Lawmaker in Trump-friendly swing district showing Dems a 'way out of the wilderness'

26 March

Democrats in a key swing state got some good news on Tuesday, March 25 when Dan Goughnour defeated Republican Chuck Davis in a special election for a seat in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, which gives Democrats a narrow 102-101 majority in that chamber.

The outcome wasn't a huge surprise, as Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris won roughly 58 percent of the vote in that district in 2024. Nonetheless, Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairman Ken Martin was paying very close attention that race. Democrats are taking nothing for granted in Pennsylvania after the election of 2024, which found Donald Trump narrowly winning the state and Democratic then-Sen. Bob Casey Jr. being voted out of office after three terms.

Democratic strategists view Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin as must-win states in the Rust Belt, and according to Washington Post columnist Karen Tumulty, Rep. Kristen McDonald Rivet (D-Michigan) is among the Democratic success stories the party needs to take a close look at.

In her March 26 column, Rivet stresses that Rivet won a Trump-friendly district by almost 7 percent in 2024.

"Kristen McDonald Rivet is probably not a name you've heard, given that she has been a member of Congress for fewer than 12 weeks," Tumulty explains. "But Democrats desperate for a way out of the wilderness, and bickering about how to get there, would do well to acquaint themselves with what McDonald Rivet did last year — and how she did it — in this House district about 100 miles north of Detroit."

Tumulty continues, "Once bright-blue, Michigan’s 8th (Congressional District) stands at the absolute median of the Cook Political Report's partisan voting index, which means that 217 districts across the country lean more Republican than it does, and an equal number tilt more Democratic. With redistricting and a general shift rightward by working-class voters, Donald Trump won here by a couple of percentage points, which was slightly better than he did statewide in this critical swing state."

Rivet, who formerly served in the Michigan State Senate, attributes her victory in 2024 to talking about "real things."

"Take tax cuts, an issue you don’t often hear being touted by Democrats," Tumulty observes. "In the (Michigan) State Senate, McDonald Rivet led the effort that quintupled the state's match of the federal earned income tax credit, which added an average of $603 to the pockets of low- asnd moderate-income working families. In one memorable — and hilarious — campaign ad last year, McDonald Rivet was filmed driving a car and declaring: 'You know, I could talk about cutting taxes all day'…. Talking about 'real things' that people care about sounds pretty basic."

Tumulty adds, "If they want to win again, more Democrats should listen to how Kristen McDonald Rivet does it."

Karen Tumulty's full Washington Post column is available at this link (subscription required).

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