Democrats spent thirty-five years introducing the same reparations bill and watching it die on arrival every single time.
Now a Michigan congressman facing a career-ending primary challenge just did them one better – land reparations.
And he couldn't find a single cosponsor for his bill.
No Backers, No Plan, No Explanation
Rep. Shri Thanedar, D-Mich., introduced legislation last week to create a federal commission to "study and distribute land reparations" for descendants of slaves.
Zero colleagues signed on.
Thanedar's office couldn't explain how the bill would work in practice when Fox News asked.
What Thanedar did offer was a statement calling the federal government's history with black Americans "nothing short of shameful" – and an argument that broken post-Civil War land promises justify federal land redistribution today.
https://twitter.com/Maat93489673/status/2033841488782659811?s=20
The bill is dead on arrival in the Republican-controlled House.
This Isn't Passion, This Is Politics
Here's what you need to know about why this bill appeared last week specifically.
Thanedar is in serious trouble.
State Rep. Donavan McKinney is running against him in Michigan's August 2026 Democrat primary – backed by Bernie Sanders, Rashida Tlaib, and the Justice Democrats.
McKinney's campaign is calling Thanedar "Detroit's own Elon Musk" – a millionaire who has spent $17 million of his own money on congressional campaigns and has more in common with the billionaire class than the working-class Detroit district he represents.
The attack is working.
Thanedar's support for Israel has made him toxic to the furthest-left voters he needs in a deep-blue primary – the same voters who watched him leave the Democratic Socialists of America after October 7th because the DSA wouldn't condemn Hamas.
So with his primary five months out, he drops a land reparations bill with no cosponsors, no legislative details, and no path to passage.
That's not legislating. That's a press release with a bill number.
The 37-Year Graveyard of Reparations Bills
Rep. John Conyers first introduced H.R. 40 – a bill to establish a commission to study reparations for descendants of slaves – in 1989.
https://twitter.com/PoliticalRICO/status/2033653507753185603?s=20
He introduced it every single Congress for nearly thirty years until he retired.
It never passed.
The first time it cleared a committee was April 2021 – under a Democratic House majority, during peak post-George Floyd political pressure – and it still never made it to a floor vote.
Now, with Republicans controlling the House and Donald Trump in the White House, Thanedar is pushing a version that goes further than H.R. 40 – actual land distribution, not just a study commission.
Pew Research found that 91% of Republicans oppose reparations in any form.
Even Democrats are split – 49% of them oppose it within their own party.
Thanedar isn't trying to pass this bill. He's trying to survive August.
How Thanedar Spent $17 Million to Become the Guy Nobody Wants
The real story here isn't reparations.
It's what happens when you're an Indian-American multimillionaire representing one of Detroit's poorest districts and you try to out-progressive the progressives.
Thanedar introduced articles of impeachment against President Trump earlier this year – something his own Democratic House leadership opposed.
He left the DSA after October 7th because they wouldn't condemn Hamas – and Tlaib never forgave him.
Now Bernie Sanders is campaigning against him in his own backyard.
And instead of any of this landing Thanedar real progressive credibility, his primary challenger is literally comparing him to Elon Musk.
There's a lesson here the Democratic Party never learns: when you build your entire coalition on grievance and identity, eventually somebody outbids you.
The land reparations bill won't save him in August.
When you've burned your left flank over Israel, your moderate flank over impeachment theater, and your working-class flank over $17 million in self-funding – a no-cosponsor reparations bill isn't a lifeline.
It's a eulogy.
Sources:
- Adam Pack and Elizabeth Elkind, "Far-left House Dem pushes land reparations for descendants of American slaves," Fox News, March 16, 2026.
- "Views of reparations for slavery in US vary widely by race and ethnicity," Pew Research Center, 2022.
- "Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African-Americans Act," Wikipedia, updated November 2025.
- "Sanders backs progressive challenger to Thanedar," The Hill, June 16, 2025.