Representative Kristen McDonald Rivet

Kristen Lee McDonald Rivet is an American politician representing Michigan's 8th Congressional District, the central Michigan seat covering Flint and the Tri-Cities metropolitan area of Saginaw, Midland, and Bay City. Born on July 11, 1970, in Portland, Michigan, she was raised alongside her fraternal twin sister Karen McDonald and an older sister. Her father was a construction worker and her mother stayed home to raise the children. She attended Portland High School, earned a Bachelor of Arts in history from Michigan State University in 1992, and later earned a master's degree in public administration and education from the University of Michigan Flint in 2010. She is Catholic, is married to Joseph Rivet, a former politician, and they have six children and live in Bay City. Her fraternal twin Karen McDonald is herself a prominent Michigan elected official, serving as Oakland County Prosecutor.

Before entering elected office, McDonald Rivet built a career in the public and nonprofit sectors spanning early childhood education, human services, and economic development. She served as executive director of Michigan Head Start, worked in the Michigan Department of Human Services, and served as chief of staff for State Superintendent Michael P. Flanagan. She went on to become vice president of the Skillman Foundation, president and CEO of Greater Midlands Inc., and worked at the Michigan Health Improvement Alliance and Michigan Future Inc. Her first elected position was on the Charter Commission for Bay City, followed by election to the Bay City Commission representing the 2nd ward. She was elected to the Michigan State Senate in November 2022, defeating Republican state Representative Annette Glenn 53.4% to 46.6% in the 35th district, and served as assistant majority floor leader from 2023 to 2025. In the state senate she sponsored legislation expanding Michigan's Working Families Tax Credit from 6% to 30% of the federal Earned Income Tax Credit, benefiting 700,000 households, introduced the Child Care for All legislative package, and co-sponsored firearm safe storage legislation passed in response to the 2021 Oxford High School and 2023 Michigan State University shootings.

In January 2024, McDonald Rivet declared her candidacy for MI-08 to replace retiring Representative Dan Kildee, won the Democratic primary, and defeated Republican Paul Junge in the general election 51.3% to 44.6% in a district Donald Trump carried by two points in the presidential race, making her margin of nearly seven points a meaningful overperformance. She was sworn in on January 3, 2025. She serves on the Agriculture Committee and the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, assignments well suited to a district anchored in manufacturing, agriculture, and infrastructure-dependent communities. She was selected as the Freshman Leadership Representative for the New Democrat Coalition, signaling her positioning in the moderate-to-center-left lane of the House Democratic Caucus. Her top donor JStreetPAC contributed over $127,000 to her campaign, the largest single-source total in her donor profile, reflecting the pro-Israel peace process advocacy group's investment in competitive Midwestern seats. Dow Inc., headquartered in Midland at the heart of her district, was also a top donor.

McDonald Rivet's early legislative record reflects both her district's economic anxieties and her moderate positioning within the Democratic caucus. She co-sponsored the bipartisan FARMLAND Act to expand the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States authority to review foreign purchases of U.S. farmland, particularly by entities connected to China, a national security and agricultural sovereignty issue with direct resonance in a farming district. She introduced the Susan Muffley Act of 2025 to restore pension benefits to 21,000 salaried Delphi auto parts retirees in Saginaw who lost their pensions during the company's 2008 bankruptcy, a long-standing grievance in the district. She was one of 46 House Democrats who crossed party lines to vote for the Laken Riley Act, the Republican-backed immigration enforcement bill, in one of the more high-profile early votes of the 119th Congress for Democratic members in competitive districts.

Mainstream Liberal