Kristen McDonald Rivet

ON THE ISSUES

• Supports investments for clean energy
• Earned a 100% lifetime score on the Michigan League of Conservation Voters Legislative Scorecard

WHY THIS RACE MATTERS 

• Opportunity to elect a new climate champion to Congress
• Defending this open seat will help win a pro-environmental majority in the House, making it easier to pass climate legislation at the federal level

CANDIDATE BACKGROUND

Kristen McDonald Rivet is running to represent Michigan’s 8th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives. This is an open seat being left vacant by Retiring Representative Dan Kildee. In 2022, Kristen was elected to the Michigan State Senate, where she became the first Democrat in over a decade and the first woman ever to represent the Great Lakes Bay Region in the Michigan Senate. In the State Senate, she made great progress for Michigan families and the environment when sponsoring bills that invested in clean energy and protected farmers’ rights to host solar projects on their own land

Prior to being elected to the Senate, she served as executive director of the Michigan Head Start Association, vice president of Michigan Future, Inc., and president/CEO of Greater Midland, Inc. She was also a Bay City Commissioner, a position that she was elected to in 2019 and most recently served as chief strategy officer for the Michigan Health Improvement Alliance.

McDonald Rivet has a bachelor’s degree from Michigan State University and a master’s degree in education and public administration from the University of Michigan-Flint. She and her husband, Joseph, are proud parents of six children and live in Bay City.