Race Takes Center Stage as Rashida Tlaib Faces Primary Challenge

HIGHLAND PARK, Mich. — Representative Rashida Tlaib, one of Congress’s most famous members, is perhaps best known for her membership in the progressive group known as “the squad” and her strident attacks on President Trump.

But on a recent Saturday, she stood in a former manufacturing plant in one of America’s poorest districts, talking about power outages as she worked to beat back a stiff primary challenge that is threatening her political future.

“Where were the outages? Look at the map,” Ms. Tlaib told members of the Detroit chapter of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, the influential Black sorority, as she railed against DTE Energy, the local power company. “Black and brown communities overwhelmingly have outages because they don’t fix the infrastructure in our neighborhoods. DTE, I don’t need you to issue a statement that says ‘Black Lives Matter.’ I need you to show me Black lives matter.”

The message drew raucous applause here in Highland Park, a city surrounded by Detroit where Black residents make up roughly 90 percent of the population, and where voters are less concerned with the latest Washington controversy than they are about coronavirus testing, neighborhood blight and losing power whenever thunderstorms strike.