Democrats maintain control of Kildee’s Michigan House seat

Michigan state Sen. Kristen McDonald Rivet will win the race for the open seat representing the state’s 8th Congressional District, Decision Desk HQ projects. 

McDonald Rivet defeated Republican Paul Junge, a former news anchor and former official for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, for the seat to succeed retiring Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Mich.), who has served since 2013. 

Junge was the Republican nominee for the district in 2020 and 2022, narrowly losing first to Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) and then comfortably to Kildee after redistricting changed the composition and location of the state’s districts. But the race was expected to be tighter than two years ago, with the forecast model from Decision Desk HQ/The Hill rating the race as a toss-up. 

Junge was the slight favorite, having slightly outspent McDonald Rivet because of more than $4 million in loans he gave to his campaign, but McDonald Rivet was able to pull off the win to keep the seat blue.