NEWS & MEDIA
To watch Donavan’s launch video, please click HERE.
High-resolution photos available HERE.
Please direct all media inquiries to press@donavanforcongress.com.
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Detroit, Michigan- The Donavan McKinney for Congress campaign today released a new television advertisement, "We Deserve Better," airing beginning June 23rd. The 30-second spot highlights Donavan’s accomplishments in the legislature and draws the contrast between us and our opponent, Shri Thanedar, who has voted to thank ICE.
Donavan McKinney has secured $600 million to replace lead pipes in Michigan and millions for public schools; meanwhile, our opponent has voted to continue to fund ICE and their illegal and immoral actions.
Voters this fall have the chance to send a real working-class champion to Washington, DC, who will bring home real results and resources to Michigan’s Mighty 13th District.
Watch it here
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Progressive U.S. Senate Candidate Dr. Abdul El-Sayed and MI State Rep. and Congressional Candidate Donavan McKinney Endorse Each Other In Respective August 2026 Primary Elections
DETROIT, MI – MI State Rep. Donavan McKinney’s broad coalition continues to grow with the addition of trailblazing U.S. Senate candidate Dr. Abdul El-Sayed today, as the candidates for U.S. Congress and U.S. Senate endorsed each other in their respective primary elections. McKinney and El-Sayed have long shared a commitment to strengthening and expanding union protections for workers, making life more affordable, and ensuring healthcare is more accessible for Michiganders, and the two civic leaders look forward to uniting together in Congress to fight for working people statewide.
“I am thrilled to endorse Dr. Abdul El-Sayed to represent Michigan in the US Senate! Our shared goals of getting money out of politics, enacting Medicare For All, and advocating for working families unites us deeply — and the stakes of this fight have never been higher,” said MI State Representative and Congressional candidate Donavan McKinney. “As the Supreme Court ruled to gut the Voting Rights Act earlier this week, the need for real representation in Washington is immense. I look forward to partnering with Abdul to enact critical legislation like the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, and ensure every Michigander has full access to the democracy we all deserve.”
“Donavan McKinney is the people's candidate,” said U.S. Senate candidate for Michigan, Dr. Abdul El-Sayed. “I've watched him work everywhere, from neighborhoods in Detroit to the halls of power in Lansing. Nobody brings more of themselves to public service on behalf of the community he grew up in and is raising his children in. I couldn’t be more proud to support him.”
ABOUT DONAVAN McKINNEY
Donavan McKinney is a lifelong Detroiter, proud husband to the love of his life Shaunté, and devoted father of three young children. He grew up in northeast Detroit, and was raised by his mother and grandmother, where poverty wages led to many evictions and forced his family to move over 13 times. He is a proud product of Detroit Public Schools, and proud to be the first in the family that raised him to become a college graduate (Go Blue!). He is a former leader and member of SEIU Healthcare Michigan, the largest healthcare union in the state. In January 2020, he made history with his appointment to Michigan’s first Environment Justice Council by Governor Gretchen Whitmer, where he was instrumental in Gov. Whitmer’s $2 million Water Restart Grant Program and her statewide Water Reconnection Executive Order during the COVID-19 pandemic. Today, Donavan is getting results for us as State Representative — expanding workers’ rights, protecting our drinking water, and holding DTE accountable. He credits his career in service to his mother, grandmother, and his surrounding community for coming together to invest in him despite their lack of resources and he wants to ensure Washington does the same for every family in this district.
Donavan is running for Congress to deliver bold solutions and a New Deal for Detroit and Downriver. In Congress, he'll work to lower utility costs, take on price gouging, champion Medicare for All and access to childcare, make housing more affordable, and get big money out of politics.
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MI State Rep. Donavan McKinney launches Democratic primary challenge against Detroit’s Elon Musk, multimillionaire Congressman Shri Thanedar
DETROIT, MI — Donavan McKinney, Democrat State Representative for Michigan’s 11th State House District, launched his campaign for U.S. Congress today in Michigan's 13th Congressional District. Rep. McKinney is challenging current second-term, multimillionaire Congressman Shri Thanedar in the Democratic primary election. He’s fighting to deliver working class representation to Michigan’s most Democratic district, that brings the urgency its voters are demanding — and failing to get from their current, out-of-touch, ultra-wealthy Congressman, Detroit’s own Elon Musk.
“I’m not running for Congress because I’m a millionaire or a billionaire. I’m running because I’m not. I’m running because our community deserves to have someone fighting back against the Trump-Musk administration who knows our struggles of housing insecurity, of wages that haven’t kept up with the cost of living, of environmental racism, and more — someone who has lived those struggles, and will fight for us with the urgency that this moment demands,” said McKinney. “I’m running for Congress so that you will never have to wonder if your Congressman is fighting for you in Washington. You know I will be — and I will always answer the phone for our community, for our kids, for all of us.”
Rep. McKinney’s announcement was accompanied by a launch video that was a testament to the people of Southeastern Michigan who are the first to be forgotten by bought-and-paid for politicians and their corporate backers, while detailing his commitment to fight back against the Trump-Musk administration with the urgency of someone who has lived through the same struggles that people of this community live through every day.
McKinney, who is 32 years old, is running to bring economic security to the people of this district who have been pinched by utility corporations, bankrupted by insurance giants, and spurned by corporate real estate developers. He’s fighting to stop and reverse the negative impacts decades of environmental racism and pollution have had on the air and water quality in Detroit and its surrounding suburbs — so that today’s children don’t develop the same chronic cough and health issues that McKinney and his family members developed growing up in Detroit. He is also running to ensure every child in Michigan can receive a quality public education, to push for a robust, quality public transit system, to strengthen the rights of unions and workers, and more.
In the State House, Rep. McKinney has delivered for Southeastern Michigan, representing the poorest district in the state, with a median income of less than $20,000. Since being elected, he has helped win more than $10 million in community violence intervention programs to Detroit and other areas, leading to the creation of Michigan’s first-in-the-nation statewide CVI program, as well as helping secure millions of dollars for community rec centers and public schools, and helping fund over $600 million to replace lead pipes in Detroit and its suburbs. He is committed to getting big money out of politics, and elevating the voices of voters over the influence of super PACs and corporations, helping lead the introduction of a slate of bills in the State House that would ban monopoly utility corporations and government contractors from making political donations.
McKinney starts the campaign with endorsements from several local leaders and organizations, spanning nearly every corner of the Congressional district including: State Senator Darrin Camilleri, State Senator Stephanie Chang, State Senator Veronica Klinefelt, State Senator Senator Paul Wojno, Detroit Caucus Chair and State Representative Stephanie Young, State Representative Erin Byrnes, State Representative Kimberly Edwards, State Representative Alabas Farhat, State Representative Peter Herzberg, State Representative Tullio Liberati, State Representative Tonya Myers-Phillips, State Representative Veronica Paiz, former Majority Floor Leader State Representative Abraham Aiyash, former State Representative Alberta Tinsley-Talabi, Wayne County Commissioner Alex Garza, Wayne County Commissioner Allen Wilson, Wyandotte Mayor Pro Tempore Kelly Stec, Allen Park City Councilman Gary Schlack, Wayne-Westland School Board Member At-Large Melandie Hines, and Pastor Sterling H. Brewer.
He has also been endorsed by Justice Democrats, the national grassroots progressive organization that recruited and helped take on corporate-backed politicians with working class champions like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Summer Lee, and Rashida Tlaib.
The incumbent, Shri Thanedar, is a self-funded multimillionaire who has more in common with Donald Trump and Elon Musk than the community he was elected to represent. Since 2021, Thanedar has spent over $17 million of his own wealth to bankroll his Congressional campaigns while spending more taxpayer money than any other member of Congress last year on ads to promote himself. As a result, Thanedar reimbursed himself nearly half a million dollars from House taxpayer dollars and over 50% of his 2024 Congressional expenses went to advertising and printing, while the average House member spent 5% on similar expenses. His outrageous taxpayer spending on self-promotion is the multimillionaire shortcut to compensate for his office consistently being plagued with accusations of poor constituent services – the focus of much of his ad spending. As if his own millions weren’t enough, Thanedar has also taken money from corporate PACs representing Big Pharma, corporate defense contractors, and local utility monopolies raising prices on everyday people like DTE Energy. Thanedar embodies everything wrong with Congress and what voters are fed up with, out-of-touch politicians who cannot be expected to stand up for working class people under attack because their priority is lining the pockets of themselves and their donors.
As part of the campaign launch, Donavan will host an event this evening alongside friends, neighbors, and supporters at SAY Detroit Play at Lipke Community Center in Detroit. For more information/to RSVP, please contact press@donavanforcongress.com.