Kumar Switches To Independent To Run In 11th Congressional Race

(Source: MIRS.news, Published 04/01/2026) Wayne State University Gov. Dr. Anil Kumar dropped out of the 10th Congressional race in December as a Democratic candidate. In February, he decided to run in the district next door, the 11th, and as an independent.

Kumar said he was a lifelong Democrat. He first ran for Congress in 2014 under the Democratic banner after his own research found that the best way to make changes in the health care arena was to serve in Washington, D.C.

“Elderly patients would come and say, ‘Dr. Kumar, I cannot afford to spend half a million dollars trying to figure out my diagnosis.’ I'd write them a script. They couldn't fill it, and so I said something needs to be done,” he said.

He said he’s always believed he could do a better job with healthcare and education reform than what was being offered by candidates now, and said he was inspired by former Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan in switching to an independent.

Kumar said he realized that to serve the people, he didn’t have to be in a party, which he said has changed from when he was first running.

He said it was similar to when Mahatma Gandhi was asked his thoughts about Christians, and he responded that he liked the ideology, but the followers were troublesome.

“I like being a Democrat, I like the ideology, but I am not so sure about the followers,” Kumar said.

He said he came to that conclusion seeing the gridlock and partisan fights in Congress.

“It’s like being in middle school. These are adults actually fighting like kids, as if they’re on football teams. Well, this is not football teams. This is not sport. This is our country. This is our people. We have to be mature, and you have to be dedicated to make changes that help the country,” he said.

When it comes to winning in November, he said that 40% to 45% of his district is independent and there were many Republicans and Democrats who were looking for someone not running as a partisan.

He said 60% of the Democrats didn’t vote in the primary and could end up supporting an independent candidate.

At this point, he said he was self-funding his campaign, but hasn’t had problems fundraising in the past.

“I have a lot of people already lining up. So we’re going to be having fundraisers, like six or seven of them in a month,” he said.