Debbie Dingell

Deborah Ann Dingell ( ; ; November 23, 1953) is an American politician serving as a U.S. representative from Michigan since 2015, representing the state's 6th congressional district since 2023. A member of the Democratic Party, she succeeded her late husband, John Dingell, who was the longest-serving member of Congress in U.S. history.

Dingell is active in several organizations in Michigan and Washington, D.C., and serves on a number of boards. She is a founder and past chair of the National Women's Health Resource Center and the Children's Inn at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). She is also a member of the board of directors for Vital Voices Global Partnership. She is a 1975 graduate of the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University.

She worked as a consultant to the American Automobile Policy Council. She was a superdelegate for the 2012 Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Life and career

Descended from Howard Fisher of the Fisher Brothers, owners of Fisher Body, from 1919 a part of General Motors, she has served as president of the General Motors Foundation and as executive director of Global Community Relations and Government Relations at GM.

She married Representative John Dingell in 1981. She had grown up as a Republican, but became a Democrat soon after marrying Dingell. Their marriage lasted 38 years until her husband's death on February 7, 2019, at the age of 92. Like her husband, she is a Catholic.

She is a member of the Democratic National Committee from Michigan and chaired Vice President Al Gore's campaign in Michigan in 2000. In 2004, she also helped secure the Michigan Democratic primary and general election vote for John Kerry in Michigan.

In November 2006, Dingell was elected to Wayne State University's board of governors.

Dingell and Senator Carl Levin were proponents of moving up Michigan's presidential primary before February 5 in an attempt to garner greater political influence for Michigan during the 2008 Democratic primaries. This resulted in Michigan almost losing its delegates' votes in the Democratic National Convention.

When Carl Levin announced his retirement from the U.S. Senate at the end of his term in 2015, Dingell indicated that she was interested in running for his seat. When former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm declined to run for the seat, a ''Politico'' writer declared Dingell to be one of the front-runners for the Democratic nomination, alongside Representative Gary Peters. She chose not to run, and Peters won the seat.

U.S. House of Representatives

Elections

2014

Dingell indicated that she planned to run for her husband's congressional seat after he announced his retirement. On August 5, she won the Democratic primary, winning 77.7% of the vote against Raymond Mullins. On November 4, she won the general election, defeating Republican Terry Bowman with 65.0% of the vote.

When Dingell was sworn in, she became the first U.S. non-widowed woman in Congress to succeed her husband. His father, John Dingell Sr., held Michigan's 12th district for 22 years before his son won it. Altogether, the Dingells had represented this district, numbered as the 15th from 1933 to 1965, the 16th from 1965 to 2003, the 15th again from 2003 to 2013, and the 12th from 2013 to 2023, since 1932.

2016

Dingell did not face a primary challenger in 2016. She was reelected with 64.3% of the vote, defeating Republican Jeff Jones and four third-party candidates.

2018

Dingell did not face a primary challenger in 2018. She was reelected with 68.1% of the vote in a rematch against Republican Jeff Jones and two third-party candidates.

2020

Dingell was challenged in the Democratic primary by medical student and activist Solomon Rajput. She won renomination with 80.9% of the vote. In the general election, she was reelected with 68.1% of the vote in another rematch against Republican Jeff Jones and Working Class Party candidate Gary Walkowicz.

2022

The 12th congressional district shifted significantly in the 2020 United States redistricting cycle following the 2020 census: while it kept Dearborn, it lost Ann Arbor while gaining parts of Detroit. While prior to redistricting, Dingell lived in Dearborn, she chose to move to Ann Arbor and run in the new 6th district, which was drawn to contain Washtenaw County and Detroit suburbs in western Wayne County. This allowed Rashida Tlaib, who represented the old 13th district, to run in the new 12th district.

Dingell faced no opposition in the Democratic primary. In the general election, she defeated Republican Whittney Williams with 65.9% of the vote.

2024

Dingell did not face a primary challenger in 2024. She was reelected with 62.0% of the vote, defeating Republican Heather Smiley and two third-party candidates.

Tenure

In 2018, Dingell introduced a law that would give the Consumer Product Safety Commission the authority to recall defective firearms. John Dingell was a key lawmaker who initially granted the firearms industry this exemption from the 1972 Consumer Product Safety Act that created the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

In July 2019, Dingell voted against a House resolution introduced by Representative Brad Schneider opposing efforts to boycott the State of Israel and the Global Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Movement. The resolution passed 398–17.

In April 2021, Dingell introduced the Recovering America's Wildlife Act of 2021, a bill that would provide funding for conserving and protecting endangered and threatened species, strategies to do so, and wildlife-related recreational activities. The bill passed the House by 230–190 on June 14, 2022.

In 2023, Dingell was among 56 Democrats to vote in favor of H.Con.Res. 21 which directed President Joe Biden to remove U.S. troops from Syria within 180 days.

Trump impeachment

After Dingell voted to impeach President Donald Trump, Trump attacked Dingell during a campaign rally in Battle Creek, musing that her late husband might be in hell, saying of him, "Maybe he's looking up, I don't know, I don't know, maybe, maybe. But let's assume he's looking down." She was attending a bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus gathering when she was told of Trump's remarks. Numerous members of both parties came to Dingell's defense. In her response to the incident, Dingell called for a return to civility, saying, "some things should be off limits." In her 2022 book ''Confidence Man'', ''New York Times'' reporter Maggie Haberman wrote that Dingell received a call from a man claiming to be a reporter who asked whether she was "looking for an apology from Trump". According to Haberman, "Dingell couldn't shake the idea that his voice sounded like that of the forty-fifth president."

Committee assignments

* Committee on Energy and Commerce
** Subcommittee on Health
** Subcommittee on Communications & Technology
** Subcommittee on Consumer Protection & Commerce
** Subcommittee on the Environment & Climate Change
* Committee on Natural Resources
** Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests, and Public lands
** Subcommittee on Oversight & Investigations

Caucus memberships

* Congressional Progressive Caucus
* Congressional Arts Caucus
* Congressional Caucus on Macedonia and Macedonian-Americans
* Congressional Solar Caucus
* Congressional Wildlife Refuge Caucus
* Medicare for All Caucus
* Blue Collar Caucus
* Problem Solvers Caucus
* Rare Disease Caucus
* United States–China Working Group

Political positions

Dingell voted to provide Israel with support following the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel.

See also

* Women in the United States House of Representatives

References

External links

Debbie Dingell
official U.S. House website

Debbie Dingell for Congress

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Dingell, Deborah
1953 births
Living people
20th-century Roman Catholics
21st-century American women politicians
21st-century Roman Catholics
American Roman Catholics
Catholics from Michigan
Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Michigan
Debbie
Female members of the United States House of Representatives
Michigan Republicans
Politicians from Detroit
Walsh School of Foreign Service alumni
Women in Michigan politics
21st-century members of the United States House of Representatives