Debbie Dingell | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2016 | |
| Chair of the House Democratic Policy and Communications Committee | |
| Assumed office April 16, 2024 | |
| Leader | Hakeem Jeffries |
| Preceded by | Joe Neguse |
| Co-Chair of the House Democratic Policy and Communications Committee | |
| In office January 3, 2019 – January 3, 2023 | |
| Leader | Nancy Pelosi |
| Preceded by | Cheri Bustos David Cicilline Hakeem Jeffries |
| Succeeded by | Veronica Escobar Dean Phillips Lauren Underwood |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromMichigan | |
| Assumed office January 3, 2015 | |
| Preceded by | John Dingell |
| Constituency |
|
| Personal details | |
| Born | Deborah Ann Insley (1953-11-23)November 23, 1953 (age 72) |
| Political party | Republican (before 1981) Democratic (1981–present) |
| Spouse | |
| Relatives | John Dingell Sr. (father-in-law) |
| Education | Georgetown University (BS,MS) |
| Website | House website Campaign website |
Dingell supporting the National Resources Management Act of 2019. Recorded February 26, 2019 | |
Deborah Ann Dingell (/ˈdɪŋɡəl/DING-gəl;née Insley; November 23, 1953) is an American politician serving as aU.S. representative from Michigan since 2015, representing the state's6th congressional district since 2023. A member of theDemocratic Party, she succeeded her late husband,John Dingell, who was the longest-serving member of Congress in U.S. history.
Dingell is active in several organizations in Michigan andWashington, D.C., and serves on a number of 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).[1] She is also a member of the board of directors forVital Voices Global Partnership.[2] She is a 1975 graduate of theEdmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service atGeorgetown University.
She worked as a consultant to the American Automobile Policy Council.[3] She was asuperdelegate for the 2012 Democratic National Convention inCharlotte, North Carolina.[4][5]
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Descended from Howard Fisher of the Fisher Brothers, owners ofFisher Body,[6][7] from 1919 a part of General Motors, she has served as president[8] of theGeneral Motors Foundation and as executive director of Global Community Relations and Government Relations atGM.
She married RepresentativeJohn Dingell in 1981.[9] She had grown up as aRepublican, but became a Democrat soon after marrying Dingell. Their marriage lasted 38 years until her husband's death on February 7, 2019, at the age of 92. Like her husband, she is a Catholic.[10]
She is a member of the Democratic National Committee from Michigan and chaired Vice PresidentAl Gore's campaign inMichigan in 2000. In 2004, she also helped secure the Michigan Democratic primary and general election vote forJohn Kerry inMichigan.
In November 2006, Dingell was elected toWayne State University's board of governors.[11]
Dingell and SenatorCarl Levin were proponents of moving upMichigan's presidential primary before February 5 in an attempt to garner greater political influence for Michigan during the2008 Democratic primaries.[12] This resulted in Michigan almost losing its delegates' votes in theDemocratic National Convention.[13]
WhenCarl Levin announced his retirement from theU.S. Senate at the end of his term in 2015, Dingell indicated that she was interested in running for his seat.[14] When formerMichigan GovernorJennifer Granholm declined to run for the seat, aPolitico writer declared Dingell to be one of the front-runners for the Democratic nomination, alongside RepresentativeGary Peters.[15] She chose not to run, and Peters won the seat.
Dingell indicated that she planned to run for her husband's congressional seat after he announced his retirement.[16] On August 5, she won the Democratic primary, winning 77.7% of the vote against Raymond Mullins.[17] On November 4, she won the general election, defeating Republican Terry Bowman with 65.0% of the vote.[18][19]
When Dingell was sworn in, she became the first U.S. non-widowed woman in Congress to succeed her husband. His father,John Dingell Sr., held Michigan's 12th district for 22 years before his son won it. Altogether, the Dingells had represented this district, numbered as the 15th from 1933 to 1965, the 16th from 1965 to 2003, the 15th again from 2003 to 2013, and the 12th from 2013 to 2023, since 1932.[20][21]
Dingell did not face a primary challenger in 2016.[22] She was reelected with 64.3% of the vote, defeating Republican Jeff Jones and four third-party candidates.[23]
Dingell did not face a primary challenger in 2018.[24] She was reelected with 68.1% of the vote in a rematch against Republican Jeff Jones and two third-party candidates.[25]
Dingell was challenged in the Democratic primary by medical student and activist Solomon Rajput.[26] She won renomination with 80.9% of the vote.[27] In the general election, she was reelected with 68.1% of the vote in another rematch against Republican Jeff Jones andWorking Class Party candidate Gary Walkowicz.[28]
The 12th congressional district shifted significantly in the2020 United States redistricting cycle following the2020 census: while it keptDearborn, it lostAnn Arbor while gaining parts ofDetroit.[29] While prior to redistricting, Dingell lived in Dearborn, she chose to move to Ann Arbor and run in the new6th district, which was drawn to containWashtenaw County and Detroit suburbs in westernWayne County.[30][29] This allowedRashida Tlaib, who represented the old13th district, to run in the new 12th district.[29]
Dingell faced no opposition in the Democratic primary.[31] In the general election, she defeated Republican Whittney Williams with 65.9% of the vote.[32]
Dingell did not face a primary challenger in 2024.[33] She was reelected with 62.0% of the vote, defeating Republican Heather Smiley and two third-party candidates.[34]
In 2018, Dingell introduced a law that would give theConsumer Product Safety Commission the authority to recall defective firearms. John Dingell was a key lawmaker who initially granted the firearms industry this exemption from the 1972 Consumer Product Safety Act that created the Consumer Product Safety Commission.[35]
In July 2019, Dingell voted against a House resolution introduced by RepresentativeBrad Schneider opposing efforts to boycott the State ofIsrael and the GlobalBoycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Movement.[36] The resolution passed 398–17.[37]
In April 2021, Dingell introduced theRecovering America's Wildlife Act of 2021, a bill that would provide funding for conserving and protecting endangered and threatened species, strategies to do so, and wildlife-related recreational activities.[38] The bill passed the House by 230–190 on June 14, 2022.[39]
In 2023, Dingell was among 56 Democrats to vote in favor of H.Con.Res. 21, which directed PresidentJoe Biden to remove U.S. troops fromSyria within 180 days.[40][41]
After Dingell voted toimpeach PresidentDonald Trump, Trump attacked Dingell during a campaign rally inBattle Creek, musing that her late husband might be in hell, saying of him, "Maybe he's looking up, I don't know, I don't know, maybe, maybe. But let's assume he's looking down."[42] She was attending a bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus gathering when she was told of Trump's remarks. Numerous members of both parties came to Dingell's defense.[43] In her response to the incident, Dingell called for a return to civility, saying, "some things should be off limits."[44] In her 2022 bookConfidence Man,New York Times reporterMaggie Haberman wrote that Dingell received a call from a man claiming to be a reporter who asked whether she was "looking for an apology from Trump". According to Haberman, "Dingell couldn't shake the idea that his voice sounded like that of the forty-fifth president."[45]
On June 24, 2025, Dingell was one of 128 House Democrats who voted against an impeachment resolution against President Trump over the June 21 U.S attack on Iran's nuclear sites.[46]
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromMichigan's 12th congressional district 2015–2023 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromMichigan's 6th congressional district 2023–present | Incumbent |
| U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial) | ||
| Preceded by | United States representatives by seniority 136th | Succeeded by |
| International | |
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| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
