Michigan Democrat Dan Kildee to Retire from U.S. House in 2024
The member of Democratic leadership is giving up one of the most competitive districts in the country.
Representative Dan Kildee of Michigan, a Democrat, has today announced that he will not seek a seventh term representing the state’s 8th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives. He shared that his cancer diagnosis earlier this year provided him with a new perspective on life. He was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma. Surgery removed a small tumor from one of his tonsils, leaving him cancer free.
Kildee, 65, is the 29th retirement from the U.S. House of Representatives for the upcoming 2024 cycle - 18 Democrats and 11 Republicans. Notably, he becomes the second House member from Michigan to retire - joining Elissa Slotkin who is leaving the 7th Congressional District to run for U.S. Senate.
Kildee has served in the U.S. House of Representatives since January 2013 - representing Michigan’s 5th Congressional from 2013 to 2023 and the 8th Congressional District since the start of this year. Following the 2021 round of redistricting, Kildee’s district was renumbered. The new district is centered around the Saginaw Bay and covers the cities of Flint, Saginaw, Bay City and Midland.
In 2012, Kildee won the Democratic nomination unopposed to succeed his uncle Dale Kildee in the U.S. House of Representatives, who had represented the area in various districts since 1977. The area has trended more Republican in recent years - which made it one of the most competitive seats in the 2022 cycle. Kildee still easily prevailed 53.1-42.8 against Republican Paul Junge even as Republicans were flipping control of the U.S. House of Representatives.
For the 118th Congress, Kildee serves on the House Committee on the Budget and the House Committee on Ways and Means. Since January 2023, he has served in House Democratic Leadership as Co-Chair of the House Democratic Steering Committee alongside Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida.
No candidates have yet announced their campaigns for the Democratic nomination to succeed Kildee in the U.S. House of Representatives. U.S. Army veteran Martin Blank is the sole candidate in the Republican primary. Both parties are expected to produce competitive races in both the primary and the general election.
Under the current lines, Joe Biden won Michigan’s 8th Congressional District with a 50.3-48.2 finish against Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election. That came as Biden was carrying the state 50.62-47.84 in his ultimately successful national campaign.