Sterling Heights councilman launches congressional campaign for battleground district

Democratic Sterling Heights Councilman Henry Yanez is running for Congress in a newly drawn battleground district in suburban Detroit.

Yanez, a longtime firefighter who served six years in the state House until he was term-limited in 2018, is vying for the 10th District, which covers Warren, Sterling Heights, Clinton Township, and Shelby Township in Macomb County and Rochester and Rochester Hills in Oakland County.

The seat is among four of the state’s 13 U.S. House seats that are considered toss-ups between Republicans and Democrats.

Two Democrats have declared their candidacy so far: Huwaida Arraf, a civil rights attorney and daughter of Palestinian immigrants, and first-term Warren City Councilwoman Angela Rogensues.

Vying for the Republican nomination are two-time losing Senate candidate John James and Eric Esshaki, a Birmingham lawyer and former nurse.

Other potential GOP candidates include Oakland County Republican Chairman Rocky Raczkowski, of Troy; former U.S. Rep. Mike Bishop; and Lena Epstein, of Bloomfield Township, and the former head of Donald Trump’s Michigan campaign.

Yanez said he’s inspired by his working-class roots.

“Growing up in a hardworking blue-collar family, I learned from my parents the importance of service above self and helping one’s neighbor. I watched my dad, a UAW-Ford welder, get up each day to head to work, learning at a young age that families and neighbors like ours were too often the first to feel a bad economy and the last to feel one bouncing back,” Yanez said in a statement Tuesday. “That foundation is what drove me to protect our community as a firefighter and paramedic for almost three decades, effectively advocate for the voiceless and forgotten up in Lansing, and do my part to build a stronger, safer community as a local official.”

Yanez has a history of attracting Democrats and Republicans. In 2016, Henry won his state House district by eight points, even though Trump won the district by 10 points in the same year. James lost the district in both his Senate campaigns.

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