Shri Thanedar

Shri Thanedar

Shri Thanedar (born February 22, 1955) is an Indian-American entrepreneur, author, multimillionaire, and politician. He is the representative-elect for Michigan's 13th congressional district.

Thanedar represents the 3rd district in the Michigan House. He was a candidate in the Democratic Party primary for governor of Michigan in the 2018 election. Thanedar won the City of Detroit, but finished third statewide, behind former Michigan State Senator Gretchen Whitmer and former Health Director of Detroit Abdul El-Sayed.

Renouncing DSA

Shri Thanedar Post dated Oct 11 2023

After the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, Shri Thanedar formally renounced his membership in the Democratic Socialists of America on X due to their "hate-filled and antisemitic rally in New York City."

Early life and education

Thanedar grew up in a lower-income family in Belgavi, India. When his father was forced to retire at age 55, the 14-year-old Thanedar worked odd jobs to support his family of eight. He earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry at 18 and then attended a master's program at University of Bombay. He came to the U.S. in 1979 to pursue a PhD at the University of Akron, which he earned in 1982. Thanedar became a U.S. citizen in 1988.

Resolution condemning socialism

February 2, 2023 House Republicans moved a Resolution condemning socialism and certain dictators.

The Resolution began:

Whereas socialist ideology necessitates a concentration of power that has time and time again collapsed into Communist regimes, totalitarian rule, and brutal dictatorships;

Whereas socialism has repeatedly led to famine and mass murders, and the killing of over 100,000,000 people worldwide;

Whereas many of the greatest crimes in history were committed by socialist ideologues, including Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong, Fidel Castro, Pol Pot, Kim Jong Il, Kim Jong Un, Daniel Ortega, Hugo Chavez, and Nicolás Maduro;

Eighty six Democrats voted no. Forteen voted "present" and six didn't vote.

Representative Shri Thanedar voted "Nay".

Medicare for All

Cheryl Webb November 30, 2022.

"We’re SO thrilled to congratulate and welcome these new members of Congress who won their elections earlier this month on a platform of supporting Medicare for All!

Greg Casar - TX-35, Summer Lee - PA-12, Valerie Foushee - NC-04, Shri Thanedar - MI-03, Delia Ramirez - IL-03, Maxwell Frost - FL-10, Sydney Kamlager - CA-37, Robert Garcia - CA-42, Becca Balint - VT-at large, Morgan McGarvey - KY-03, Glenn Ivey - MD-04, Kevin Mullin - CA-15, Jill Tokuda - HI-02, Jonathan Jackson - IL-01, John Fetterman - Senator-elect, Pennsylvania, Peter Welch - Senator-elect, Vermont .

2022 CPC new members

During an event at the AFL-CIO headquarters in Washington, D.C., Pramila Jayapal said that 15 of the 18 candidates the CPC's political arm had won their elections as of Sunday, with another win potentially on the way.

“There’s no question this will be the most progressive Democratic Caucus in decades,” Jayapal said, adding that they will have over 100 members in the 118th Congress compared to their current membership of 99.

By the numbers: Jayapal was joined at the press conference by nearly a dozen incoming members.

They were: Morgan McGarvey (Ky.), Summer Lee (Pa.), Robert Garcia (Calif.), Shri Thanedar (Mich.), Maxwell Frost (Fla.) Jasmine Crockett (Texas), Jill Tokuda (Hawaii), Delia Ramirez (Ill.), Greg Casar (Texas), Becca Balint (Vt.) and Jonathan Jackson (Ill.).

DSA connections

DSA comrade

From Socialism on the Ballot:

Michigan Detroit DSA’s Rashida Tlaib (MI-12; 🌹) will cruise to re-election in her new 12th congressional district, and is probably the least interesting race on the board in Michigan, where a plethora of non-endorsed members are running. Most prominent among these is a truly bizarre one: “progressive” multi-millionaire Shri Thanedar (MI-13; 🌹) is apparently a lifetime DSA member, and thus is nearly certain to become the sixth DSA member in Congress on a technicality this November. However, there are plenty of better examples than Thanedar on the ballot as well.

May Day 2023

Shri Thanedar at Metro Detroit Democratic Socialists of America 2023 May Day celebrations, at Bell Isle with Chris Gilmer-Hill and Melina Herrera.

DSA press conference

Shri Thanedar Mar 13, 2023.

At the DSA press conference, opposing tax giveaways to corporations - with Rashida Tlaib.

May Day 2022

Shri Thanedar at Metro Detroit Democratic Socialists of America 2022 May Day celebrations.

Shri Thanedar, May 1, 2022]].

For International Workers Day, Shashi & I stopped by the DSA May Day Picnic. It's so important to remember that this country was built by labor workers and when workers succeed, we all succeed. In Congress, I will always vote for workers, as I have done in the Michigan House.

DSA comrade

Shri Thanedar is a member of Democratic Socialists of America.

Progressive

In Shri Thanedar's own words:

I am a very progressive candidate. I am not taking any money from corporate special-interest banks. My platform is fixing education, which is my number one goal. I want to be known as the education governor Michigan never had because education is important to me. These are not just talking points, I draw them from my experiences of life.

I also want to modify the tax structure. I am for a graduated income tax. One of the more unusual features of my tax structure is that I will have any family that makes $50,000 or less state income tax exempt; they will not pay income tax. I will raise the minimum wage to $15 and tie it to inflation.

You know I’m for single health care system, one of the other candidates is, but Sen. Whitmer is not. So that should be a single issue for a voter to decide, right? Corporate donations, you know, two of the three candidates would not take corporate donations. Sen. Whitmer does. That could be a deciding factor.

So I have experiences that the others have not experienced. So when I go and walk in the neighborhoods in Detroit and when I see people living in poverty, I understand their life and it’s not just that I sympathize, I empathize with them because I’ve been in their shoes. That is where my compassion comes in. It’s hard to have that compassion living in a very comfortable home in Bloomfield Hills in a family income of what? $400,000? You never have to worry about college debt because your parents will pay for your education. It’s different thing.

I’m not criticizing, I’m glad that some of people have that kind of lifestyle and that privilege, but you have to live. I have lived this life and that’s where I come from, that’s where I come from and when I talk about progressive, it’s not because it’s fashionable to be progressive, I talk about progressive because I really want to overcome this inequality. I happen to be the only gubernatorial candidate — and this may be something that you do not know — that voted for Bernie Sanders. Did you know that? I am the only candidate! Sen. Whitmer was a big supporter of Hillary Clinton, which I am too; I like her. I voted for her in the general election. The other candidate did not vote for Bernie Sanders, he said the lines were too long. Just talking about progressive isn’t enough, you have to live a progressive life. You have to have the passion. So that’s who I am.

The key area here is responsible governorship. We need to make sure that guns are out of the hands of people that are mentally unstable or convicted domestic abusers while protecting the rights of our citizens. I fully support the Second Amendment, and I support the right to bear arms. We need to ensure that the guns are not getting into the wrong hands. Absolutely no guns in schools. I want no guns in the hands of teachers. Teachers need to teach. We need to put enough money into education and schools so that we are able to protect by using technology through card access or cameras or security or whatever it needs to be. The teachers should not have to be worrying about using guns.