John Kivela
John Kivela was a Democratic member of the Michigan House of Representatives, representing District 109 from 2013 to 2017. He died by suicide on May 9, 2017, following his second drunk driving incident.[1]
Kivela is a former mayor of Marquette, Michigan.[2]
Committee assignments
2017 legislative session
At the beginning of the 2017 legislative session, this legislator served on the following committees:
| Michigan committee assignments, 2017 |
|---|
| • Agriculture |
| • Energy Policy |
| • Natural Resources, Vice chair |
2015 legislative session
At the beginning of the 2015 legislative session, Kivela served on the following committees:
| Michigan committee assignments, 2015 |
|---|
| • Energy Policy |
| • Natural Resources, Minority Vice Chair |
2013-2014
At the beginning of the 2013 legislative session, Kivela served on the following committees:
| Michigan committee assignments, 2012 |
|---|
| • Natural Resources |
| • Tourism |
Campaign themes
2012
Kivela's website highlighted the following campaign themes:[3]
Economic Development
- Excerpt: "What happens when we educate the next generations but our local businesses and industries don’t have jobs for them? We need to focus on developing our infrastructure so that we can ensure our youth have jobs that keep them here to raise their families."
Electricity
- Excerpt: " We need to have an infrastructure that can handle the additional needs of new and expanding businesses. The Upper Peninsula electrical grid is running very close to its production capacity."
International Port Strategy
- Excerpt: " To make Upper Peninsula business more globally competitive John Kivela has worked with the Department of Homeland Security and the Michigan Governors office to extend Marquette’s International Port Status from the harbor to KI Sawyer Airport."
Sponsored legislation
The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according to BillTrack50 and sorted by action history. Bills are sorted by the date of their last action. The following list may not be comprehensive. To see all bills this legislator sponsored, click on the legislator's name in the title of the table.
Elections
2016
Elections for the Michigan House of Representatives took place in 2016. The primary election was held on August 2, 2016, and the general election was held on November 8, 2016. The candidate filing deadline was April 19, 2016.
Incumbent John Kivela defeated Kevin Pfister and Wade Roberts in the Michigan House of Representatives District 109 general election.[4]
| Michigan House of Representatives, District 109 General Election, 2016 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Democratic |  John Kivela Incumbent |
62.31% | 25,380 | |
| Republican | Kevin Pfister | 34.11% | 13,892 | |
| Green | Wade Roberts | 3.58% | 1,457 | |
| Total Votes | 40,729 | |||
| Source: Michigan Secretary of State | ||||
Incumbent John Kivela defeated Sara Cambensy in the Michigan House of Representatives District 109 Democratic primary.[5][6]
| Michigan House of Representatives, District 109 Democratic Primary, 2016 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Democratic | John Kivela Incumbent |
63.64% | 7,168 | |
| Democratic | Sara Cambensy | 36.36% | 4,095 | |
| Total Votes | 11,263 | |||
Kevin Pfister defeated Melody Wagner Patterson in the Michigan House of Representatives District 109 Republican primary.[5][6]
| Michigan House of Representatives, District 109 Republican Primary, 2016 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Republican | Kevin Pfister |
58.01% | 2,600 | |
| Republican | Melody Wagner Patterson | 41.99% | 1,882 | |
| Total Votes | 4,482 | |||
2014
Elections for the Michigan House of Representatives took place in 2014. A primary election was held on August 5, 2014, and a general election was held on November 4, 2014. The signature filing deadline for candidates wishing to run in this election was April 22, 2014. Incumbent John Kivela was unopposed in the Democratic primary. Pete Mackin was unopposed in the Republican primary. Kivela then defeated Mackin in the general election.[7][8][9][10][11]
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | John Kivela Incumbent |
65.7% | 18,373 | |
| Republican | Pete Mackin | 34.3% | 9,606 | |
| Total Votes | 27,979 | |||
2012
Kivela won election in the 2012 election for Michigan House of Representatives District 109. He defeated Tony Retaskie in the August 7 Democratic primary and defeated Jack Hubbard (R) in the general election, which took place on November 6, 2012.[12]
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | John Kivela |
58.3% | 23,250 | |
| Republican | Jack Hubbard | 41.7% | 16,655 | |
| Total Votes | 39,905 | |||
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
|---|---|---|
|
John Kivela |
51.1% | 4,512 |
| Tony Retaskie | 48.9% | 4,316 |
| Total Votes | 8,828 | |
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.
Scorecards
A scorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.
Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.
Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states. To contribute to the list of Michigan scorecards, email suggestions to editor@ballotpedia.org.
2017
In 2017, the Michigan State Legislature was in session from January 11 through December 31.
- Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to economic issues.
- Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to business issues.
- Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to agriculture.
- Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to environmental issues.
- Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to environmental issues.
- Legislators are scored on a number of bills selected by the editor of MIRS, a state capitol newsletter.
- Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to conservative issues.
- Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.
2016
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2016, click [show]. |
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In 2016, the Michigan State Legislature was in session from January 13 through December 31.
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2015
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2015, click [show]. |
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In 2015, the Michigan State Legislature was in session from January 14 through December 17.
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2014
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2014, click [show]. |
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In 2014, the Michigan State Legislature was in session from January 8 through December 31.
|
2013
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2013, click [show]. |
|---|
|
In 2013, the Michigan State Legislature was in session from January 9 to December 31.
|
Noteworthy events
DUI arrest
Kivela was arrested on November 9, 2015, for driving under the influence of alcohol. He released a statement apologizing to his family and constituents, saying that he would seek treatment for a longstanding alcohol dependence.[13]
Recent news
This section links to a Google news search for the term "John + Kivela + Michigan + House"
See also
- Michigan State Legislature
- Michigan House of Representatives
- House Committees
- Michigan state legislative districts
External links
- John Kivela on Facebook
- Official campaign website (Archived)
- Profile from Open States
- Profile from Vote-USA
- Follow the Money profile
- Project Vote Smart profile
Footnotes
- ↑ Mlive.com, "State Rep. John Kivela dies of apparent suicide following drunken driving arrest," accessed May 10, 2017
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedmlive - ↑ "kivelaforstaterep," Official Campaign Website
- ↑ Michigan Secretary of State, "2016 official general election results," accessed May 2, 2017
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Michigan Secretary of State, "2016 Michigan Candidate Listing," accessed April 22, 2016
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Michigan Secretary of State, "2016 Michigan Election Results," accessed August 2, 2016
- ↑ Michigan Secretary of State, "Representative in State Legislature," accessed August 6, 2014
- ↑ Michigan Secretary of State, "Representative in State Legislature," accessed December 5, 2014
- ↑ Michigan Secretary of State, "2014 Official Michigan Primary Candidate Listing," accessed May 27, 2014
- ↑ Michigan Secretary of State, "2014 Official Michigan General Candidate Listing," accessed September 8, 2014
- ↑ Michigan Department of State, "Unofficial General Election Results as of November 5, 2014," accessed November 6, 2014
- ↑ Michigan Department of State, "2012 Official Michigan Primary Candidate Listing," accessed June 6, 2012
- ↑ MLive, "Michigan lawmaker arrested for drunken driving; seeking treatment for alcohol dependence," November 10, 2015
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Steven Lindberg (D) |
Michigan House of Representatives District 109 2013 – 2017 |
Succeeded by Sara Cambensy (D) |
