Daniel Moilanen
Daniel Moilanen (Democratic Party) ran for election to the U.S. House to represent Michigan's 8th Congressional District. He did not appear on the ballot for the Democratic primary on August 6, 2024.
Moilanen completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Daniel Moilanen was born in Royal Oak, Michigan. He graduated from Linden High School. He earned a bachelor's degree from Albion College in 2009. His career experience includes working as an executive director.[1]
Moilanen has been affiliated with the following organizations:[1]
- Flint Institute of Music
- Social Cycling Flint
- Charles A. Fellows Trout Unlimited
- Grand Traverse District Neighborhood Association
- Arrowhead Veteran's Club
- Genesee County Habitat for Humanity Young Professionals
- United Musicians and Allied Workers
Elections
2024
See also: Michigan's 8th Congressional District election, 2024
Michigan's 8th Congressional District election, 2024 (August 6 Democratic primary)
Michigan's 8th Congressional District election, 2024 (August 6 Republican primary)
General election
General election for U.S. House Michigan District 8
The following candidates ran in the general election for U.S. House Michigan District 8 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
✔ | ![]() | Kristen McDonald Rivet (D) | 51.3 | 217,490 |
![]() | Paul Junge (R) | 44.6 | 189,317 | |
![]() | Kathy Goodwin (Working Class Party) | 2.0 | 8,492 | |
![]() | Steve Barcelo (L) | 1.1 | 4,768 | |
James Little (U.S. Taxpayers Party) ![]() | 0.6 | 2,681 | ||
![]() | Jim Casha (G) | 0.4 | 1,602 |
Total votes: 424,350 | ||||
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Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for U.S. House Michigan District 8
Kristen McDonald Rivet defeated Matt Collier and Pamela Pugh in the Democratic primary for U.S. House Michigan District 8 on August 6, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
✔ | ![]() | Kristen McDonald Rivet | 53.3 | 43,393 |
![]() | Matt Collier | 26.4 | 21,482 | |
![]() | Pamela Pugh ![]() | 20.3 | 16,525 |
Total votes: 81,400 | ||||
![]() | ||||
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Dan Kildee (D)
- Daniel Moilanen (D)
- Sheldon Neeley (D)
Republican primary election
Republican primary for U.S. House Michigan District 8
Paul Junge defeated Mary Draves and Anthony Hudson in the Republican primary for U.S. House Michigan District 8 on August 6, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
✔ | ![]() | Paul Junge | 74.8 | 43,204 |
![]() | Mary Draves | 15.0 | 8,688 | |
![]() | Anthony Hudson ![]() | 10.1 | 5,851 |
Total votes: 57,743 | ||||
![]() | ||||
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Nikki Snyder (R)
- Martin Blank (R)
Green convention
Green convention for U.S. House Michigan District 8
Jim Casha advanced from the Green convention for U.S. House Michigan District 8 on July 27, 2024.
Candidate | ||
✔ | ![]() | Jim Casha (G) |
![]() | ||||
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Libertarian convention
Libertarian convention for U.S. House Michigan District 8
Steve Barcelo advanced from the Libertarian convention for U.S. House Michigan District 8 on July 20, 2024.
Candidate | ||
✔ | ![]() | Steve Barcelo (L) |
![]() | ||||
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U.S. Taxpayers Party convention
U.S. Taxpayers Party convention for U.S. House Michigan District 8
James Little advanced from the U.S. Taxpayers Party convention for U.S. House Michigan District 8 on July 27, 2024.
Candidate | ||
✔ | James Little (U.S. Taxpayers Party) ![]() |
![]() | ||||
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Working Class Party convention
Working Class Party convention for U.S. House Michigan District 8
Kathy Goodwin advanced from the Working Class Party convention for U.S. House Michigan District 8 on June 23, 2024.
Candidate | ||
✔ | ![]() | Kathy Goodwin (Working Class Party) |
![]() | ||||
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Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Moilanen in this election.
Campaign themes
2024
Video for Ballotpedia
Video submitted to Ballotpedia Released December 14, 2023 |
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Daniel Moilanen completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Moilanen's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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|Previously, I owned and founded Vehicle City Tacos, Flint’s first major food truck operation, which remains popular to this day.
I founded Social Cycling Flint, a social bicycling club centered around promoting cycling infrastructure and complete streets initiatives in the City of Flint that hosts various social bike rides. Social Cycling Flint was awarded the “Club of the Year Award” by the League of Michigan Bicyclists in 2019.
I also has an extensive background working in the Flint non-profit arts community, where I formerly promoted all-ages concerts and art events via the Flint Local 432, an all-ages arts space in Downtown Flint. Moreover, as a product of the “DIY” punk rock community, I've been promoting concerts and art shows independently for nearly 20 years. In addition, I serve on the Flint Institute of Music Board of Trustees.
I was recognized as one of the Flint & Genesee Group's 2022 "40 Under 40" accomplished professionals, entrepreneurs and influencers who are helping to shape the future of Genesee County.
I have a B.A.in Political Science and Philosophy with a Public Policy Concentration from Albion College.- I am not the usual kind of person who runs for office. In fact, I’ve succeeded by building bridges with non-traditional, community based solutions. I’m not a wealthy person. I've lived the stress of living paycheck-to-paycheck. My family wasn’t politically connected, and until recently, I never had ambitions to run for any office higher than my local conservation district board of directors.
- I’m running for congress because too many in Mid-Michigan are struggling, the cost of living is too high, child-care is one of the most expensive monthly bills for young parents, homeownership remains inaccessible for a majority of Americans, family farmers and small businesses are having more difficulty than ever getting ahead in an increasingly competitive global market, and a majority of Americans are only one emergency away from financial disaster.
- With every issue affecting middle and working class Americans whether it’s the lack of grocery stores in poorer neighborhoods or rural communities, prescription drug shortages, or lack of affordable housing; if it’s profitable for CEOs and shareholders then they’re perfectly fine with allowing people like us to suffer. Mid-Michigan needs leadership with the grit and political tenacity to take on the monied interests that continue to put profits over people. I’ve proven that I can unite people to find common sense common ground solutions to the problems that affect us most.
-Streamlining Federal Conservation Programs, making it easier for independent, family farmers and landowners to enroll.
-Getting money out of politics through comprehensive campaign finance reform.
-Making housing more affordable and accessible for all.
-Strengthening our neighborhoods and getting more resources to municipalities to address blight and population loss.
-Strengthening Michigan's working and middle class.
-Expanding Federal funding opportunities for child care, making it more affordable for all Michiganders.
-Improving food system resiliency by strengthening Michigan's independent, family farmers and rural communities.
-A Federal Right to Repair law so farmers can freely access the parts they need to repair their equipment after breakdowns.
Shortly after, he did his patriotic duty and served in the U.S. Navy during WWII and the Korean War on the U.S.S. Midway, where he was a flight commander leading missions over North Korea. He would eventually retire at the rank of Lt. Commander just before the beginning of the Vietnam War.
Following active duty, he became an MEA Educator for Redford Union Highschool, where he taught History and Driver's Education. He had a deep passion for all-things football and coached the varsity team there for many years. He also was a lifelong outdoorsman who loved to hunt pheasants and train his Brittany Spaniels to retrieve them.
When he first met my Grandma in 1942, she was a single mother who had become pregnant after she broke off her engagement with her fiance, who left her after she had been a victim of a violent sexual assault. At the time, it was very frowned upon for women to be single mothers and my Great-Grandmother never approved of their marriage. My Grandpa immediately adopted my aunt, burned the adoption papers, and told my Grandma that my aunt would always know him as her father.
For example, if a school doesn't have a ramp for students with mobility issues, this is a fundamental denial of access to essential infrastructure that is necessary for that student to live a successful, productive life. Rawls would argue that in a just society, an accommodation must be made to ensure that student could access the school accordingly.
I believe we are strongest as a society when the weakest and most disenfranchised among us have the capacity to succeed and thrive. Rawls argued there are essentially the two principles of justice. The first is that each person is to have an equal right to the most extensive total system of equal basic liberties compatible with a similar system of liberty for all. The second is that social and economic inequalities are to be arranged so that they are both to the greatest benefit of the least advantaged, consistent with the just savings principle (e.g. future generations still benefit), and attached to offices and positions open to all under conditions of fair equality of opportunity. Thus, America is a just and fair society if and only if, the least among us can participate and benefit from society.
I believe we're in the middle of a "Dust Bowl" moment with climate change, and we're just now starting to "see the dust pile up" on Capitol Hill. My professional work in conservation is deeply tied to the legacy of leaders like Hugh Hammond Bennett, who was the first Chief of the then USDA Soil Conservation Service (Now the Natural Resources Conservation Service) and considered to be the "Father" of the modern conservation movement. He toured the country, connecting with farmers and civic leaders to help them understand the critical necessity of soil conservation. Soil is a finite resource that takes tens of thousands of years to replenish, and as a society we've forgotten the hard lessons we learned from the 1930s. It only takes a few generations for people to forget why we changed things in the first place. All we have to do is look at the dust storms that occurred in Illinois last year that killed 8 people in a 100+ car pile-up on I-55. Drought caused by a heating planet, combined with excessive tillage that reduces soil health, will absolutely result in a second Dust Bowl that will be larger and worse than what America experienced in the 1930s. We need collective, concerted action to make our agriculture and food systems more resilient to prevent that from happening.
Then in 2019, my dad died from complications due to Parkinson's Disease about a year after I sold Vehicle City Tacos. It felt like I was repeating the process all over again, and it re-opened a wound that had just healed. I was the only child of three who still lived in Genesee County, so on top of my many responsibilities during both periods, I also had to manage and close out their estates. We don't often talk about how difficult and burdensome it is to handle a parent's affairs after they pass away, and it truly is like taking on a second full-time job to work through the process. To this day, I encourage all of my friends to talk with their parents about having an end-of-life plan to help ease that burden, no matter how uncomfortable or sad those conversations can be.
However, it is beneficial to understand the legislative process so you can effectively serve those constituents and address their needs. Being an effective civic leader means being able to conduct oneself appropriately in public meetings so that the public has the capacity to engage and express their concerns freely and with transparency. When people are not experienced in government or politics, they tend to disregard norms which can be essential for ensuring the body functions effectively.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
See also
2024 Elections
External links
Candidate U.S. House Michigan District 8 |
Personal |
Footnotes