At Home: As a Democrat from the General Motors town of Flint, Kildee
draws his political strength from the labor movement that he reliably supports in Washington. Kildee first won election to the Michigan House in 1964, and the United Auto Workers and the AFL-CIO have deserted him only once, when he first ran for Congress in 1976.

That year, Kildee was trying to succeed five-term Democratic Rep. Donald W. Riegle Jr., who was running for the Senate. Only two years before, labor unions had worked exceptionally hard to help Kildee oust a 26-year state Senate veteran, and they felt he should serve out his four-year term. But Kildee insisted on making his move, and he had more than enough personal pull to overcome labor’s misgivings. Kildee soundly beat a local union official in the Democratic primary, and in November, he won with 70 per-cent of the vote, starting a string of easy victories that ran through 1990. 

His first close call came in 1992, against Republican Megan O’Neill, who had worked in the White House under President George Bush. Kildee had to answer for 100 overdrafts at the House bank, and redistricting dealt him a tough hand. Almost half the people in the redrawn 9th were new to him.

O’Neill ran a spirited campaign and gained on Kildee in the final weeks.
But even redrawn, the district retained a Democratic edge (Clinton won it with a plurality), and O’Neill was unable to match Kildee in spending in the home stretch. He won with 54 percent.

Returning in 1994, O’Neill received plenty of help from the national
GOP. Donning the mantle of “outsider” so popular that year, she espoused congressional term limits and criticized Kildee as a career politician and big-spending Democrat. Kildee had enough money to fight back on television and in direct mailings with attacks that said the GOP’s “Contract With America,” which O’Neill signed, would require slashing entitlements and college loans. Despite the national swing to conservatism that put Republicans in control of Congress, Kildee held on to win with 51 percent.

In 1996, Republicans persuaded former state transportation official
Patrick M. Nowak to take on Kildee. Nowak built his campaign around fiscal issues such as balancing the budget, reducing taxes and scaling back the federal government. But Kildee had strong local labor support and favorable Democratic winds at his back. With Clinton carrying a majority of the district’s presidential vote, Kildee beat Nowak, 59 percent to 39 percent. That showing cooled GOP hopes in the 9th, although in 1998, the unheralded Republican nominee, Auburn Hills City Councilman Tom McMillin, actually fared better than Nowak had. With GOP Gov. John Engler running up a huge re-election tally, Republicans down the ballot got a boost. Still, Kildee won by 14 percentage points.

More Election Information