Debbie Dingell Biography

Debbie Dingell (Deborah Ann Dingell ) an American Democratic Party politician who has been serving as the U.S. Representative for Michigan’s 12th congressional district since 2015. Dingell is as well the widow of John Dingell, who was the longest-serving U.S. congressperson.

She as well worked as a consultant to the American Automobile Policy Council. She as well served as a superdelegate for the 2012 Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina. She is also active in several Michigan and Washington, D.C., charities and serves on a number of charitable boards.

She is as well the founder and past chair of the National Women’s Health Resource Center and the Children’s Inn at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Dingell is also a member of the Board of Directors for Vital Voices Global Partnership.

Debbie Dingell Age

Dingell was born on November 23, 1953, in Detroit, Michigan, United States.

Debbie Dingell Career

Dingell is a member of the Democratic National Committee from Michigan and chaired Vice President Al Gore’s campaign in Michigan in 2000. In 2004, Dingell also helped secure the Michigan Democratic primary and general election vote for John Kerry in Michigan.

In November 2006, she was elected to the Board of Governors of Wayne State University in Detroit. She and U.S. Senator Carl Levin (D – MI) were the proponents of moving up Michigan’s presidential primary before February 5, to attempt to garner greater political influence for Michigan during the 2008 Democratic primaries.

This resulted in Michigan almost losing its delegates’ votes in the Democratic National Convention. When Carl Levin announced his retirement from the U.S. Senate at the end of his term in 2015, Debbie Dingell indicated that she was interested in running for his seat.

When former Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm declined to run for the seat, a Politico writer declared Dingell to be one of the front-runners for the Democratic nomination, alongside Representative Gary Peters. However, Dingell chose not to run, and Gary Peters was elected to Levin’s seat.

In 2018, she introduced a law that would give the Consumer Product Safety Commission the authority to recall defective firearms. Her husband, John Dingell, was a key lawmaker that initially granted the firearms industry this exemption from the 1972 Consumer Product Safety Act that created the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Debbie Dingell Congress

Debbie Dingell indicated that she planned to run for her husband’s congressional seat after he announced his retirement. On August 5, she won the Democratic primary, and on November 4, she won the general election, defeating Republican Terry Bowman.

When she was sworn in, she became the first U.S. non-widowed woman in Congress to succeed her husband – who is the longest-serving member of Congress in history with 59 years served.

Her husband’s father, John Dingell Sr., held Michigan’s 12th district for 22 years before his son won it. All together the Dingells have represented this district and its predecessors for 86 consecutive years as of 2019.

The district was numbered as the 15th from 1933 to 1965, the 16th from 1965 to 2003, the 15th again from 2003 to 2013, and has been the 12th since 2013.

Debbie Dingell Net Worth

She has an estimated net worth of $500k-$1 million.

Debbie Dingell Education

Dingell graduated from the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University in 1975.

Debbie Dingell Family

Dingell was born to David Insley. While growing up, her father was addicted to prescription drugs.

“I remember as I got older, walking to pick up his prescription at the drug store. I remember his sleeping all day, and being awake at night,” says Dingell.

She says, he experienced mood swings and paranoia, which created an environment where she and her family were always on edge.

“I remember one night when they were having a huge screaming match, he had a gun. He took the handles off the doors so that nobody could come in or out. I got everybody into a bedroom and put beds against the door tried to hide in closets, I called the police, but nobody came nobody answered,” says Dingell.

Fortunately, for her father, she says, he got the help he needed through treatment and eventually got sober.

Debbie Dingell Sister

She was raised up along with her sister, Mary Grace, who as well take prescription drugs, a problem she lived with into her adult life, until she overdosed and died, at the age of 44.

Debbie Dingell Husband

Dingell was previously married to Michigan Congressman John Dingell as of 1981 till his death on February 7, 2019 at the age of 92. Debbie served by then as a Republican but became a Democrat soon after marrying Dingell. Their marriage lasted for 38 years.

John Dingell, was an American politician who worked as a member of the United States House of Representatives from December 13, 1955, until January 3, 2015. He was the longest-serving U.S. Congressperson, representing Michigan for over 59 years.

Debbie Dingell Husband Death

Dingell’s husband died on February 7, 2019, at the age of 92 at his home in Dearborn. In 2019, John Dingell joined hospice care, with terminal prostate cancer, for which he chose to forego treatment. Due to his death, Debbie is now a widow.

On September 17, 2018, Dingell had suffered an apparent heart attack and was hospitalized at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit.

Debbie Dingell Children

Dingell has four children; two daughters named Jeanne Dingell, Jennifer Dingell, and two sons John Dingell, Chris Dingell.