| | | | |  | | By JC Whittington and Lara Priluck | With help from Brakkton Booker, Ella Creamer, Rishika Dugyala, Jesse Naranjo and Teresa Wiltz
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Actor Hill Harper has embarked on a long-shot bid for the Democratic nomination in Michigan's Senate race this year. | POLITICO illustration/Photo by AP for Experian | Hi, Recast fam! It’s JC Whittington and Lara Priluck of POLITICO’s video team here, subbing in for Brakkton. North Carolina GOP Chair Michael Whatley officially announces his candidacy to replace outgoing Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel, and a partial government shutdown looms if lawmakers don’t strike a deal to avert it by the end of the week. First, though, a focus on Michigan politics. Michiganders head to the polls to cast ballots in the state’s closely watched primary contests today. There won’t be much suspense: President Joe Biden is expected to win over Democrats in the Great Lakes State. Still, Biden is facing a critical test. A coalition of Arab American and Muslim leaders as well as progressives are pushing for a protest vote, urging locals to vote “uncommitted” to demonstrate dissatisfaction with the administration’s handling of the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict. One person who’ll be watching avidly to see how this all plays out: actor-turned-politician Hill Harper. Harper, a Hollywood veteran best known for his role as Dr. Marcus Andrews on the television series “The Good Doctor,” is hoping to tap into Democratic voters' disenchantment in his own race. The long-shot Michigan Senate candidate — who was classmates with former President Barack Obama at Harvard Law School — is seeking to defeat Rep. Elissa Slotkin, the well-funded Democratic establishment candidate, who seems all but assured to coast to the nomination on Aug. 6. The Democratic primary to replace retiring Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow so far has hardly been a competitive one. When it comes to fundraising, Slotkin is trouncing Harper, a single dad who also owns a coffee shop in Detroit. She’s sitting on a stockpile of $6 million; he’s got just just over $154,000 on hand. And according to a recent survey of likely Democratic voters, Slotkin enjoys a 42-point advantage over Harper in a head-to-head matchup.
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The Iowa City native, who is calling for an immediate cease-fire from Israel, touts his union bona fides when wooing Michigan voters — though it’s doubtful that his 32 years in the Screen Actors Guild and his endorsements from two local United Auto Workers unions will be enough. After all, Slotkin’s already grabbed some big labor endorsements of her own, including the American Federation of Teachers - Michigan, the Michigan AFL-CIO and the Communications Workers of America.
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| We chop it up with the camera-ready actor — who made sure to direct us on his best angles — about how he’s planning to take the money out of politics, disrupt the establishment and pull off the most challenging role he’s ever auditioned for: becoming a U.S. Senator. ◆◆◆ This interview has been edited for length and clarity. THE RECAST: Some critics question how you jump from being an actor to running for an elected position in Congress — not just any position, but a senator. HARPER: The arts and government are to me symbiotic. They're about impacting people. It's clear to most people that I found that they don't believe that there's enough diversity of lived experience in the U.S. Senate. We've only had 12 Black U.S. senators in history. There's never been a Black senator from Michigan, particularly a state that has such a legacy of historic, strong Black political representation. If I'm elected to the U.S. Senate, I'd be the only truly active union member in the U.S. Senate. I'm a proud 32-year, card-carrying union member. I'm out there on the strike lines with folks during the entire strike, handing out hats, food, gloves, socks when it started to get cold. THE RECAST: As a senator, you would be representing Dearborn, which has the largest Muslim population per capita in the U.S. The national Democratic Party is receiving criticism over how they've been handling the war between Israel and Hamas. How do you walk that line? HARPER: I'm very proud of being a Democrat, but our party's gotten off course. Seventy-one percent of Michigan Democrats are in favor of a cease-fire. But an extremely small percentage of our establishment congressional members have called for a cease-fire. My opponent in my Senate race has not. The Democratic Party right now has a problem in Michigan. I was in a meeting with 14 Arab and Muslim leaders. I said, ‘If you don't support President Biden, it's literally supporting Trump. And Trump wanted to pass a Muslim ban. That's not good.’ And the person looked me in the face and said, “Hill, you don't understand many people in our culture,” and he said, “Many of us would rather be stabbed in the face than stabbed in the back.” And they feel that the Democratic Party has stabbed them in the back. | 
| THE RECAST: Would you support aid being sent to Israel? HARPER: I wouldn't uniformly support it. Our country can't be in the business of funding violence around the world or over there. Over 55 conflicts are going on around the world. And I don't believe you get to peace through a bullet. And I have a saying, ‘There is no good war and there's no bad peace.” So if further funding to fund a foreign war is going to create more death, then I'm not interested in that now. But, I am interested in helping a democracy like Israel. We're allowing people to conflate the idea that you are anti-Israeli or anti-Jewish if you advocate for a cease-fire. It's not true. Two things can be true at once. I'm a huge proponent of Israeli folks because I love them. But I don't love a Palestinian child any less. THE RECAST: Who is the target demographic that you are trying to reach? HARPER: Obviously the most consistent and important Democratic voter is Black women, period. And then you move beyond that to talking to Black men. The Democratic Party has been losing Black men across the board consistently. THE RECAST: Why? HARPER: I just want people to understand, Michigan is a red state until Black people vote. Until Wayne County reports, there's no Democrat winning statewide. Someone reached out to us last week and said that they had run some numbers talking about the fact that my opponent has been saying that she doesn't believe she can win with Biden on the ticket. I'm the opposite. Biden has a better chance in Michigan with me on the ticket. Why? Because of Black turnout. And so I believe I can help him deliver the victory there. Because we're going to turn out so many other people that my opponent would not. | 
Harper walks with SAG-AFTRA members in the Labor Day parade in Detroit, Monday, Sept. 4, 2023. | Paul Sancya/AP | THE RECAST: Speaking of your opponent, when you look at how much money you have in your campaign and how much money she has in hers, it's like apples and oranges. What is your campaign's plan to get around that barrier? HARPER: Talking to people, having these types of conversations, getting in front of people. They're choosing between status quo and old establishment politics and someone who's willing to fight for them. At the end of the day, corporations aren't people and money doesn't vote. We want to have new leadership. I would suggest that some of the best senators we have in the U.S. Senate right now got into the Senate without having any previous electoral experience or legislative experience. Like Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), she was a professor at my law school. And then Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), I think he's a champion. What we're seeing is, the folks that actually have the most experience are the ones causing the most division and problems. Sen. Mitch McConnell, Sen. Chuck Schumer — the establishment is the problem. Money in politics is the problem. THE RECAST: There are some critics that say you are carpetbagging. HARPER: I don't know how. I've actually lived in Michigan longer than my opponent. My opponent moved to Michigan after Trump's victory to run for Congress. I moved to Michigan to raise my son there. My son was born Dec. 19, 2015. | 
Harper speaks during an advocacy day at the Russell Senate Office Building on April 28, 2016, in Washington. | Leigh Vogel/Getty Images | I could live anywhere in the world, but I chose to live in Michigan because of the people. Warren Evans, the county exec of Wayne County, arguably the most powerful Black elected official in the state of Michigan, was one of the first people to endorse my campaign. He's not going to endorse my campaign if he doesn't believe wholeheartedly that I can win. THE RECAST: Would you consider running for a House seat? HARPER: No. I want to have real impact. The individual senator has a real ability to impact issues that they care about. I mean, you've seen Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) do it on certain issues. You've seen others take on certain issues to be able to really influence a discussion and influence an issue. Almost 90 percent of the school kids that are in the school systems, many of which are in the poorest communities in my state, whether we're talking about Detroit, Flint, Pontiac, Muskegon Heights, Benton Harbor, Battle Creek, Kalamazoo — they're three to four grades below in reading and writing. It's not right. I'm not going to get those things done in the House of Representatives.
| | | ICYMI @ POLITICO
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Rep. Andy Kim, who's running for the Democratic nomination in New Jersey's Senate race, won his third straight county convention over the weekend | Ted Shaffrey/AP | Andy Kim Keeps Rolling — Once considered an underdog, Democratic Rep. Andy Kim is flexing his third-straight county convention win, besting his challenger Tammy Murphy, New Jersey’s first lady. POLITICO’s Daniel Han and Katherine Dailey break down what all this means for his quest to become the Democratic Senate nominee. Top Muslim Lawmaker Backs Biden Protest Vote — State Rep. Abraham Aiyash, 30, is Michigan’s first Arab American House Majority Leader. He’s also a leading voice in the campaign to urge voters to cast “uncommitted” votes to protest Biden in today’s primary. Check out this profile from POLITICO’s Sophie Gardner. (Another) Looming Shutdown — Yes, we’ve been here before, but now with two key players who barely know each other, let alone speak with any regularity. POLITICO’s Jennifer Haberkorn and Jonathan Lemire break down the nonexistent relationship between House Speaker Mike Johnson and the president and the hurdles to keeping the government open beyond Friday’s deadline.
| | | THE RECAST RECOMMENDS Tommy Orange’s highly anticipated new novel, “Wandering Stars,” is a multigenerational epic following a Native American community which explores race, family and the far-reaching effects of forced assimilation and colonization. ICYMI: The first season of “Mr. & Mrs. Smith,” starring Donald Glover (aka Childish Gambino) and Maya Erskine, dropped on Prime this month. Two strangers are hired to pretend to be a married couple for a spy agency and … you guessed it, they end up catching real feelings.
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| Lil Durk raps between the studio and a cliffside at sunset for his new reflective track “Old Days,” touching on addiction and grief. In Tyler Perry’s new Netflix movie “Mea Culpa”, a criminal defense lawyer (Kelly Rowland) agrees to defend an artist (Trevante Rhodes) accused of murdering his girlfriend. Havana’s Daymé Arocena serves up Afro-Cuban jazz with her latest song, “Por Tí.” Brainstory’s latest single, “Listen,” is giving laidback Cali soul vibes. The Weeknd lives it up in a country manor adorned with tapestries, chandeliers and gold-framed portraits in the music video for “Popular,” his aptly named collab with Playboi Carti and Madonna. | 
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