Is This Celebrity Candidate’s Michigan Story Just an Act?

When actor Hill Harper launched his Democratic Senate campaign on Monday, he did so with a video message to his son.

“Dear Pierce,” the video begins. “I’m recording this video for you because I’m about to make a big announcement.”

Harper continued that he learned on his grandfather’s farm that, “when you plant something in good soil, you get something better in return.”

“That's why I’m raising you in Michigan,” he said.

But for someone raising his son in Michigan, Harper seems to spend a lot of time outside the state. And whether his son is really being raised in Michigan is already becoming a point of contention; just weeks ago, Pierce Harper was attending school 2,000 miles away—in Seattle, Washington.

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It’s just one indication of several that Harper is more of an outsider to Michigan than he’s aiming to present. And it could be an ongoing issue for the actor as he ventures into Michigan politics.

As multiple candidates discovered last cycle, the transition from celebrity to Senate candidate isn’t always so easy.

Harper is an actor known for his roles playing doctors on CSI: NY and The Good Doctor. He boasts the resume of a politician in the making. He was born in Iowa, went to Brown University for his undergraduate degree, and then Harvard Law School during the same years as former President Barack Obama. He’s a single dad of an adopted child. He’s written books and built his wealth.

And, according to multiple interviews Harper conducted this week, he claims to have moved to Michigan seven years ago. In 2017, he did indeed buy a historic Detroit home known as the “Charles T. Fisher Mansion.” He bought a franchise location of a coffee shop in town that same year, and engaged in nonprofit work in the area.

But despite his property ownership and Michigan business dealings, Harper also has sprawling roots on the West Coast, where he regularly filmed his television series. And where, exactly, his actual primary residence has been over the last seven years is difficult to discern.

During the time Harper was claiming to live in Michigan, he also appears to have maintained residences in California and Seattle. He bought a condo in Malibu in 2018, which he later rented out, but The Seattle Times also reported that Harper moved to their city during the first season of The Good Doctor, which aired between 2017 and 2018. The paper noted that, as of 2020, Harper reportedly commuted between Seattle and Vancouver, where the show filmed.

As part of that, Harper told The Seattle Times in 2020 that he was sending his son to a foreign-language immersion school in Seattle. In September 2022, Harper again told Yahoo he was sending his son to a foreign-language immersion school.

According to a source familiar, Harper will be enrolling his son in a Michigan school next year.

But the list of questionable details surrounding Harper’s time in Michigan goes on.

On pages to book Harper as a speaker for events—the cost of which ranges from $20,000 to $100,000 depending on the virtual and in-person options—he is listed repeatedly as traveling from places that are not Michigan. In two booking profiles reviewed by The Daily Beast, he is listed as traveling from California. In another two, he is listed as traveling from Seattle.

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In one speaker bio that says he travels from Seattle, Harper has reviews as recently as June 2023, indicating the profile has been recently in use. In another speaker bio that says he travels from California, there are details in his bio about events from 2021, also indicating the profile was updated within the last two years.

(Three of the profiles also include this line: “In 2004 and 2014, People named [Harper] one of their Sexiest Men Alive…he anticipates being named again in 2024.”)

The Daily Beast spoke with one former employee of Harper’s Detroit coffee shop who worked there for about three years. The employee could only recall one in-person visit from Harper.

Another former employee of the coffee shop that spoke with The Daily Beast said Harper more regularly began visiting the establishment within the last year. But in the years prior to that, the source only saw Harper visit about three times and found him to be difficult to get hold of.

The source said Harper showed a clear interest in Detroit but, at the end of the day, “He didn’t live in Michigan.”

Harper’s political donations up until 2015 listed his primary residence as California, according to the Federal Elections Commission database.

Harper stopped making political donations, according to the FEC, between June 2015 and May 2023. At that point, Harper made a donation to the Michigan Democratic State Central Committee, listing Michigan as his primary residence.

Rebecca Pearcey, a spokesperson for the campaign, claimed to The Daily Beast in a statement that Harper has lived in Michigan for seven years.

“Hill Harper began spending time in Michigan because of work, but quickly realized the greatest people in the world live in Michigan and decided to move there full time,” Pearcey said. “Ever since moving to Michigan in 2016, he’s voted as a Michigander, paid taxes to the state, and runs a small business in Detroit.”

The strategy of planting roots in Michigan—if it was one—as a segue to a political rise would make sense for a candidate like Harper. The television celebrity is positioning himself as a progressive option in the primary field.

Michigan leans blue and Republicans are not expected to make the Senate seat a top target, so the Democratic primary could be the biggest hurdle between him and the U.S. Senate.

The biggest hurdle in the primary, however, is Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), a more moderate Democrat who effectively cleared the field of other potential congressional contenders. Washington Democrats breathed a sigh of relief earlier this year when Slotkin got in the race. Endorsers quickly lined up behind the congresswoman.

While Harper’s residency issues could be a line of attack in the primary, Slotkin may not be the ideal candidate to point out those issues. Slotkin spent her early life in Michigan, but she spent some time away from the state during her college tenure at Cornell and Columbia University (two other Ivy League institutions, just like Harper), and then she remained out-of-state to work for the Central Intelligence Agency, where she served three tours in Iraq as an analyst for the agency. Slotkin also worked for the Bush and Obama administrations before she moved back to Michigan in 2017 in advance of her run for Congress a year later.

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With money and name recognition, Harper could give Slotkin a run for her money if he gains the right momentum. Democrats also in the race include State Education Board Member Pamela Pugh and former state Rep. Leslie Love, among others.

The seat is being vacated by retiring Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), who has not yet made an endorsement in the race. The Democratic Senate primary will take place Aug. 6.

Of course, there are other potential complications for Harper’s run beyond his residency. There are questions about whether he’ll continue his work as an actor over the next year and a half while ostensibly running for Senate. A Hollywood writers strike currently has production of most television shows on hold—but that could change quickly.

Asked directly if he’d continue shooting The Good Doctor in Vancouver during his run, Harper told The Detroit News, “That is impossible to say because we’re on strike. The industry is on strike right now. Nothing’s happening as far as the industry, so who knows?”

Until then, Harper’s left making his case to voters, and proving himself to be a Michigander. At the local level, there still seems to be some confusion on that point.

In one local news segment from April on Harper considering a Senate run, an anchor at the news desk asked a dispatched reporter, “I know Hill Harper has been in and around town doing charitable work and opening businesses, but does he live in the required area?”

The reporter wasn’t sure.

“You know, that’s a very good question,” the reporter said. “I assume that he is. You have to be a resident of the state in order to be a U.S. senator, so I’m sure that they’ve crossed that T and dotted that I. But that’s a very good question.”

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