For TV star Hill Harper, Michigan’s U.S. Senate race may be toughest role

• Detroit actor Hill Harper boasts celebrity backing but is struggling to break through in Michigan race for U.S. Senate
• In the Democratic primary, U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin has dominated the fundraising race on Harper and aired three TV ads
• Harper hopes to appeal to people who ‘are not necessarily your typical primary voter’ and is leaning on high-profile connections to raise awareness, money

DETROIT — Hill Harper has tried several careers on for size after graduating from Harvard Law School: He’s a longtime actor, a television doctor, an author and the owner of Detroit’s Roasting Plant Coffee. 

Now, he’s one of two candidates seeking the Democratic nomination for Michigan’s U.S. Senate seat in the race to replace U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, who is retiring at the end of her current term. 

“I can make as many TV shows as I want and play nice characters, and sure, people can have a nice experience,” he told Bridge Michigan in an interview. “But…people are being left out and left last, and they're truly being destroyed.”

“I could not stand on the sidelines anymore,” he continued. “I just couldn’t.”

Harper, who owns Detroit’s historic Charles T. Fisher Mansion, is known nationally for his roles on “The Good Doctor” and “CSI: New York.”

But he’s relatively new to Detroit, and despite his celebrity status, polling suggests many Michigan voters don’t know who he is or that he’s even running in the Senate primary against Democratic U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin.

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The open seat is expected to be one of the most competitive in the nation come fall and could help determine which party controls the majority. The nonpartisan Cook Political Report recently categorized the general election race as a toss-up, a change analysts attributed to Democratic President Joe Biden’s lackluster debate performance and intra-party concerns about his fitness for a second term. 

In statewide polling, fundraising and name recognition, Harper is the underdog in the Democratic primary, trailing well behind Slotkin.

Slotkin has banked millions in preparation for the general election cycle, raising roughly $6.5 million over the last three months and reporting $9.5 million in reserves. Over the same time period, Harper raised just under $390,000 in contributions. Nearly $100,000 came from small, unitemized donations.

Ironically, the TV star has not had the campaign resources to compete on the airwaves with Slotkin, who has already run statewide ads. And many observers say Harper is unlikely to pose a significant threat in the primary.

Pollster Steve Mitchell of Mitchell Research and Communications, whose June survey of likely Michigan primary voters found Slotkin leading Harper by 45 percentage points, said all current trends point to a fall general election matchup between Slotkin and former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, the Republican frontrunner.

“(Harper) will get a little support, but she’s raised so much more money than anybody else, she’s a member of Congress, so I think she’s in pretty good shape,” Mitchell said. 

Harper is hoping to defy the odds by appealing to people who “are not necessarily your typical primary voter” — people who are discouraged by the political status quo and don’t feel represented in government, including Black voters who have been a key component of the Democratic coalition.

He’s also attempting to harness a bit of star power. 

Harper has gotten an onstage shoutout from Ludacris, shot a music video with Detroit rapper Gmac Cash (known in part for coining Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s “Big Gretch” moniker) and last week called in comedian Dave Chappelle for a fundraiser at St. Andrew’s Hall, where ticket costs ranged from $250 to $3,300. 

Chappelle, who has courted controversy for jokes about LGBTQ people, is a longtime friend of Harper’s dating back to an audition for the show “Married With Children.” A partial video of the Detroit performance shows the comedian praising Harper for his authenticity, calling it “a miracle of human behavior.”  

“It’s not polls and focus groups that moves his mind,” Chappelle told fundraiser attendees. “Put somebody in office that actually can hear your voice and is connected to these streets.” 

Hands-on outreach

Several hours before Chappelle took the stage Thursday, Harper parked his Ford F-150 in Detroit’s Mohican Regent neighborhood, where a mass shooting at a block party earlier in the month had killed two and injured 19 others. 

Working with local community organizers and state Rep. Donavan McKinney, D-Detroit, Harper went door-to-door, asking residents about the issues they cared about and distributing resources — including women’s bras donated by Victoria’s Secret, which Harper passed out to women he encountered in the neighborhood or left at unanswered doors as part of donated goody bags. 

One resident, who told Bridge she plans to vote in the Democratic primary but remains undecided, told Harper her top concern is addressing the aftermath of gun violence, describing how she had been afraid to open her door to people seeking aid out of fear she’d let a shooter in, and asking why victims’ bodies weren’t covered or shielded from view. 

“That was very traumatizing, especially to me, to wake up on God’s day and see a body right there…someone lying in the street,” she said. “She laid out there for so long. Things like that should not be allowed to occur.” 

Later that day, Harper joined other federal candidates in Genesee County to speak to local inmates about his criminal justice priorities, telling them he would “do everything in my power” to reduce incarceration rates and provide opportunities for formerly incarcerated individuals.

Harper said his main priority on the campaign trail has been engaging with people whose communities have been “failed” by the political establishment, who haven’t seen much of a return on investment from their votes or don’t bother voting because they don’t believe it would change much.

If elected, Harper said his priorities include addressing gun violence by banning “weapons of mass murder,” fighting for universal health care, reducing auto insurance rates and high costs of living as well as advocating for a reduction of dark money in politics. He also said he’d fight to get more federal funding to Michigan residents in need during the budget process. 

Despite his visibility as an actor, Harper’s outreach ambitions are somewhat stymied by the fact that many potential voters don’t know that he’s running for office. 

A May poll conducted by Glengariff Group found Slotkin had a 2-1 advantage over other Democrats in the race when it came to voters remembering her name. Among strong Democratic voters, 56% of respondents recognized Slotkin. Asked about Harper, 26% recognized him. 

Harper said he and his campaign are ramping up efforts to get in front of more voters in the weeks before primary election day with targeted TV and social media ads, and he has also pushed for multiple debates with Slotkin. 

An audio-only Democratic primary debate hosted by WHPR TV in Highland Park is scheduled for 10 a.m. Friday, July 26. 

Slotkin previously told Bridge that she’s open to debating her opponents and plans on “keeping it positive” throughout the campaign. On Thursday, her campaign released its third TV ad of the election cycle. 

A push for ‘systemic disruption’

Both Slotkin and Harper have paid considerable attention to Detroit, a heavily Democratic and majority Black region capable of making or breaking any Democrat’s chances at the polls.

Harper is a first-time candidate and is relatively new to Detroit — he first purchased his home and invested in his business in 2017 and has frequently traveled for acting gigs. Slotkin, though she represents a wide swath of mid-Michigan in Congress, hasn’t previously represented the city. 

For several prominent Black officials in the area, including Wayne County Executive Warren Evans and former U.S. Rep. Brenda Lawrence, Harper offers a chance to stem the erosion of Black representation at the state and federal level. 

Michigan has never had a Black U.S. Senator, and after Lawrence’s departure from Congress and U.S. Rep. Shri Thanedar’s victory in 2022, Michigan was left without a Black Democrat in Congress for the first time in decades — the state’s only sitting Black federal lawmaker is U.S. Rep. John James, R-Shelby Township. 

That’s an issue that needs to be rectified, Evans said during a recent press conference in Detroit to show support for Harper and other Black Congressional candidates.

“We have tons of women that are elected, and I'm glad they are, and I've voted for most of them,” Evans said. “But they're not women of color. They're women. And we have a real problem with voting for men of color. Why? Because it's not being promoted in the Democratic Party.”

In recent weeks, Harper has also picked up endorsements from the Fannie Lou Hamer PAC, the Black Mayors of Michigan and Nasser Beydoun, a previous U.S. Senate candidate who was booted from the ballot this cycle for not listing his home address on signature petition sheets. 

“Black voters are the key to victory in Michigan. Period,” Harper’s campaign said this week in a fundraising email. 

Slotkin’s ‘opportunity agenda’

Harper hasn’t cornered the market on metro Detroit support.

Slotkin has held dozens of campaign events in the city and boasts endorsements from former Detroit Mayor Dave Bing, Detroit City Council member Fred Durhal III, Detroit Police Commissioner Ricardo Moore and former Detroit City Council President Saunteel Jenkins, among others. 

She is backing an “opportunity agenda” to address disparities facing people in urban communities by increasing access to healthcare and healthy food options, expanding early childhood development programs, increasing access to capital for minority-owned businesses and reforming the U.S. Senate’s filibuster. 

“I know that I've never represented the city of Detroit, and it's on me to show up, introduce myself, listen, and then keep coming back,” Slotkin previously told Bridge. “I am completely aware that it is on me to earn people's votes, and that's what I'm trying to do.”

Slotkin’s Congressional experience and track record of bringing resources back to Michigan, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, would help Detroit move forward as the city continues to rebuild, Durhal said in his endorsement. 

“There has never been a time that is more critical than now to ensure we have leadership that is dedicated to ensuring our economy is thriving, our Detroit businesses continue to bounce back from COVID-19, our neighborhoods are stabilized, and our communities are safe,” he said. “Elissa Slotkin has the grit and ability to move our city and state even further.” 

To Harper, who said he “carried water” for the Democratic Party for decades before deciding to run for office, the race comes down to whether people are satisfied with the establishment or looking for an alternative. 

He told Bridge he believes his candidacy could help mobilize a “unity coalition” of Black voters and progressives who might otherwise be apathetic towards turning out this cycle. 

“If you've never seen a return on your investment of a vote… you would check out of the process,” Harper said. “When you start to get people who normally don't vote in a primary to vote, the whole system is disrupted. And that's what people want. They want systemic disruption.”