Democrats, rejected by many voters and headed for life in the minority in Washington, see few reasons for optimism these days.
But a rare bright spot for the party comes from an unexpected place: a House district in Michigan that is home to many white, working-class residents, as well as counties that shifted hard against Vice President Kamala Harris in the fall.
Republicans had hoped to capture the seat in Michigan’s Eighth District after Representative Dan Kildee, a Democrat and local institution, retired. Instead, State Senator Kristen McDonald Rivet won by 6.7 percentage points.
“This was a big win, a really important win in a tough seat,” said Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Democrat of Michigan.
Ms. McDonald Rivet is an Ohio-hating Michigan sports enthusiast and mother of six. (“I know,” she said in one memorable ad. “That’s a lot.”) She has a coarse take on politicians, using a bleeped-out expletive in the ad to call most of them “full of” garbage. Her milk-guzzling 15-year-old son, she liked to say, kept her closely attuned to the price of groceries.
She will hold a freshman leadership position with the moderate New Democrat Coalition in Congress.
The New York Times caught up with her about why her party’s economic messaging alienated some voters, what national Democrats could learn from her race and why she spent “almost zero time” discussing the state of the nation’s democracy.
