‘The Good Doctor’ actor Hill Harper running for Michigan Senate seat

The next role for “The Good Doctor’s” Hill Harper is as a real-life political candidate: The actor has announced he’s running for the Senate in Michigan.

“Without energized, bold leadership in the U.S. Senate, our state will continue to be held back from achieving its full potential,” Harper said in a Monday statement to The Detroit News.

“We deserve a better brand of politics than politics as usual, and that’s why I’m running for the U.S. Senate,” said Harper, who’s seeking the Democratic nomination.

Harper, who plays Dr. Marcus Andrews on the CBS series and has also starred on “CSI: NY,” is running for Sen. Debbie Stabenow’s (D) seat. Stabenow announced in January that she wouldn’t run for reelection in 2024.

The 57-year-old actor, who has never made a political bid, faces a primary battle against Rep. Elissa Slotkin. The Michigan Democrat launched her Senate campaign in February. The Senate seat is considered a key pickup opportunity as Democrats and Republicans vie for control of the upper chamber in the 2024 race.

Harper noted to The Detroit News that as a member of the Screen Actors Guild, he would be the “only U.S. senator who is a current dues-paying, card-carrying union member.” Harper, who also owns a Detroit coffee shop, also told the publication that if elected he would be “one of very few small business owners in the U.S. Senate, and, I believe, the only Democrat.”

“People want to see themselves reflected in their representation, and right now Michiganders don’t feel that way about their Washington, D.C., representation,” Harper said.

He isn’t the only TV star to trade the small screen for the campaign trail. Actor Ben Savage, who played Cory Matthews on the 1990s sitcom “Boy Meets World,” announced in March that he was running for Rep. Adam Schiff’s (D-Calif.) seat in the House.

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