Shrinivas Prasad Thanedar (born February 22, 1955) is an American businessman, author, and politician serving as the U.S. representative from Michigan's 13th congressional district since 2023. A member of the Democratic Party, Thanedar served as a member of the Michigan House of Representatives from 2021 to 2023. He was also a candidate in the Democratic primary for Governor of Michigan in the 2018 election. First elected to Congress in 2022, then again in 2024, Thanedar lost renomination in 2026 in the Democratic primary to democratic socialist Donavan McKinney.
Early life and education Shrinivas Prasad Thanedar was born on February 22, 1955 in Chikkodi, Mysore State, India, in a Marathi family. He earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry from Karnatak University and then attended a master's program at the University of Mumbai.
He moved to the U.S. in 1979 to pursue a PhD at the University of Akron, which he completed in 1982. Thanedar did post-doctoral work at the University of Michigan.
Thanedar became a U.S. citizen in 1988.
Business career In 1984, Thanedar started working at Petrolite in St. Louis. In 1990, Thanedar took a job working nights and weekends for $15/hour at Chemir/Polytech Laboratories. In 1991, he took out a loan to buy Chemir for $75,000. Sales in the first year were $150,000 and the business had three employees. By 2005, Chemir's revenues were $16 million and it employed 160 people, including 40 PhD chemists.
Thanedar borrowed $24 million from Bank of America to finance seven acquisitions, offering the bank a personal guarantee to back the debt. One acquisition, Azopharma, grew rapidly from $1 million in 2003 to $55 million in 2008. Thanedar's group of companies employed 500 people in 2008. He built a mansion in Ladue, Missouri with an in-home theater to accommodate 150 people. The mansion was later foreclosed following a bankruptcy and in 2010 Thanedar moved to Michigan with his family.
In 2007, Thanedar was offered $132 million to sell Azopharma. During the 2007–10 recession in the United States, Azopharma's revenue fell by 70%, triggering bankruptcy proceedings by Bank of America. Azopharma closed and its assets were sold for $2 million. During the bankruptcy proceedings, AniClin, one of Azopharma's research facilities of which Thanedar was the sole owner, abruptly closed; a 2010 USA Today article reported that laboratory animals were abandoned at the facility after the company was placed in receivership. According to later reports, employees climbed the fences to care for the animals until animal welfare organizations gained legal access and facilitated the adoption of all animals in the facility. Thanedar denied that any animals were abandoned.
Chemir remained profitable throughout the legal proceedings and was sold on March 31, 2011, for $23 million.Chemir auctioned off for $23 million That sale plus the combined assets in the firm covered Thanedar's debt to Bank of America.
Avomeen Thanedar launched Avomeen Analytical Services, an Ann Arbor-based chemical testing laboratory, with his son Neil in 2010. Avomeen was named to the INC 5000 list of fastest-growing U.S. companies in 2015 (#673) and 2016 (#1365). In 2016, Thanedar sold a majority stake in the business to private equity firm High Street Capital, netting him $20 million personally. He shared $1.5 million of the proceeds with his 50 employees.
Thanedar was named the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year for the Central Midwest Region (Missouri, Kansas, Iowa and Nebraska) in 1999, 2007, and 2016.2007 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award, for the Central Midwest Region He maintains 40% ownership of Avomeen.
Lawsuit In November 2017, a buyer of Avomeen Holdings LLC filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in Detroit, claiming Thanedar made "fraudulent and misleading representations" of his company's finances in order to sell the majority stake in November 2016. Thanedar denies the allegations, saying that revenues "are anticipated to significantly exceed" those of past periods. US District Judge Gershwin A. Drain dismissed the case in August 2019, citing a notice from Thanedar and Avomeen Holdings LLC that they had reached an agreement to resolve the matter out of court.
Early political career
Thanedar entered politics when he ran in the 2018 Michigan gubernatorial election as a Democrat. His political platform included a $15 minimum wage, public education reform, infrastructure improvements, and increased government transparency.
2018 gubernatorial campaign
On April 5, 2017, Thanedar submitted paperwork to raise funds for a potential gubernatorial campaign in Michigan. On June 8, he officially announced his candidacy for governor of Michigan in the 2018 Democratic primary. He pledged not to accept any corporate political action committee donations. Thanedar contributed between $10.3 million and $10.6 million of his own money to his campaign. Early polling in 2017 showed him in last place at 2% to 3%. After running a statewide Super Bowl ad in February 2018, he quickly became the best-known Democratic candidate for governor. Thanedar lead in statewide Democratic polls in March (21% to 18%) and April (30% to 26%) versus Gretchen Whitmer, the presumptive Democratic front-runner.
As Thanedar's campaign gained public traction in early 2018, reporters at The Intercept and HuffPost began investigating Thanedar's history. Thanedar had not held elective office before running for governor in 2017, so he did not have an official record as a Democrat. Campaign finance records show that he made 18 donations to Democratic campaigns and one to a Republican campaign before running for office. The Republican donation, $2,300 to the 2008 Republican presidential campaign of John McCain, led to controversy that Thanedar might not be as progressive as he claimed. Political strategists who met with Thanedar before his 2018 campaign also claimed that he initially questioned whether he wanted to run as a Democrat or Republican in the gubernatorial race. Thanedar denied the claims, saying that these strategists were criticizing him because he did not hire their firms. He also faced allegations that laboratory animals were abandoned at one of his former research facilities after Bank of America placed that business into receivership in 2010, which he denied.
These controversies hurt Thanedar's campaign and he failed to poll over 30% again. In the primary, he won the City of Detroit, but finished third statewide; he received 200,645 votes (17.7%), placing him in third behind Whitmer's 588,436 votes (52.0%) and Abdul El-Sayed's 342,179 votes (30.2%). Thanedar's support was heavily concentrated in cities with high African American populations like Detroit, Flint, Inkster, and Pontiac.
Thanedar self-funded his campaign with nearly $10.6 million, which was more than the total amount raised by every other Democratic or Republican in the primary elections, and nearly a third of the amount raised by all candidates combined.
2020 Michigan House of Representatives campaign In August 2019, Thanedar submitted paperwork to run for state representative in Michigan's 3rd district, a portion of the upper east side of Detroit. On August 4, 2020, he won the Democratic primary for the seat. On November 3, 2020, Thanedar was elected to the state house. He assumed office on January 1, 2021.
U.S. House of Representatives
Political positions Healthcare
Thanedar has stated he believes healthcare is a human right and supports Medicare for All. He is a cosponsor of HR 3069, the Medicare for All Act. As someone who lost his first wife to mental illness, Congressman Thanedar has been a proponent of various mental health initiatives. He worked on legislation to designate September 8 as "988" day in order to promote the 988 suicide and crisis hotline, worked on a bill to allow Medicaid to provide financial assistance to patients in a mental health facility, and a bill to allow service members to keep their mental health provider when their care is transferred to the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Iran War
Congressman Thanedar opposes the Iran War, and held a townhall where he said the "war is illegal". Citing the Iran war, as well as tariffs, Thanedar sent a letter to President Trump's cabinet, requesting they invoke the 25th Amendment to remove the President.
Animal Rights
In Congress, Thanedar has been a proponent of animal rights. He received a score of 100% from Humane Society and received their legislative leader award. He introduced HR 4422, the Don't Feed the Bears Act, to ban bear baiting. During the 2026 Farm Bill markup, Congressman Thanedar spoke in favor of removing provisions that made it harder for the USDA to protect dogs in puppy mills.
Thanedar also introduced an amendment based on the FIGHT Act during the markup, which would ban online gambling on animal fights, allow courts to seize fighting pit bulls and other property used by convicted animal fighters in the commission of their crimes, stop the shipment of fighting roosters through the mail, and allow advocates to bring civil suits against cockfighters and dogfighters. The amendment faced opposition from Republican Ag committee chair, Representative Glenn Thompson. However, a provision of the FIGHT Act survived, which banned in person and online gambling on animal fights.
Israel Thanedar previously co-sponsored a resolution to halt aid to Israel, describing it as an apartheid state, in the Michigan House of Representatives. The next year, he faced opposition from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) in his run for the US House. In August 2023, he traveled to Israel with the American Israel Education Foundation, an AIPAC affiliate. On return, he described the relationship between Israel and the United States as mutually beneficial. AIPAC heavily funded Thanedar during the 2026 primary campaign in Michigan.
On October 11, 2023, the Detroit Free Press reported that Thanedar had "renounced his membership in the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), saying it hasn't adequately denounced Hamas for its 'brutal terrorist attacks' on Israel last weekend."Shri Thanedar quits Democratic Socialists for failing to denounce Hamas attacks, Detroit Free Press, October 11, 2023 This came after the Detroit chapter of the DSA had already moved to expel Thanedar after he escorted Indian prime minister Narendra Modi, whose premiership a chapter spokesperson called "far right, violent, [and] Islamophobic", on a state visit to the US.
In his 2024 primary election, the pro-Israel super political action committee called Blue Wave Action, linked to AIPAC, formed and quickly spent nearly $2.3 million on television ads and mail advertisements attacking his election opponent, who was a vocal critic of the ongoing Gaza war.
Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) In August 2025, Thanedar introduced the Ending Qualified immunity for ICE Agents Act (H.R. 4944), saying "If an ICE agent violates the law, it only makes sense they are held accountable just like civilians". In January 2026, Thanedar introduced the Abolish ICE Act (H.R. 7123). The legislation proposes dismantling ICE and ending its enforcement authority. His office announced the bill on January 9, 2026 and it was officially introduced in the House on January 15, 2026. The bill was proposed shortly after the fatal shooting of Renee Good by an ICE agent on January 7, 2026 in Minneapolis. Thanedar described ICE as "beyond reform".
In March 2026, Thanedar opposed a planned ICE facility in his district in Romulus. Thanedar lead a townhall and protest against the proposed ICE facility in his district. Ultimately, the Department of Homeland Security scrapped its plans, and decided to sell the facility.
Articles of impeachment