Michigan Rep. Dan Kildee to Retire, Opening up a Battleground District

Democratic Rep. Dan Kildee (MI-08) announced he will not run for reelection in 2024. 

I have decided to not seek re-election and will leave Congress at the end of my term on January 3, 2025.

To my constituents and my supporters—thank you. pic.twitter.com/S4IKHv4HmY

— Rep. Dan Kildee (@RepDanKildee) November 16, 2023

Kildee was first elected in 2012, serving five terms as representative of Michigan's 5th district. In 2022, after redistricting, he ran in the new 8th district. He won his final term by about 10% over Republican Paul Junge.

District 8 is northwest of the Detroit area, including the cities of Flint and Saginaw.

Despite Kildee's fairly sizeable margin in 2022, this is a highly competitive district. The Wikipedia article for the district points out that "according to the Cook Partisan Voting Index, after 2022 redistricting Michigan's 8th is the median district in the country, with 217 districts rated more Democratic and 217 districts rated more Republican."

Both the Cook Political Report and Sabato's Crystal Ball updated their 2024 election rating from Leans Democratic to Toss-up after Kildee's announcement.

It has been a busy week for House retirements. 27 current members have announced they are retiring or seeking another office next year. This includes 17 Democrats and 10 Republicans. Aside from George Santos in NY-03, all the competitive seats in this list are currently held by Democrats. 

Our retirement list excludes Democrats Brian Higgins (NY-26) and Dean Phillips (MN-03). Higgins is not running, but will be resigning his seat in February. Phillips, who is challenging Joe Biden for the Democratic presidential nomination, has not made any announcement about his 2024 reelection plans. Given Minnesota's late filing date, he would most likely be able to run if his presidential campaign comes to an end.