Just A Reminder
Please Don't Forget
To Donate To FR
Sponsoring FReepers are contributing
$10 Each time a New Monthly Donor signs up!
Get more bang for your FR buck!
Click Here To Sign Up Now!
Posted on 07/15/2011 2:42:59 PM PDT by mdittmar
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — U.S. Rep. Dale Kildee, who has represented the working-class Michigan congressional district that includes his hometown of Flint for 34 years, said Friday that he is retiring when his current term expires confident that the seat will remain in Democratic hands.
In a written statement, Kildee said he intends to spend more time with his wife, three children and 10 grandchildren. The 5th District, which takes in Genesee, Tuscola and parts of Bay and Saginaw counties in east-central Michigan, was changed by the Republican-controlled Legislature during recent redistricting, but the changes merely made the new district more Democratic.
"Now that the new congressional maps have been approved by the Michigan State Legislature, I am confident that the 5th District will remain in Democratic hands and that it is an appropriate time to announce my retirement," Kildee said. "While I know I would be able to win re-election in the new 5th district, I've decided that after 36 years in Congress it is time to retire."
Kildee has been in public office in the Michigan Legislature and Congress for 47 years, and is serving his 18th consecutive term in Congress. He has long been a champion for Flint, the struggling industrial city where he was born.
He becomes the eighth House Democrat to announce his retirement. Five Republicans have also said they will not seek re-election next year.
(Excerpt) Read more at google.com ...
We might be able to grab that district but it won’t be easy with Flint.
No one should be able to serve 18 terms in Congress.
Killdee retirement.
47 years and they are still struggling?
To be honest...Saginaw has struggled for over 100 years and wouldn’t know an average day without struggle.
Please freepmail me if you wish to be added or dropped from the mitten ping.
Reminds me of an old Lefty Frizzell song.
Saginaw is believed to mean “where the Sauk were” in the Ojibwe language. (the Ojibwe pushed the Sauk out)
3 terms in any public office suggest corruption. 18 terms proves it. The voters in that “working class district in Flint, MI” should be ashamed of themselves. 34 year! 18 terms! Those folks MUST be terminally stupid.
Another open seat.
This is a solidly Democrat CD, barely competitive before this year’s redistricting but now out of reach. I hope that former congressman (and current state senator) Jim Barcia of Bay City runs for the seat—he’s pro-life, pro-gun, not a moonbat, and the most conservative representative we can hope for in that district. Before redistricted out in 2002 (he could have run against Kildee but knew it was uphill in a Dem primary), Barcia was one of the few Dems that I though we should try to convince to switch to the GOP.
Have you forgotten what the people of Flint have got for those 34 years?
FLINT, Michigan — Unemployment in Flint increased by by 0.1 percent to 10.9 percent in May, the Michigan Department of Technology, Management and Budget released today, second highest in the state. 6-23-2011
The last “Republican” to win the seat was the odious left-wing Donald Riegle in 1972, who was, ironically, swept in on the anti-LBJ backlash election of 1966. Since his voting record was indistinguishable from the Democrat left, he switched parties after the Watergate business came to light in 1973 (and later rewarded with the Senate seat in 1976, for which Kildee succeeded him in the House). I agree Barcia was the least offensive Democrat from Michigan, although one wonders if he wouldn’t simply be pulled left were he to return to DC. It’s too bad we can’t win here with one of ours (since it isn’t a Detroit seat), even if he or she is mildly pro-labor.
These are voters with total faith in the status Democrat quo, and I don’t think we can convince them otherwise. Most are against “big business” and don’t like their high-salaried bosses, and see government as the solution to their own shortcomings. And always will
We [Buckeyes] used to say:
“Detroit is the @sshole of America and Flint is 60 miles up it.
I’d hate to think what that makes Toledo...
Toledo is another of those long time Democrat run rust belt towns that used to manufacture a lot of stuff and now is full of Baraqqi Coalition members.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.