Kristen McDonald Rivet holds Michigan’s 8th Congressional District for Democrats

Democrat Kristen McDonald Rivet has won Michigan’s 8th Congressional District seat, holding a tossup district for the Democratic Party. 

Rivet was declared the winner by AP News at 6:09 a.m. EST. As of 3 p.m., Rivet had 51% of the vote, while the Republican challenger Paul Junge had 45%.

Rivet was elected as a Bay City Commissioner in 2019 before serving in the Michigan state Senate since 2023. Rivet was able slightly outpace Junge in fundraising through the final weeks of the race, despite the Republican mostly self-funding his campaign using his family’s wealth.

NEW FEC F3
JUNGE, PAUL (REP-Open) #MI08
RCPT $705,719
EXPN $730,649
COH $419,158https://t.co/3t0Rik9tvy pic.twitter.com/cGq8Xz6jpQ

— CATargetBot0001 (@CATargetBot0001) October 24, 2024

Junge is a former prosecutor and TV news anchor for Fox 47. He declared his candidacy for Michigan’s 8th district after incumbent Rep. Dan Kildee (D) announced his retirement from Congress. This is Junge’s third consecutive unsuccessful run for Congress after losing to both Kildee in 2022 and Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D) in 2020. Before his Congressional runs, Junge worked in the Trump administration at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. 

In September, Heartland Signal reported that Junge held an active Ashley Madison account from 2011-15 according to leaked data from the massive 2015 leak. The name “John Paul Junge II” was registered on Ashley Madison with the same email Junge used in his 2024 candidate filing data. In 2015, Junge’s credit card transactions suggested he paid for the “Affair Guarantee Package” on the website to communicate with married women while he was single.