Actor Hill Harper, who is best known for his role on “The Good Doctor,” announced Monday that he’d seek the Democratic nomination for Michigan’s open seat.
Harper, a first-time candidate who would be the Wolverine State’s first Black senator, faces a difficult primary against Rep. Elissa Slotkin, who has spent months as the frontrunner to succeed retiring Sen. Debbie Stabenow. The field also includes Michigan State Board of Education President Pamela Pugh, and former state Rep. Leslie Love, who would each be the first Black woman to represent the state in the upper chamber. Republicans have yet to draw a prominent candidate for this longtime swing state, though Time’s Mini Racker recently reported that John Tuttle, an executive with the New York Stock Exchange, “is likely” to announce this month.
Harper, in an interview with Racker, sought to portray himself as an alternative to “career politicians,” arguing, “Michiganders don’t want their next U.S. Senator chosen by the Washington, D.C. establishment.” The new candidate also told the Detroit News, “There’s a high degree of frustration by a lot of Democrats―not just African American Democrats in Michigan―that for the first time in 57 years Michigan does not have a Black Democratic representative in Congress. And that is going backwards.” Harper also sought to contrast himself ideologically with Slotkin, who won three terms in a swing district by campaigning as a moderate, telling the New York Times he would seek to be “the most progressive candidate.”
Harper, an Iowa native who bought his home in Detroit in 2017 and purchased a coffee shop there that same year, also tried to frame his decision to move to the state as a positive, declaring, “We need to have more people choose Michigan, like I chose Michigan.” But that may not deter attempts to portray him as an outsider, with Love alleging to the Toledo Blade in April that her now-rival “has never lived in Michigan and has no experience at all in politics or government.” Racker, though, writes that the actor has been an active voice in Detroit progressive circles, and he also drew attention early in the pandemic by delivering water in Flint.
Harper drew plenty of attention when he launched his campaign Monday, but it remains to be seen if he’ll have access to enough money to overcome Slotkin’s considerable head start in fundraising. The congresswoman on Monday also revealed she’d raised $2.8 million during the second quarter of the year and finished June with $3.6 million; the other Democrats have not disclosed their numbers ahead of Saturday’s deadline. It’s also not clear if Harper will even be stepping aside from his role on “The Good Doctor,” which films in British Columbia, as he instead told Racker he couldn’t answer given the ongoing TV writers’ strike and other potential labor actions.
