a bitter irony. Thanedar himself had once been a DSA member. He broke with the organization in October 2023, after the terror attacks that left 1,200 Israelis dead, citing a rally in New York City promoted by the NYC-DSA that he described as antisemitic.
"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."
Thanedar remained a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus after leaving the DSA. But the split did not protect him. The DSA backed McKinney, and the organization's grassroots machinery proved more effective than Thanedar's war chest. The congressman who walked away from the socialists over Israel found himself walked out of Congress by the socialists over everything else.
When asked before the Fourth of July whether he was proud to be an American, Thanedar gave an answer that would have sounded unremarkable from most members of Congress. "This is a great country," he said. "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." In the current Democratic primary environment, even that mild expression of patriotism may have marked him as insufficiently progressive.
McKinney's victory was part of a broader pattern. In New York, socialist candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier defeated Rep. Adriano Espillat, the veteran chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. In Colorado, 29-year-old democratic socialist Melat Kiros unseated Rep. Diana DeGette, a longtime incumbent who had held her seat for roughly three decades.
Three incumbents. Three safe Democratic seats. Three socialist challengers. All three won on the same night. For a party that spent years insisting the DSA represented a fringe, that is a pattern that demands a different explanation.
McKinney framed his campaign in sweeping terms, casting the fight as one for the soul of the Democratic Party itself. Fox News Digital reported that in a campaign video, McKinney declared:
"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."
McKinney now advances to the general election on November 3. In a heavily Democratic district, the primary victory all but guarantees him a seat in Congress.
The McKinney-Thanedar race did not happen in a vacuum. Michigan Democrats also held a bitter Senate primary that same night, pitting progressive insurgent Abdul El-Sayed against establishment-backed Rep. Haley Stevens. AP News reported that El-Sayed won by fewer than 15,000 votes out of more than 1.5 million ballots counted, a margin of just under one percentage point.
El-Sayed, backed by Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, campaigned on Medicare for All, halting military aid to Israel, and campaign finance reform. Groups backing Stevens spent more than $50 million, including over $30 million from AIPAC and its affiliates, the New York Post noted it was the largest AIPAC investment in a single race on record. El-Sayed was outspent 12-to-1 and still won.
The Senate primary carried national stakes. Michigan voted narrowly for Trump in 2024, and the winner now faces Republican Mike Rogers in November in a race Democrats consider essential to flipping the Senate. Breitbart reported that the primary's bitter personal attacks and $90 million in total outside spending have raised real concerns about whether Democrats can unite in time for the general election. Rep. Debbie Dingell warned that "the brutality and ugliness of the campaign could make it harder for Democrats to unite afterward."
Sen. Chris Van Hollen spoke bluntly about the meaning of El-Sayed's victory. "This should be a wake-up call to the Washington Democratic establishment," he said.
The combined results, McKinney in Detroit, Avila Chevalier in New York, Kiros in Colorado, El-Sayed in the Michigan Senate race, amount to the most significant leftward lurch in Democratic primary politics since the original Squad members won their seats. The DSA and its allies are no longer picking off vulnerable moderates in deep-blue enclaves. They are defeating caucus chairs, longtime incumbents, and self-funded millionaires, often while being massively outspent.
For mainstream Democrats, the math is uncomfortable. Tens of millions in outside spending could not stop the progressive wave in Michigan. Hakeem Jeffries's endorsement could not save Thanedar. Three decades of incumbency could not protect DeGette. The Congressional Hispanic Caucus chairmanship could not shield Espillat.
And the candidates replacing them are not running on incremental reform. They are running against corporate PACs, against military aid to Israel, and against what they describe as a Democratic Party captured by wealthy interests. McKinney compared his own congressman to Donald Trump and Elon Musk. El-Sayed quoted Muhammad Ali: "We shook up the world."
Several open questions remain. McKinney's general election on November 3 is likely a formality in a safe Democratic district. But the Michigan Senate race is a genuine toss-up, and El-Sayed's progressive platform, particularly his stance on Israel, could complicate Democratic efforts in a swing state with a narrow margin for error. Whether the DSA's primary victories translate into governing power or general-election liabilities will depend on races that are far less friendly than the ones these candidates just won.
When a party's incumbents keep losing to candidates who call them sellouts, the problem is not the challengers. It is the party that no longer knows what it stands for, or who it serves.
