|
“Paul Junge is a California carpetbagger who has blown through his parents’ cash to already lose two congressional races. Whether it’s his support for a national abortion ban or his plan to gut seniors’ hard earned benefits, he is deeply out of touch with Michiganders and their values. Unlike Junge, Kristen McDonald Rivet was raised in Michigan and understands the meaning of hard work. She cut taxes for working families, is working to lower prescription drug costs, and protected reproductive freedoms — all in her first term in the state senate. Congress needs more fighters like Kristen who will never forget where they came from. I am confident she will win and carry on Dan Kildee’s proud legacy as a champion for the middle-class,” said DCCC Chair Suzan DelBene.
—
To: Interested Parties
From: Aidan Johnson
Date: August 7, 2024
Subject: The Case Against Paul Junge
For the third election in a row, Paul Junge is well on his way to losing a congressional race. A trust-fund millionaire who lived outside of Michigan for more than 40 years, Junge is a career candidate, has admitted that he would rather be a perennial loser than get a real job, and has nothing in common with the working families of the district. The last two elections, Junge spent millions of his parents’ money trying and failing to buy his way into Congress. This election is no different, with Junge writing himself a $2 million dollar check while receiving virtually no support from ordinary Michiganders.
But no amount of money can hide the fact that Paul Junge is a California carpetbagger who would decimate Michiganders’ hard-earned retirement benefits, raise health care costs, and ban abortion nationwide.
Unlike trust fund millionaire Paul Junge, Kristen McDonald Rivet was raised in a middle-class Michigan household where she learned the power of hard work. Her dad worked construction, and in the winter when construction season slowed, he would clear snow to make ends meet. Her dad worked hard so that Kristen and her sisters could be the first in their family to go to college. Since then, Kristen has spent her career working to lower costs for working-class families like the one she grew up in.
As the executive director of Michigan Head Start, Kristen worked to ensure every Michigan family had access to quality pre-K. In the State Senate, she worked to lower the cost of prescription drugs for families and seniors by taking on Big Pharma. She secured her four daughters’ and Michiganders’ reproductive rights by repealing the state’s extreme 1931 abortion ban. And she passed the largest tax cut for working families in the state’s history. In Congress, Kristen will never forget where she came from or who she is fighting for, and she knows how to deliver results.
Junge Is An Anti-Abortion Extremist
In 2022, Michiganders overwhelmingly supported codifying abortion access into the state’s constitution. The ballot measure won by a 12-point margin in Michigan’s 8th Congressional District, but women’s fundamental freedoms are still under threat with Paul Junge running for office.
Junge has described himself as pro-life “at all times” and ran his first campaign pledging to oppose abortion rights. After the Dobbs decision, Junge said that Roe created “made up rights” and said he would “celebrate the opportunity” to restrict women’s reproductive freedoms.
It’s no surprise that if elected, Junge would overturn the will of the voters by passing federal legislation to ban abortion nationwide – including in Michigan – even in the cases of rape and incest.
A mother of six, Kristen has been a champion for Michiganders’ reproductive freedoms. In the State Senate, she voted to repeal Michigan’s archaic 1931 abortion ban, and if elected would work to codify Roe v. Wade, ensuring that it’s women in consultation with their doctors – not Paul Junge – making these deeply personal health care decisions.
Junge Is A Rubber Stamp For MAGA Extremists Dangerous Agenda
Paul Junge has made it crystal clear that he supports a plan that would force deep cuts to Social Security and Medicare. The California carpetbagger has already pledged his loyalty to extremist Republican leadership and openly embraced out-of-touch politicians who want to lower the uber-wealthy Junge’s family tax bill, while raising costs for working-class families in Mid-Michigan.
Junge was quick to endorse JD Vance, who has come under fire for his support of Project 2025. The extreme manifesto lays out a devastating plan that would threaten health care coverage for millions of Americans, privatize Medicare, and make prescription drugs more expensive for working families, while also cutting taxes for big corporations and reducing the capital gains tax which would disproportionately benefit the ultra wealthy, like Junge.
For students and families, Junge’s Project 2025 would have devastating consequences. The plan calls for eliminating Head Start, shuttering public schools across Michigan, and raising costs for families struggling to pay for higher education. From Head Start, to the Department of Education, to the State Senate, Kristen has dedicated her life to investing in Michigan children. Rather than make cuts and raise costs, she plans to make childcare more affordable and improve the life path of kids and the wellbeing and stability of families.
Junge Is A California Carpetbagger Trust Fund Baby
While Junge may be running for Congress in Michigan’s 8th District, he doesn’t know what it means to be a Mid-Michigander. After losing in 2022, Junge disappeared, but popped back up in the district to announce another losing campaign for Congress. At this point, it’s still not even clear if Junge owns a home in MI-08. Last cycle, the career congressional candidate was caught renting an apartment in Genesee County after failing in 2020 to buy a seat on the outskirts of Detroit.
This year, Junge will once again have to explain why he’s spent most of his life outside Michigan, not in the community he wants to represent. Between 1974 and 2019, the carpetbagger only briefly lived in Michigan for two years. But that hasn’t stopped Junge from trying to mislead voters. In events and online he has bragged about his Michigan roots, but fails to mention that he has already spent more time in DC than he has in the state itself.
As a trust fund baby, Junge bounced around from job to job, never doing any of them very well and always falling back on his family’s wealth when he inevitably failed. One of his first gigs was working for a politician in San Diego after his dad chipped in $2,000 to the campaign. Then, after a flop as a deputy district attorney in California, Junge hopped over to the California Chamber of Commerce, which opposed the bill creating California’s Affordable Care Act exchange. He also did short stints at the Oakland Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and the St. Mary’s County, Maryland Chamber of Commerce.
Junge’s pattern of state-hopping and job-shuffling, all while relying on his trust fund, is a far cry from the hard-working people of Mid-Michigan. It’s clear he’s out of touch with the middle-class families who make up the district he’s trying to represent.
Kristen, on the other hand, knows the meaning of hard work. She watched her dad wake up before the sunrise to put food on the table. She knows what it is like to water down the milk for your children because groceries are too expensive. She sees the seniors in her community going back to work as greeters at Walmart to pay for their life saving medication. Junge doesn’t know any of these struggles. He has spent his life tucked away in an ivory tower, only to step out when he decides to run for office. Michiganders can spot one of their own from a mile away, and Junge ain’t it.
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING
Midland Daily News: Small Business Association of Michigan awards McDonald Rivet Legislator of the Year [Midland Daily News, 6/18/24]
The Detroit News: Kildee endorses McDonald Rivet in Democratic primary contest for his seat in Congress [The Detroit News, 7/2/24]
The Flint Courier News: Kristen McDonald Rivet speaks on her accomplishments and her vision for Flint at Mt. Calvary [The Flint Courier News, 7/25/24]
On McDonald Rivet’s record includes helping more kids have access to high-quality childcare.
“In the state Senate, I was the author of the Working Families Tax Credit, which is the largest tax credit for working families in Michigan’s history.”
McDonald Rivet was the sponsor of the Safe Storage Act, which requires gun owners to safely store their weapons in a way children cannot get them and harm themselves or someone else. Also, part of the package were universal background checks and red flag laws that stop people who are either dangerous or suffering a mental break from getting access to a weapon.
Michigan Public Radio: UAW endorses McDonald Rivet in Michigan’s 8th Congressional District race [Michigan Public Radio, 3/15/24]
The New York Times: In an Uphill Battle to Hold the House, Democrats Bet on Abortion Rights [The New York Times, 10/3/22]
Paul Junge, said during a 2020 Republican primary debate that Roe v. Wade extended “made-up rights” to women and that he was “pro-life” and “supports life at all times.”
The Detroit News: Volley of attack ads marks GOP primary contest for Kildee seat [The Detroit News, 7/28/24]
The knives are out in the Republican primary contest in a key U.S. House district in mid-Michigan, where former Trump staffer Paul Junge is making his third attempt to win a swing district in the state
[Junge’s opponent] has gone after Junge as a “carpetbagger” from California and criticized him for largely self-funding his bid with few individual campaign donors (nine last quarter). She ran an ad saying he invested in companies that have done business with China and claimed he’s “not focused on creating jobs or supporting Michigan businesses.”
PATH TO VICTORY
In 2022, Paul Junge lost Michigan’s 8th Congressional District by a double digit margin because voters knew he was not from Michigan and did not share their values. Mid-Michiganders could not stomach the thought of supporting a candidate who knew more about San Diego than Saginaw.
While Junge was once again failing at buying a congressional seat, Kristen McDonald Rivet was winning one of the most competitive State Senate seats in Michigan, raising more than $1,000,000 and flipping the seat that gave Democrats control of the Michigan State Senate. In her first term, Kristen cut taxes for working families and seniors, fought to lower the cost of prescription drugs, invested in the state’s child care system, passed common sense gun safety legislation, and protected – what Junge refers to as – women’s “made up rights” to abortion care.
Kristen knows how to win tough races in unfriendly territory. Saginaw is viewed as one of the key pivot counties in the country — the only such county in Michigan that Trump won in ‘16 that Biden clawed back in ‘20 — and it is the part of MI-08 she represents. Since announcing her campaign for Congress in January, Kristen has raised almost $2 million dollars and has been endorsed by a wide coalition of labor, community leaders, and elected officials — including Dan Kildee, Gretchen Whitmer, the Genesee County Sheriff, over a dozen members of the faith community, the UAW, and the Michigan AFL-CIO.
In November, Mid-Michiganders will send California carpetbagger Paul Junge packing and elect Kristen McDonald Rivet to Congress to continue fighting for their families. |
