Debbie Dingell

Debbie Dingell
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Michigan's 12th district
Assumed office
January 3, 2015
Preceded by John Dingell
Personal details
Born Deborah Ann Insley
(1953-11-23) November 23, 1953
Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
Political party Republican (before 1981)
Democratic (1981–present)
Spouse(s)
John Dingell (m. 1981)
Education Georgetown University (BS, MS)
Website House website

Deborah Ann Dingell (/ˈdɪŋɡəl/; née Insley; born November 23, 1953) is an American Democratic Party politician who has been the U.S. Representative for Michigan's 12th congressional district since 2015. She is the wife of John Dingell, the longest-serving U.S. congressperson. She worked as a consultant to the American Automobile Policy Council.[1] She was a superdelegate for the 2012 Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina.[2][3]

She is active in several Michigan and Washington, D.C., charities and serves on a number of charitable boards. She is a founder and past chair of the National Women’s Health Resource Center and the Children's Inn at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).[4] She is also a member of the Board of Directors for Vital Voices Global Partnership.[5] She is a 1975 graduate of the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University.

Life and career

Dingell with her husband John in 2011

Descended from one of the Fisher brothers, owners of Fisher Body, a GM founder,[6] she has served as president[7] of the General Motors Foundation and as executive director of Global Community Relations and Government Relations at GM.

She married Michigan Congressman John Dingell, 28 years her senior, in 1981;[8] she is Dingell's second wife. She had grown up as a Republican, but became a Democrat soon after marrying Dingell.

She is a member of the Democratic National Committee from Michigan and chaired Vice President Al Gore’s campaign in Michigan in 2000. In 2004, she also helped secure the Michigan Democratic primary and general election vote for John Kerry in Michigan.

In November 2006, Dingell was elected to the Board of Governors of Wayne State University in Detroit.[9]

Dingell and U.S. Senator Carl Levin (D – MI) were the proponents of moving up Michigan's presidential primary before February 5, to attempt to garner greater political influence for Michigan during the 2008 Democratic primaries.[10] This resulted in Michigan almost losing its delegates' votes in the Democratic National Convention.[11]

John Dingell became the longest-serving member of the United States House of Representatives in June 2013 and continued serving up until the end of the 113th Congress in January 2015.

When Carl Levin announced his retirement from the U.S. Senate at the end of his term in 2015, Dingell indicated that she was interested in running for his seat.[12] When former Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm declined to run for the seat, a Politico writer declared Dingell to be one of the front-runners for the Democratic nomination, alongside Representative Gary Peters.[13] However, she chose not to run, and Gary Peters was elected to Levin's seat.

In 2018, Dingell introduced a law that would give the Consumer Product Safety Commission the authority to recall defective firearms. Her husband, John Dingell, was a key lawmaker that initially granted the firearms industry this exemption from the 1972 Consumer Product Safety Act that created the Consumer Product Safety Commission.[14]

U.S. House of Representatives

2014 election

Dingell speaking at the Ann Arbor Women's March

Dingell indicated that she planned to run for her husband's congressional seat after he announced his retirement.[15] On August 5 she won the Democratic primary. On November 4 she won the general election, defeating Republican Terry Bowman.[16] When Dingell was sworn in, she became the first U.S. non-widowed woman in Congress to succeed her husband – who is the longest-serving member of Congress in history with 59 years served. His father, John Dingell Sr., held Michigan's 12th district for 22 years before his son won it. All together the Dingells have held one of Michigan's districts for a total of 85 years as of 2018.[17][18]

Committee assignments

She is a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus[19] and the Congressional Arts Caucus.[20]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Beene, Ryan (October 26, 2009). "Debbie Dingell to take new post at American Automotive Policy Council". Crain's Detroit Business. Crain Communications. Retrieved March 22, 2013.
  2. ↑ Akers, Mary Ann (February 27, 2008). "Debbie Dingell: Angst-ridden Superdelegate and Congressional Spouse". The Sleuth (blog). The Washington Post. Archived from the original on November 6, 2014. Retrieved March 22, 2013.
  3. ↑ "Congressman John Dingell Makes Washington Quake, but Not His Executive Wife, Debbie". People.com. Retrieved November 25, 2014.
  4. ↑ "Meet Debbie". Office of Debbie Dingell. Retrieved October 23, 2017.
  5. ↑ "Board of Directors". Vital Voices. Retrieved March 23, 2013.
  6. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on June 15, 2013. Retrieved June 6, 2013.
  7. ↑ "A closer look at Debbie Dingell". Pennsylvania Main Line News covering local news including local sports, video and multimedia coverage, and classified advertising.
  8. ↑ "Debbie Dingell". Click. Politico. Retrieved March 22, 2013.
  9. ↑ "Debbie Dingell". Wayne State University. Archived from the original on January 25, 2013. Retrieved March 22, 2013.
  10. ↑ Levin, Carl; Dingell, Deborah (March 19, 2008). "New Hampshire Cheated, Too". The New York Times. Retrieved March 22, 2013.
  11. ↑ Shear, Michael D. (December 2, 2007). "DNC Punishes Michigan For Early Primary Date". PostPolitics (blog). The Washington Post. Retrieved March 22, 2013.
  12. ↑ Bash, Dana (March 11, 2013). "Debbie Dingell considering Senate bid in Michigan". Political Ticker (blog). CNN. Retrieved March 22, 2013.
  13. ↑ Hohmann, James (March 22, 2013). "Jennifer Granholm: No run for Carl Levin's seat". Politico. Retrieved March 23, 2013.
  14. ↑ "Defective firearm bill pits Dingell v. Dingell". The Detroit News. Retrieved September 24, 2018.
  15. ↑ Allen, Mike (February 25, 2014). "Politico Playbook for Feb. 25, 2014". Politico. Retrieved February 25, 2014.
  16. ↑ Allen, Jeremy (November 4, 2014). "Debbie Dingell defeats Terry Bowman in 12th District U.S. House race". MLive Media Group.
  17. ↑ Ostermeier, Eric (February 26, 2014). "Debbie Dingell Eyes Historic Win in 2014". Smart Politics.
  18. ↑ Catalina Camia, USA TODAY (November 2, 2014). "Women poised to break glass ceiling on Election Day". Usatoday.com. Retrieved November 25, 2014.
  19. ↑ "Caucus Members". Congressional Progressive Caucus. Retrieved 25 October 2017.
  20. ↑ "Membership". Congressional Arts Caucus. Retrieved 21 March 2018.
U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by
John Dingell		 Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Michigan's 12th congressional district
2015–present		 Incumbent
Current U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial)
Preceded by
Mark DeSaulnier
D-California		 United States Representatives by seniority
327th		 Succeeded by
Tom Emmer
R-Minnesota
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