FAMOUS FAMILY

Kristine Bonds understands the value of her name. “There’s a built-in legacy – there’s a brand. I inherited this name,” said the daughter of late TV news anchor Bill Bonds, a West Bloomfield Republican who is running for the open 11th District (Birmingham, Bloomfield Hills, Rochester Hills, Novi, western Oakland County and parts of Wayne County) congressional seat currently held by Republican David Trott. The current opioid crisis is one reason that motivated the political neophyte to run after she lost her stepson, Drew Swan, 24, to an overdose. “I feel we are at an important moment for the district and Michigan. There’s a lot of noise out there, and as an outsider with no agenda, it’s important to me to insure the district is well taken care,” Bonds said. Another famous relation running for the open MI-11 is Democrat Suneel Gupta of Birmingham. He and his brother, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, neurosurgeon and chief medical correspondent for CNN, grew up in Novi, where their parents both still live. The Guptas co-founded Rise, a mobile health company of which Suneel is CEO; he previously was a VP at Groupon in Chicago. Gupta and Bonds are joining an increasingly crowded field – on the Democratic side, it includes former car czar Haley Stephens, businessman Dan Haberman and Rep. Tim Greimel. On the Republican side, Plymouth Township supervisor Kurt Heise, state Rep. Klint Kesto (West Bloomfield), oil heiress Lena Epstein of Bloomfield Hills and perennial candidate Rocky Raczkowski (Troy). Still no official word from rumored candidate state Sen. Mike Kowall (R-White Lake).