Michigan’s 8th District Race Heats Up As Six Candidates Vie For Open Congressional Seat‌   

Kristen McDonald Rivet (D), Paul Junge (R), and four other candidates are running in the general election for Michigan’s 8th Congressional District on November 5, 2024. Incumbent Dan Kildee (D) is retiring from public office.

Michigan Public Radio’s Steve Carmody wrote Kildee’s decision to retire “marked the end of decades of Kildee family control of the mid-Michigan congressional seat, and possibly along with it, a half-century of Democratic control of the seat representing Flint.”

McDonald Rivet is a state senator who was first elected in 2022. In an interview with WCMU Public Radio, McDonald Rivet said her priorities are “lowering prescription drug costs, addressing the cost of housing, addressing the cost of childcare, and also protecting our women’s abortion care rights and protecting our privacy and healthcare.” She says many of these priorities are the same as the ones she has in the state Senate, where she says she has a “reputation as someone who gets real, practical work done.” McDonald Rivet says that in Congress, she is willing to “work with anyone who wants to work with me.

Junge is a former prosecutor and TV news anchor who worked in U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services during the Trump administration. He previously ran for Congress against Kildee in 2022, losing 53.1% to 42.8%, and against Elissa Slotkin (D) in a previous iteration of the 8th district in 2020, losing 50.9% to 47.3%. Junge is campaigning to improve the economy and says, “Stopping the rising cost of goods and improving the economy for working families is a top priority of my campaign.” Junge is also campaigning on reducing immigration and says he would work “to stop the flow of illegal immigrants and poisonous synthetic opioids across our southern border, which are devastating forgotten communities across our state and across our country.”

Bridge Michigan’s Simon Schuster wrote that the district had “grown more conservative since new district lines took effect in 2022, and it will be a tougher lift for Democrats without the benefit of incumbency.” Junge says that he thinks voters are “ready for a different voice representing them in Washington ― a conservative voice,” and that he is “very comfortable making the case that I’m going to make, [and] be a conservative voice.” Midland County Democratic Party chair Jennifer Austin believes the district is still winnable for Democrats because she says that Trump has motivated “some people who are more centrist to try to get a more reasonable candidate, a reasonable policy, a reasonable take at how we look at politics.”

According to the most recent fundraising data, McDonald Rivet raised $1.6 million and $881,546, and Junge raised $2.1 million and $1.9 million. To read more about campaign finance reports, click here.

Steve Barcelo (L), Jim Casha (G), Kathy Goodwin (Working Class Party), and James Little (U.S. Taxpayers Party) are also running in the general election.

All 435 U.S. House seats are up for election in 2024. Republicans have a 220 to 211 majority with four vacancies. As of June 2024, 45 members of the U.S. House had announced they were not running for re-election. 

In the 2022 election in this district, the Democratic candidate won 53.1%-42.8%. Daily Kos calculated the results of the 2020 presidential election in this district following redistricting. Joe Biden (D) would have defeated Donald Trump (R) 50.3%-48.2%.

This is one of 44 open U.S. House races in 2024 where an incumbent is not running for re-election. Across the country, 23 Democrats and 21 Republicans are not running for re-election. In 2022, 49 representatives, including 31 Democrats and 18 Republicans, did not seek re-election.

Michigan’s 8th Congressional District is one of 37 congressional districts with a Democratic incumbent or an open seat that the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) is targeting in 2024. T

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