Outsiders and challengers have pulled off unlikely victories against incumbents and establishment-backed candidates all across the country. And now, another Democratic socialist is vying to pull off the next big upset in Michigan. That candidate is state Representative Donavan McKinney, running to unseat incumbent Rep. Shri Thanedar in Michigan’s 13th congressional district.
McKinney joined Zeteo just days before the election to discuss how growing up in poverty and under constant threat of eviction made him the politician he is today.
“I remember living out of trash bags,” he recalled.
“It’s just sad that we live in the wealthiest, most powerful country in the world and we have people in such despair and such poverty but we can find money – our taxpayer money – to go to war in Iran or fund genocide across the globe, and you’re telling our folks here they can’t get the resources they justly deserve.”
Citing Black history and the labor movement, McKinney also talked about why he’s “proud” to be a Democratic socialist, especially at a time when the media treats Black voters as a monolith of moderates.
“This is a new generational wave right now,” he said. “It’s complicated, and there’s nuance, but what I see day in and day out in my district – it doesn’t matter where you live, doesn’t matter who you love, your race, how you worship, whether you live in a city or suburban…we’re all a part of the 99% no matter how you slice it.”
Hear all this and so much more, including how McKinney first encountered the issue of Israel and Palestine only a few years ago, in the video above.
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