Martell Bivings wants tax cuts and energy independence, says voting rights is non-issue with Detroiters

The 13th Congressional District has received a lot of attention, both in Michigan and especially in the city of Detroit. That’s because, possibly for the first time in over 70 years, Detroiters will not have Black Congressional representation.

State representative Shri Thanedar, an Indian American, won the Democratic nomination over a very crowded field of African American Democratic candidates.

While representative Thanedar seems poised to win, he hasn’t claimed the 13th District seat yet. He is being challenged by Republican Martell Bivings.

“Taxes need to be cut. We need to get back to energy independence, meaning we need to export our oil so we can cut inflation so that my people in Taylor and Romulus and Wayne (County) and Detroit can go to the grocery store in peace, the gas station in peace,” — Martell Bivings, Republican candidate.

Detroit was at the center of attention during the presidential election on November 3, 2020, when Republicans protested outside the then-named TCF Center chanting, “Stop the count,” claiming voter fraud was taking place. High-profile Republicans both in Michigan and across the U.S. have made unsupported claims that the election was rigged. Protecting voting rights, particularly for Black and Brown voters, has become a priority for Democrats and left-leaning politicians, including a proposal on the November 8 ballot that would expand voting options in Michigan.

Bivings told Detroit Today host Stephen Henderson that the community members he talks to in Detroit aren’t worried about voting rights.

“Voting rights is a very small concern when I knock on people’s doors,” Bivings claims. “We have over 550,000 registered voters in the city of Detroit. We had 75,000 people vote in the primary. Voting rights (is) not an issue in the city of Detroit. Let me tell you that.”

Listen: What Martell Bivings sees as the most pressing issues facing the 13^th district

Guest

Martell Bivings is a Republican running for Congress in the 13th Congressional District. He’s up against the Democratic nominee, Shri Thanedar. He says:

“Taxes need to be cut. We need to get back to energy independence, meaning we need to export our oil so we can cut inflation so that my people in Taylor and Romulus and Wayne (County) and Detroit can go to the grocery store in peace, and the gas station in peace,” says Bivings.

The Detroit Today team has reached out to Shri Thanedar’s campaign team to invite him onto the show. Thanedar’s representatives did not respond at the time of publication.