DETROIT — In the days after George Floyd’s death in summer 2020, a candidate now vying for a toss-up U.S. House seat in Michigan called for an “overhaul” of the police, and said that police themselves were “born of a structure put in place to oppress,” according to New York Post research.
Kristen McDonald-Rivet, a Democrat, made the remarks in a June 3, 2020 Facebook post, which is still online.
“Tonight’s protest in Bay City. We can’t stand silent. George Floyd was murdered while pleading for his life and calling for his mother. Again and again this happens in cities across the country, born of a structure put in place to oppress. It can’t be fixed with with small gestures. We need an overhaul now. Demand action. Vote. Silence is betrayal.”
McDonald-Rivet, 54, made the post after attending a George Floyd protest in Bay City. The accompanying picture shows a large group of lying protesters in the street on their stomachs, hands behind their backs, just as Floyd was during his May 25, 2020 arrest in Minneapolis.
Floyd died during that arrest, and his death sparked calls to “defund the police,” and a nationwide wave of protests. Even in normally-quiet towns like Bay City, with just about 33,000 residents.
Paul Junge, 57, will appear on the Republican ballot opposite McDonald-Rivet in November. Told of the 2020 statement, Junge said he was disappointed by his opponent’s rash words.
“It was tone deaf and totally wrong,” Junge told the Post. “To say the policing system was put in place to oppress is offensive. They’re there to protect people, and Kristen just doesn’t seem to get it.”
Junge said that heated moments, as in the aftermath of Floyd’s death, are exactly when it’s most important for elected officials to keep a level head.
“This wasn’t something she said when she was 19,” Junge said. “She was an adult, she had a professional background, and she should have shown better judgment.”
McDonald-Rivet’s campaign manager said her track record shows that she’s funded the police, and vows that she would push back against “far left” attempts to defund them.
“Kristen McDonald Rivet is endorsed by both the sheriff and prosecutor of Genesee County because she has a long record of supporting local law enforcement, as she has helped to put more cops on the beat and increase funding for training and retention of our law enforcement officers,” said Shane Wolfe, her campaign manager, in a statement to the Post. “Kristen has made clear that in Congress she will fund our police and secure our border, and she will stand up to anyone on the far left who tries to do otherwise.”
The next day after McDonald-Rivet protested in Bay City, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer violated her own social distancing executive order for COVID-19 and marched shoulder-to-shoulder with protesters in Highland Park, a small Detroit suburb. Whitmer, who has endorsed McDonald-Rivet in the House race, has said she supports the “spirit” of defunding the police.
Back in 2020, McDonald-Rivet was still in the private sector, working at a non-profit. She ran for and won a state senate seat in Nov. 2022, representing the Bay City-Saginaw area. McDonald-Rivet was in office less than a year when Congressman Dan Kildee, D-Flint, announced he would not seek re-election.
McDonald-Rivet then ran to replace Kildee, and earlier in August won the Democratic nomination, beating out two fellow Democrats. If she wins in November, McDonald-Rivet would remove a Democratic vote from the Michigan Senate, which Democrats control with a slim 20-18 majority.
As a story in Bridge Michigan explained, even though Democrats — Kildees specifically; first Dale and since 2013, his nephew Dan — have held the seat since 1977, “the district has grown more conservative since new district lines took effect in 2022, and it will be a tougher lift for Democrats without the benefit of incumbency.”
Cook Political Report lists two Michigan races as lean Democratic toss-ups: District 8, the race involving McDonald-Rivet, and District 7, the race to replace Elissa Slotkin, who is running for the U.S. Senate.
Junge’s campaign is “almost totally self-funded,” he said, and he’s spent more than $2 million in this cycle, according to Federal Election Commission records.
After losing to Kildee in 2020 and 2022, Junge said he is excited to compete for an open seat.
Junge said that in running against Kildee, even fellow Republicans would tell him they liked him, but voted for Kildee, because they had known him for years. Without a Kildee on the ballot, and with a new district that leans more conservative, Junge said he likes his chances better.
