Kristen McDonald Rivet, a mother of six, found one way to stay humble when she entered politics at the Michigan state Senate two years ago.

Thrown off by her new title of “senator” and the trappings of people treating her differently, the Democrat wrote on a Post-it note and stuck it on her state Capitol computer.

It said: “You are not that important.”

MEET THE NEW CONGRESS: THE HOUSE AND SENATE FRESHMEN ELECTED TO SERVE NEXT YEAR

Now after winning a swing working-class district that President-elect Donald Trump carried in Michigan, McDonald Rivet said she wants to bring that same sense of level-headedness to the halls of Congress. That daily sticky note reminder will join her in her new Washington, D.C., office when she’s sworn in on Jan. 3, 2025, to represent the Flint, Bay City, Midland, and Saginaw-area district.

“It helps me bring this very grounded perspective that I am going to be very disciplined about holding,” McDonald Rivet told the Washington Examiner.

“We have big work to do. It’s serious work, and we have to treat it that way,” she added in an interview Saturday.

McDonald Rivet, 54, won one of the most competitive House races in the country that Republicans were keen on flipping from blue to red. The district has long been in Democrats’ hands; Rep. Dan Kildee (D-MI) retired from the blue-collar district after 12 years in office and prior to that, his uncle Dale Kildee, also a Democrat, represented the area for 36 years. 

With no Kildee on the ballot for the first time in nearly half a century and Trump’s inroads with autoworkers and unions, Republicans saw the “toss-up” 8th District as one of their prime pick-up opportunities for 2024. 

Trump won the mid-Michigan district, home to the birthplace of General Motors and plenty of unionized autoworkers, by 2 points and beat Vice President Kamala Harris statewide by 1 point. 

McDonald Rivet, however, soundly defeated Republican challenger Paul Junge by 7 points. 

“We ran exclusively on pocketbook [issues] — more money in pockets, better paying jobs, and just being real,” said McDonald Rivet, who describes herself as a practical and “boring” person.

The Democrat won by convincing Trump voters to split their tickets. She said she campaigned by knocking on the doors of homes with pro-Trump yard signs and having authentic conversations about kitchen-table issues, such as the price of eggs and milk.

“I go to the grocery store and I’ve got a 15-year-old boy who drinks two gallons of milk in a week. You can’t fill up a teenage boy. So I care about the price of groceries,” she said. 

McDonald Rivet said 80% of the jobs in her district pay less than $50,000 a year. The average household income in Michigan’s 8th District is far below the national average.

The UAW union, a traditional powerhouse in Michigan Democratic politics, endorsed both Harris and McDonald Rivet. However, without the formal backing of leadership, Trump made gains with working-class voters and union households that helped him secure victories in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. 

In explaining why roughly 7% of voters in her district cast ballots for both her and Trump, the incoming congresswoman said, “They felt like both of us were listening.”

“Every person has dignity, every person’s voice matters and at the end of the day, you have to deliver on those things and include them in the solution,” she said.

Upon arriving at the Capitol, McDonald Rivet joined the New Democrat Coalition, a more centrist group of House Democrats, and quickly made an impression on her incoming colleagues. She was voted unanimously last month to serve as the group’s freshman leadership representative.

She’s not the only elected politician in the family. McDonald Rivet has a twin sister, Karen, who is the prosecuting attorney for Oakland County, Michigan. Her husband, Joseph Rivet, is a commissioner on the Bay City, Michigan board. 

McDonald Rivet’s victory in November and Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) winning a squeaker of a Senate race over former Republican Rep. Mike Rogers were two bright spots for Michigan Democrats. But Republicans flipped Slotkin’s Lansing-area House seat with Rep.-elect Tom Barrett (R-MI) joining McDonald Rivet in the freshman class and ended Democrats’ trifecta in the state.

FIVE DEMOCRATS IN PRIME POSITION TO BE FACE OF THE PARTY IN 2028

Kildee praised his successor in his farewell address to Congress on Friday and noted the historic nature of her election.

“I know Kristen, and she will be a commonsense, pragmatic leader for mid-Michigan,” he said.
“And I am especially proud to know that I helped elect the first woman to ever be elected to represent this district in Congress.”

Other installments of the Capitol’s New Crop series can be found here: 

PART 1: THE FRESH FACES OF THE HOUSE WHO ARE READY TO ‘ROLL UP’ THEIR SLEEVES IN THE 119TH CONGRESS

PART 2: THE FOUR HOUSE REPUBLICANS POISED TO BECOME MAGA CHAMPIONS

PART 3: MEET THE FRESHMAN SENATORS OF THE 119TH CONGRESS

PART 4: RILEY MOORE CONTINUES HIS FAMILY’S HISTORY IN WEST VIRGINIA POLITICS

PART 5: FRESHMAN BERNIE MORENO RELISHES IN LEAP TO OHIO’S SENIOR SENATOR

PART 6: SARAH MCBRIDE DIDN’T COME TO CONGRESS TO BE THE ‘TRANS MEMBER’

PART 7: SHOMARI FIGURES SEES THE ‘GOOD’ GOVERNMENT CAN DO FOR ALABAMA’S NEWEST DISTRICT

PART 8: TIM SHEEHY FORMS UNLIKELY BIPARTISAN TRIO AS HE CEMENTS RIGHTWARD SHIFT IN SENATE

PART 9: JEFF HURD, COLORADO’S ‘ACCIDENTAL POLITICIAN’ WHO IS TAKING OVER BOEBERT’S OLD HOUSE SEAT

PART 10: FREEDOM CAUCUS ATTRACTS NEW BLOOD AS GROUP LOOKS TO EXPAND INFLUENCE

PART 11: WESLEY BELL, WHO OUSTED CORI BUSH, PROMISES TO DELIVER RESULTS IN WAYS SHE DIDN’T

PART 12: SYLVESTER TURNER, 70, BUILDS ON SHEILA JACKSON LEE LEGACY AS A FRESHMAN, BUT NOT A ‘ROOKIE’

PART 13: YASSAMIN ANSARI WILL LEAD DEMOCRATIC FRESHMAN CLASS WITH GLOBAL AND LOCAL POLITICAL EXPERIENCE