| Hansen Clarke | |
| State: | Michigan |
| Term Start: | January 3, 2011 |
| Term End: | January 3, 2013 |
| Predecessor: | Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick |
| Successor: | Gary Peters (Redistricting) |
| State Senate1: | Michigan |
| District1: | 1st |
| Term Start1: | January 1, 2003 |
| Term End1: | December 31, 2010 |
| Predecessor1: | Joe Young |
| Successor1: | Coleman Young II |
| State House2: | Michigan |
| District2: | 7th |
| Term Start2: | January 1, 1999 |
| Term End2: | December 31, 2002 |
| Predecessor2: | Ray Murphy |
| Successor2: | Virgil Smith Jr. |
| State House3: | Michigan |
| District3: | 16th |
| Term Start3: | January 1, 1991 |
| Term End3: | December 31, 1992 |
| Predecessor3: | Juanita Watkins |
| Successor3: | Richard Young |
| Birth Name: | Molik Hashim[1] |
| Birth Date: | 2 March 1957 |
| Birth Place: | Detroit, Michigan, U.S. |
| Party: | Democratic |
| Education: | Cornell University (BFA) Georgetown University (JD) |
Hansen Hashim Clarke[2] [3] (born Molik Hashim, March 2, 1957) is an American politician and former U.S. Congressman. A Democrat, he was the U.S. representative for from 2011 to 2013. Prior to his election to Congress, he had been a member of the Michigan House of Representatives from 1991 through 1992 and from 1999 through 2002, and represented the 1st district in the Michigan Senate from 2003 to 2011.[4] [5] Clarke was also the first U.S. Congressman of Bangladeshi descent.[6] [7]
Clarke entered Congress after defeating incumbent Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick in the 2010 Democratic primary for the 13th congressional district. In 2012, due to redistricting, fellow incumbent Gary Peters chose to run against Clarke in the 14th congressional district primary. Clarke finished second in the primary behind Peters, and left Congress in January 2013.
In April 2014, Clarke attempted a comeback and announced he would again run in the 14th District primary. The seat was to be vacated by Peters, who ran successfully for the U.S. Senate. Clarke was unsuccessful in his bid to regain the seat.
Molik Hashim was born in Detroit, Michigan. His father was an immigrant from Beanibazar in Sylhet, British India (now Bangladesh), and his mother was African-American.[5] He grew up in the city's Lower East Side. Clarke's father died when he was eight years old and his mother worked as a crossing guard to support her family. Clarke is an alumnus of Cass Technical High School, and later graduated from The Governor's Academy, a Massachusetts boarding school.[5]
Clarke attended Cornell University, graduating with a degree in fine arts. He is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity. While at Cornell, Clarke became interested in public service and electoral politics. He was elected to the student seat on the Cornell University Board of Trustees, defeating fellow student and future political commentator Ann Coulter in the process.[8] He earned a J.D. degree from Georgetown University Law Center in 1987.[5]
Clarke worked on the County Executive's staff of Wayne County, during the administration of Edward H. McNamara, and then as chief of staff to U.S. Representative John Conyers.
Clarke was elected to the Michigan House of Representatives in 1990, 1998, and 2000. After his six years in the Michigan House, Hansen Clarke was elected to the Michigan Senate in 2002. Senator Clarke was re-elected to his seat in the Senate in 2006. In 2010, Hansen Clarke was elected to represent the 13th District of Michigan in the United States House of Representatives.[9]
Clarke served on the State Senate Appropriations committee, and later served on the Health Policy committee and Commerce and Tourism committee.[10]
Clarke ran unsuccessfully in the 2005 Detroit mayoral election.
Clarke defeated seven-term incumbent U.S. Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick in the Democratic primary for Michigan's 13th District—the real contest in this heavily Democratic, black-majority district—in Aug. 3, 2010.[11]
In the general election, Clarke easily defeated Republican John Hauler, and became the third American of South Asian descent elected to Congress.[12]
After Michigan lost a congressional district in redistricting,[13] most of Clarke's district became the 14th District. It was significantly redrawn to take in large slices of nearby Oakland County. Clarke's home was drawn into the 13th District, represented by fellow Democrat John Conyers, but Clarke opted to follow most of his constituents into the 14th. Clarke faced fellow Congressman Gary Peters and Southfield mayor Brenda Lawrence in the primary. Peters' 9th district had been eliminated in redistricting, and he chose to run in the 14th; he had represented much of the Oakland County portion of the district in both the state senate and in Congress. Peters emerged as the winner, and defeated Republican John Hauler in November.[14]
In May 2013, Peters announced that he would not be running for re-election in 2014. He instead ran for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by retiring Democrat Carl Levin. Clarke attempted to win his seat back, but was defeated in the primary by Brenda Lawrence.[15]
Clarke championed initiatives to increase investment in the City of Detroit, which resulted in millions of dollars of federal assistance being awarded to the city and the region. He won approval in Congress to increase funding to improve nutrition for low-income families, provide housing for homeless veterans, and better equip and staff local police, fire, and emergency medical providers to bolster homeland security.[16] [17]
Clarke was a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, and the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
Clarke is married to Choi Palms-Cohen.[22] They married in 2007, after meeting at the offices of the Institute of Continuing Legal Education (ICLE) in Ann Arbor, Michigan where she worked.[23] They live on Detroit's east side where Clarke was born and raised. Clarke was raised as a Muslim but later converted to Catholicism.[24]
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