Both parties have high-stakes primaries in Michigan's purple 8th District
Both parties have contested primaries in the swingy 8th District located around Flint that is open following the retirement of Democratic Rep. Dan Kildee. In the GOP race, former Trump administration official Paul Junge is running again after losing to Kildee in 2022 and to Slotkin in 2020, while retired Dow Chemical Company executive Mary Draves has pointed to those defeats as evidence that Junge would be a weaker general election choice. However, Draves appears to have her work cut out for her in the primary: Junge has outraised her $2.1 million to $546,000 (Junge has self-funded $2 million to Draves's $259,000), money he's used to attack Draves as "woke." Although the GOP-aligned Winning for Women Action Fund has spent $385,000 to aid Draves, it may not be enough. Polls conducted on behalf of Junge's campaign previously found him surpassing 50 percent support — and that was before Trump endorsed Junge on July 26.
Meanwhile, Democrats have a three-way primary for this seat. The favorite is state Sen. Kristen McDonald Rivet, who has raised $1.7 million and has endorsements from Emily's List and the United Auto Workers labor union, as well as from Kildee and other Democratic officeholders. She's also the preferred choice of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. McDonald Rivet's main opponent is former Army Ranger Matt Collier, who served as Flint's mayor back in the early 1990s. Collier has brought in $906,000 (almost half self-funded) and has backing from veterans groups.
Two June surveys by Public Policy Polling on behalf of Collier's allies found him within striking distance of McDonald Rivet. But Kildee publicly expressed irritation with Collier over a campaign ad that used an image of Kildee's uncle, the late Democratic Rep. Dale Kildee, because while Collier once worked for the elder Kildee in the 1980s, he later considered challenging him in the 1990s as a Republican. Also running is State Board of Education President Pamela Pugh, who switched over from the Senate race and has raised $552,000 for her bid.
—Geoffrey Skelley, 538