Hollier dropping Congress bid to run for Michigan secretary of state

Melissa Nann Burke, The Detroit News on Sep 10, 2025

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DETROIT — One of the Democrats running against two-term U.S. Rep. Shri Thanedar says he's dropping out of the primary contest to seek the party's nomination in the statewide secretary of state race instead, leaving state Rep. Donovan McKinney as the congressman's most prominent challenger, for now.

Former state Sen. Adam Hollier of Detroit credited his decision in part to conversations he had with voters in Michigan's 13th Congressional District questioning whether there would be a 2026 election because of the "narrative" pushed by President Donald Trump.

"I just got to a place where I felt like a place that I needed to be was where the biggest fight was, and I think that's in Lansing," Hollier said, "to make sure that votes are counted here in Michigan, to make sure that people have faith in their process, and to ensure that ... we have somebody strong in secretary of state's position to make sure that Michigan voters can feel confident that their ballots are going to be counted correctly."

The Detroit News first reported on Sunday that Hollier was planning to drop out of the U.S. House race.

The nomination for secretary of state will be decided at a Michigan Democratic Party state convention next year, with Ingham County Clerk Barb Byrum and current Deputy Secretary of State Aghogho Edevbie already competing in that race. Hollier said he'll tout his service as a veteran, his time in Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's cabinet and his advocacy efforts during the last redistricting cycle.

For the U.S. House seat, McKinney has a clearer shot at targeting Thanedar with Hollier out of the race. But he still faces an uphill fight with the congressman sitting on an $8 million war chest that's funded in part by the Thanedar campaign's investments in cryptocurrency.

"Thanedar has benefited from a splintering of the African-American vote in the city and, if the field remains the same, that might not materialize this time," said David Dulio, a political scientist at Oakland University, after Hollier dropped out.

"Things can still change, though. We’re seven months away from the filing deadline."

In addition to McKinney, Democrats Shelby Campbell and Nazmul Hassan, Republican Andrew Lorenz and Green Party candidate D.Etta Wilcoxon have filed paperwork to run.

Other candidates may still jump into the Democratic primary contest, including Detroit City Council member Mary Waters, who lost to Thanedar last fall. Waters told The Detroit News on Tuesday that she's focused on her reelection to City Council's at-large seat.

"It's still a long road to success and victory for anyone who is running against an incumbent who has a war chest of personal funds sitting there at his disposal," Democratic consultant Mario Morrow said of Thanedar. "You got to raise a ton of money. ... Adam Hollier saw the writing on the wall."

Democratic leaders in the community and Thanedar's past challengers have expressed a desire to restore majority-Black Detroit's African-American representation in Congress, which was lost for the first time in nearly 70 years when Thanedar, an Indian American, won a nine-way primary in 2022 with 28% to Hollier's second-place showing of 24%.

"But you have to give the guy credit, his constituents like him," Morrow said of Thanedar. "They haven't seen anything that discourage them from supporting him in the future, so McKinney or whoever has to come out with some strong messaging that would discourage some folks from supporting Shri Thanedar."

McKinney did snag some major endorsements earlier this year from progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Detroit, but he posted a modest fundraising haul of just $272,000 last quarter.

Hollier, notably, didn't endorse McKinney this week when leaving the race.

Hollier ran for the 13th District in 2022 and 2024 but, after launching his latest bid in April, wasn't able to garner the same support he got last year from top Democrats like Wayne County Executive Warren Evans and former U.S. Rep. Brenda Lawrence of Southfield.

After touting that high-profile support last year, Hollier ended up dropping out in June 2024 after he was disqualified from the ballot over signatures that had been forged and duplicated by circulators.

Thanedar went onto clinch a three-way primary contest in August 55% of the vote and easily win a second term last fall in the Democrat-heavy district.

"I've been very clear that I think Shri Thanedar is not the right member of Congress to represent Detroit," Hollier said.

"I am super hopeful and excited for the potential for Detroit to have a Black member of Congress again and continue to be really committed to the happening and hopeful that folks like Warren Evans and Brenda Lawrence and Wendell Anthony ... can come together and lead on getting a candidate that can win the 13th Congressional District, and that will be a good representative to us."

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