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Hill Harper, an actor from “CSI: NY” and “The Good Doctor,” is running for the US Senate, and not on TV, either. He’s challenging Rep. Elissa Slotkin for the Democratic Party nomination in Michigan, and he spared no “I’m a political outsider” cliches in a statement declaring his candidacy:
“We’re in a state where I think the triple blue leadership in Lansing has done really hard work moving the state forward, but in Washington, D.C., it’s still broken. And folks feel like it’s still broken. And I’m one of them,” Harper told The Detroit News.
“Without energized, bold leadership in the U.S. Senate, our state will continue to be held back from achieving its full potential. We deserve a better brand of politics than politics as usual, and that’s why I’m running for the U.S. Senate.”
Harper released his first campaign ad Monday, and I gotta admit it’s a little weird. The creepy music and muted lighting makes it feel like a sequel to The Boogeyman.
“Dear Pierce,” Harper says his son, who’s named after his friend Pierce Brosnan, “I’m recording this video for you because I’m about to make a big announcement. And it’s gonna be tough for us. You know I’m not going to be able to tuck you in every night or do our nighttime prayers together.”
OH MY GOD, what’s going to happen to him?
Don’t worry. The ad soon shifts into a general “we all make sacrifices to improve our nation” pitch. Harper mentions that he’s run a small business in Detroit, beaten cancer, and served on President Barack Obama’s cancer panel. He’s earned Ivy League degrees and written best-selling books. However, he’s not pushing respectability politics. He acknowledges that “our economy works for the richest while the most vulnerable have to work harder than ever to keep up.”
“That’s not freedom,” he says in a close-up shot. “At the core of so much of this is are too many politicians in office that don’t really care about people.”
He adds, “What I learned on my grandfather’s farm growing up is that when you plant something in good soil, you get something much better in return.”
That’s a solid message, but can first-time politician Harper snatch the nomination from the more overtly moderate Slotkin?
When Donald Trump carried Michigan in 2016, many Democrats assumed that the state overall was shifting right and their political survival instincts sent them scurrying to the center. Joe Biden’s 2020 victory wasn’t enough to calm those fears, as Democrats lost ground in the House. In November 2020, Politico ran a profile on Slotkin titled “Elissa Slotkin Braces for a Democratic Civil War.” Two months later, she’d fear for her life during a MAGA attack on the Capitol — a more literal “civil war” than the figurative one against the progressives who supposedly cost “sensible” Democrats seats.
PREVIOUSLY:
Michigan, Meet Your Next Democratic Senator Elissa Slotkin!
These Democrats Want To Smother Biden’s Mask Mandates. Like In A Ventilator.
Slotkin famously said in the interview, “You know, the one thing I will say about Donald Trump. He doesn’t talk down to anybody. He is who he is, but he doesn’t talk down to anyone. And I think that there is a certain voter out there because of that who identifies with him and appreciates him.”
Turns out the “one thing” she should’ve said about Trump was that “this motherfucker’s plotting a coup!”
So a challenge to Slotkin from her left was probably a given, especially after Badass Liberal Governor In Charge Gretchen Whitmer moonwalked to re-election over Tudor Dixon’s face.
Hill is presenting himself as “the most progressive candidate” in the race, which is bound to generate heart palpitations among the Never Trump/centrist crowd who probably think Slotkin is the safest bet for holding the retiring Debbie Stabenow’s seat. We’ll see what the voters think.
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