Donavan McKinney

Donavan McKinney was born in Detroit, Michigan. McKinney earned a bachelor's degree in public policy from the University of Michigan in 2014. His career experience includes working as the political director of SEIU Healthcare Michigan, as a legislative director in the Michigan State House, as the national political director of Climate Power, and in community engagement for the nonprofit Community Development Advocates of Detroit (CDAD).[1][2][3]

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Campaign websiteMcKinney's campaign website stated the following:I’m running for Congress because I believe we deserve champions in Washington who aren’t scared to dream — and fight for — a vision big enough to match the scale of our crises. And I’m running because I’ve lived through the same bull**** as you my whole life, right here at home in Detroit. In Lansing, I’ve fought and delivered for this community as your State Representative, but I can no longer sit on the sidelines while I watch this Congress and our Congressman do nothing in the face of the Trump-Musk administration. We don’t need more career politicians or multimillionaires pretending to serve us while we watch them play dead in Washington and ignore our calls at home. This campaign isn’t about me — it’s about all of us deserving a Democratic Party that can actually fight back against Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and the billionaire 1% that are picking our pockets to line their own.Here are some of the things I plan to fight for us in Washington:Economic Security, Living Wages, & Union JobsAs a proud former member of SEIU Healthcare Michigan, I know personally just how important unions are to our city’s history, our workers, and building the fair economy we all deserve. But for decades, we’ve watched corporations and their paid-for politicians gut our unions and their power, while billionaires only get richer and pay even less in taxes. Growing up, my mother often worked two and three jobs at once just to put food on our table. No one should have to do that. No one should have to work multiple jobs just to make ends meet — let alone barely survive.I’m fighting for all my union family and for every worker to have the right to form a union, earn a living wage, and be able to provide for their family. That starts with making the ultra-wealthy like Elon Musk, Donald Trump, and Congressman Shri Thanedar pay their fair share — like the rest of us working people already do. Raising taxes on billionaires and corporations could fund crucial investments our community needs for housing, education, clean air & water, fair paying jobs and healthcare. While billionaires have rigged the system to create massive income equality in Michigan and nationwide, everyone deserves money in their pocket through a universal basic income. Don’t let anyone tell you we can’t fund our people’s most basic needs while the Elon Musks of America have managed to pay $0 in income taxes.Environmental & Climate JusticeOur district is the poster child for communities in need of the Green New Deal. It’s no secret to every person in this district that we have lead in our water and some of the most polluted air in the country. No one can be expected to raise a family without clean air & water. My grandmother, my mother, my brother, and I all have the same asthmatic cough that is all too common for anyone who grew up in the shadow of our city’s smokestacks and factories. I’m not willing to let another generation of my family or yours suffer the same fate that we have while the fossil fuel companies who are driving this crisis — like DTE and Consumers Energy — raise our utility prices, make record profits year after year, and buy our politicians’ inaction. It’s time to break the cycle and understand that we need a solution as large as the climate crisis itself. A Green New Deal transitioning to 100% clean and renewable energy, would protect our planet’s future and create millions of good-paying green union jobs in Michigan. It’s also a more efficient and sustainable source of energy that will lower energy requirements and consumer costs, while improving our community’s health and cleaning our air & water. And one critical aspect of that for us in metro Detroit is investment to build and expand public transit, so people have the freedom and mobility to get to work, go to the supermarket, and pick up their kids without having to buy a car and pay some of the highest car insurance rates in the country. We deserve choices that corporations won’t let us have. We’re paying the price for this crisis built by greedy CEOs — but they’re the ones who should be paying to fix it.Rebuilding Democracy: Getting Big Money Out of PoliticsIf you’ve ever wondered why our politicians aren’t fighting for us, why they don’t seem to understand the urgency of our crises, or why they look the other way when we call for our basic needs to be met — it’s because of our broken campaign finance system. Because of the Supreme Court’s disastrous Citizens United decision 15 years ago, our current system gives corporations, millionaires, and billionaires the power to purchase politicians and their inaction with unlimited dark money. None of us can compete with millions of dollars from CEOs — and we shouldn’t have to. Our democracy should be by and for the people, but as long as our elections are auctions for the highest bidder, the wealthy few’s wallets will be more powerful than the voices of the majority. In the State Legislature, I’ve fought to get big money out of politics, helping lead the introduction of a slate of bills in the State House that would ban monopoly utility corporations and government contractors from making political donations. I’m ready to take that same fight to Washington. Be it our multimillionaire Congressman who bought this seat with his own money or the corporate and right-wing Super PACs that will spend millions to support him, the future of our democracy demands we put an end to this corruption.Education & Investing in Our YouthOur kids are struggling, plain and simple. No matter their race, gender, zip code, or religion, everyone is feeling the effects of decades of defunding and GOP attacks on our public schools. As a proud product of Detroit Public Schools, my mom had to send me to a school that took me an average of two hours to get to every day on the bus, just to ensure I got a quality education. We cannot settle for that. Every family deserves a well-funded, fully-invested public school in their community that they are eager to send their kids to. We should not have seniors graduating high school without knowing how to read, and we should not have some of the lowest literacy rates in the country. This is not a reflection of our people, but a reflection of our politicians’ refusal to prioritize the federal investments we need to support our kids. I’m going to Washington to put federal dollars back in our public schools; to invest in paying our teachers higher wages, nationwide universal free school lunches, expanding early child care resources, providing universal free pre-kindergarten, and broadening the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act to fully fund equitable education for all children. We also need better federal funding for youth programming so every child can benefit from the community centers, mentorship, and programming opportunities that saved my life years ago.But federal investments in quality, public education cannot stop at high school. All public colleges, universities, and trade schools should be tuition-free and all existing student loan debt should be canceled. Pursuing a higher education of any kind should not be a financial death sentence for anyone.Healthcare and Housing for AllEvery person deserves to be able to put a roof over their head and take their kids to the doctor without worrying if that comes at the expense of putting food on the table. Growing up, poverty wages led my family to experience evictions and move over 13 different times which also meant we definitely didn’t have the money to prevent my pre-asthma from turning into asthma I still have. As a former leader within SEIU Healthcare Michigan, I know our families cannot afford anything less than Medicare for All, which would ensure everyone in this country has healthcare — no matter their employment status, zip code, race, gender, sexuality, or disability. Medicare for All would include coverage for dental, vision, mental health, reproductive health and abortion care. It would also include community-based long term support services, ensuring hundreds of thousands of disabled people are able to finally get the home care they need.I support a national homes guarantee that would give every Michigander safe, sustainable, and permanently affordable housing. With less than the money we spend on the Pentagon’s budget every year, we could change millions of lives. We could build 8.5 million new public housing units, fund local development of 3.5 million new private, permanent affordable housing projects, and fund billions for public housing repairs, climate resiliency, and critical infrastructure upgrades throughout the country. In order to do so, we must repeal the Faircloth Amendment that has put a federal limit on public housing spending for 25 years.In Detroit, over 50% of households are renters. We need to protect all tenants with better federal protections including nationwide rent control to cap annual rent hikes from corporate real estate conglomerates, just-cause eviction protections to stop baseless evictions, federal right to counsel legislation so every renter facing eviction has a lawyer, and strengthening tenant unions so tenants have the power to defend themselves against greedy and predatory landlords. We must ensure that rent is affordable and accessible to everyone, and that renters aren’t price-gouged by greedy landlords who exploit our housing shortage and the economic insecurity of our community in order to increase their own profits. Letting corporations control our housing market is what led to the 2008 recession and our current crisis. We need a massive investment of federal resources driven by human need—not real estate profits.Fixing Our Broken Criminal Justice SystemThe United States currently incarcerates more people per capita than any other independent democracy in the world, at a staggering rate of 580 residents incarcerated per 100,000 people. Our status as the highest-incarceration democracy in the world comes with a price. Economically, the United States annually spends more on prisons than it does on schools — an allocation of resources that only causes the school-to-prison pipeline to strengthen, as more students are left behind and less equipped to achieve economic security through traditional education or careers. But our communities also pay the price of our over-incarceration, as families are torn apart and communal systems of care are uprooted. And the vast majority — on average, 62% nationwide — of those held in our jails are being held pre-trial, and so are presumed innocent of any crime. 62% of those who are held in jails, away from their loved ones and community, are only there because they can’t afford the tens of thousands of dollars that our cash bail system requires in order for their freedom — even though they have not yet been found to have committed any crime.I am committed to doing all that I can in Congress to transform the criminal justice system. That includes ending cash bail, because we should not be jailing people simply because they are poor. It includes reallocating funding to invest in social, health, and rehab services so that we are able to reach people who are at risk of incarceration before they end up stuck in the system. It also includes reforming sentencing guidelines, ending the school-to-prison pipeline by investing in quality public education and wrap-around services for all our youth, ending qualified immunity, and much more.Reproductive Freedom and Abortion RightsAbortion rights have been gutted and continue to be under attack by the far-right across this country. Despite the disastrous Dobbs decision from the right-wing extremists on the Supreme Court, Washington cannot stop fighting to protect our reproductive freedom and fight back against the continued GOP attacks on our abortion rights. We must codify abortion rights at the federal level and particularly protect access to medication abortion nationwide as Republicans focus their attacks on gutting access even in states that have protected abortion care like Michigan. We know that reproductive freedom is not just a healthcare issue — it’s an economic and racial justice issue, too. Republicans’ forced birth agenda forces families into situations they cannot afford, while the same politicians cut the critical funding to Medicare, Medicaid and SNAP benefits that lessen financial burdens on families. In Congress, I will push to pass bills like the EACH Act, which would repeal discriminatory laws such as the Hyde amendment. By putting essential abortion care out of reach for marginalized and low-income communities, these kinds of laws only exist to punish people for being poor.Diplomacy-First Foreign PolicyThe Pentagon has the largest budget of any federal government agency. As a result we spent nearly $1 trillion in taxpayer dollars every year to line the pockets of corporate defense contractors, and to wage endless wars abroad. You know what doesn’t cost a trillion dollars? Leading with diplomacy, our nation’s greatest foreign policy asset — not bombs and weapons.In Congress, I will oppose the bottomless and unconditional funding of weapons and bombs because we cannot keep funding human rights violations and war crimes with our taxpayer dollars. Instead, those dollars can be better spent here at home on urgent needs in our communities — from aging infrastructure to housing to ensuring our veterans get the job opportunities and healthcare they have earned.ImmigrationDonald Trump ran a campaign of divide-and-conquer, attempting to turn our communities against each other, to distract us from the fact that the people actually stealing our jobs and making us unsafe are the corporations and billionaires he’s cutting taxes for. There’s a reason the first corporation to max out donations to Donald Trump’s campaign was GEO Group, one of the largest private prison corporations in the United States — the same corporation that ICE just awarded a $1 billion contract.Now, Trump is waging an all-out war on all immigrants in this country, deporting anyone no matter their legal status, targeting those he disagrees with politically with an assault on free speech, and even defying the Supreme Court he handpicked. These are not normal times and the Democratic Party must be a party that includes all of us, fights for all of us, and opposes this agenda of mass deportations, internment camps, and the criminalization of immigrant communities.We need a pathway to citizenship for all immigrants, tackle the bureaucracy that makes immigrating to this country so difficult, reform our asylum process, shut down for-profit detention centers, and not turn our back on refugees fleeing danger and disaster.— Donavan McKinney's campaign website (May 19, 2026)Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.

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Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

Donavan McKinney is a lifelong Detroiter. He is a proud product of Detroit Public Schools and a graduate of the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, with a B.A. degree from the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy.

On Labor Day Weekend 2019, Donavan married the love of his life Shaunté, who is an attorney. In January of this year, the McKinney’s welcomed the newest addition to their family, a beautiful baby boy, Donavan II.

Donavan served as a Legislative Director in the Michigan State House of Representatives. Soon after, he became the Political and Coalition Director for the largest healthcare union in the state, SEIU Healthcare Michigan. Currently, Donavan serves as the National Political Director for Climate Power, a national climate justice organization working with officials on the federal, state, and local levels to take immediate bold climate action.

In January of 2020, Donavan was appointed by Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer to serve on the state’s first Environment Justice Council. Since serving on the Council, Donavan has advocated for a water accessibility and affordability plan. Donavan was instrumental in Gov. Whitmer’s $2-Million Water Restart Grant Program and her statewide Water Reconnection Executive Order during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

We "deserve dignity for us, dignity for our planet.” To me that means, fighting for union rights and workers earning a living wage on the job, including all of our frontline and essential workers.It means, protecting our environment and ensuring families have access to clean air, clean and affordable water, and access to quality parks and recreation.It means fighting for affordable healthcare for all and quality mental health resources.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Building quality public schools for your kids and mine, regardless of the school district or zip code. We are fighting so that our schools receive equitable funding based on need which will allow communities and children in distressed areas to receive wraparound services.

Fighting to improve our criminal justice system that protects us from being robbed or carjacked, not policing us for petty crimes. Most people are in jail for traffic offenses. We are fighting to reform sentencing guidelines because in the next 5 years, 80% of inmates in Michigan won’t be eligible for parole. We are fighting to end cash bail on the grounds that we should not jail people simply because they are poor. We are fighting to reallocate funding to hire more social workers, mental health professionals and increase rehab services. We are fighting to end qualified immunity which protects government officials, including law enforcement officers, from being held personally liable for their actions on the job.

We are fighting for living wages and workers' rights to join a union. People should not have to work multiple full-time jobs just to make ends meet. Also, people should have the right to bargain collectively and have a say at their workplace.

Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow, and why?

I look up to both my mother and grandmother. My grandmother always told me to "Never fight the urge to give." I strive everyday to live by her quote.

What is the first historical event that happened in your lifetime that you remember? How old were you at the time?

Million Man March that took place in Washington, D.C. on October 16th, 1995. I was only 3 years old at the time.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

I was a paper boy and had my own snow removal business. Paper boy for around 2-3 years, snow removal/landscaping for 10 years.

What was the last song that got stuck in your head?

Joy of the Lord (feat. Katie Torwalt, Dante Bowe & Naomi Raine) - Maverick City Music

TRIBL

Listen here: https://youtu.be/sbFq7YQM1Js

Video for [the profile publisher]

Video submitted to BallotpediaReleased June 12, 2020

Featured local question

How would you close the talent gap in this state?

Provide for greater student and parent skilled trade program awareness, with the goal of driving more students towards these programs and careers where Michigan has worker shortages. This will allow proprietary schools, skilled trade employers and community colleges to have access to pupil directory information for the purposes of marketing educational and career opportunities. This will put these institutions on par with the military and universities in their ability to recruit students. Also, provide for greater student career exploration, exposing students in 6th and 7th grades to robust career exploration and job readiness courses.

Featured local question

In a time of strained resources, what should be the state’s spending priorities?

The state should prioritize education, healthcare, criminal justice reform, and environmental justice.

Featured local question

Michigan has among the weakest ethics and transparency laws. How would you improve them?

I wholeheartedly support boosting public funding for elections. All levels of government should enact a way to amplify the voices of regular people in elections and incentivize candidates to seek out broad support. Small donor public financing that provides a multiple match on modest donations has proven especially effective including in places like New York and Washington, D.C.

Every year our Michigan state government receives an F grade for accountability and transparency. Michigan is the only state in the nation in which state law exempts the Governor and Lieutenant Governor from the requirements of Michigan's Freedom of Information Act. Also, because of past Attorney General opinions the Michigan State Legislature (both House and Senate) are exempt as well.

Michigan FOIA is not perfect and improvements are needed. High fees are still an issue for citizens seeking public records. Another major loophole is in delivering records sought from public bodies. By statute, public officials are required to respond to a FOIA request within a maximum of 15 business days. Within that time period, they must respond by granting or denying the request all or in part. However, there is no deadline for when those records must actually be provided.

Our state also lacks a law requiring its elected public officials to disclose their personal finances and potential conflicts of interest. That's important to know when they're voting on legislation where they may receive a benefit.

The bills making up the Legislative Open Records Act introduced back in 2018 and now reintroduced in 2020 would be a major step forward towards making state elected officials more accountable.

Featured local question

Michigan’s budget has been severely impacted by the COVID-19 virus shutdown. How would you address the deficit? Do you prefer spending cuts or tax hikes?

I believe we must implement a graduated income tax in Michigan to ensure adequate funding levels.

Featured local question

What’s the best approach for meeting Michigan’s roads and other infrastructure needs?

We need to implement a graduated income tax to address many issues including the need to fix the roads. Also, we need a well-head tax on water bottle companies like Nestle (who extract our state's fresh water) and restrict those funds solely for water infrastructure improvements (piping and plumbing) in the most distress communities.

Featured local question

What’s your one big idea for improving public schools?

I am a proud product of Detroit Public Schools. My freshman year in Ann Arbor at the University of Michigan, I understood how much of a disadvantage myself and other urban public school graduates were. I know first-hand how our K-12 education system in this state needs reform.

Michigan is now in the bottom five states nationwide for equitable school funding, and should take immediate steps to invest much more in students who have historically been underserved and left behind. Our state's K-12 education funding system is neither adequate nor equitable, with the hardest burden falling on students with special needs, from low-income families, new English speakers and students in isolated rural schools. I believe not only is an investment in our children the right thing to do, but it is also the smart thing to do.

We must ensure our children are competitive for the careers of the future and to understand their civic duties to become well-rounded members in society. This includes bringing Civics back as a subject into our classrooms; conducting mock-elections so students can learn the importance of voting and actually how to vote; mandatory school trips every year to either our nation or state capitol to understand the roles, branches, and powers of our government; expanding access and funding to a program I participated in called Michigan Youth In Government (MYIG); and establishing a government sponsored state-wide youth congress (similar to UK Youth Parliament) where we have young people aged (11-18) use their elected voice to bring about social change through meaningful representation and campaigning.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

What We Are Fighting For:

• We are fighting for quality education for our youth regardless of school district. We are fighting so that our schools receive equitable funding based on need which will allow communities and children in distressed areas to receive wraparound services.

• We are fighting for quality and affordable healthcare for all. Earned paid sick leave, affordable child care, decreasing infant and maternal mortality, ending maternal incarceration, and expanding SNAP benefits and Medicare/Medicaid. We are fighting to lower the cost of prescription drugs and provide resources for our seniors to stay in their homes and age in place. Training and adequate compensation for our healthcare workers.

• We are fighting to improve our criminal justice system to reform sentencing guidelines, end cash bail, and reallocate funding to hire more social workers, mental health professionals and increase addiction rehab services.

• We are fighting for a living wage and union rights. People should not have to work multiple full-time jobs just to make ends meet. Also, people should have the right to bargain collectively and have a say at their workplace.

• We are fighting for basic human rights including quality affordable housing, clean air, clean affordable water, and accessible parks and recreation. We must implement a Water Affordability Plan to ensure we keep everyone's water on.

• We are fighting to open a District office to help our community members get

Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow, and why?

I look up to my mother, grandmother, and many of our community members who helped raised me. I like to follow the example of my grandmother who instilled in me the principal to "never fight the urge to give". I believe life is about how you treat people, leaving a legacy and inspiring others to give back.

Is there a book, essay, film, or something else you would recommend to someone who wants to understand your political philosophy?

Please read Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. book called "Why We Can't Wait".

What qualities do you possess that you believe would make you a successful officeholder?

I am running for office because I strive to redefine what public service looks like in our current and future political structure. I have built a strong foundation and coalition of partners to end the disconnect between Lansing and the district.

What legacy would you like to leave?

My campaign slogan is "With The People" as an accountability measure to act intentionally with integrity, and forgo elitism and self-righteousness. I believe no matter what issue our communities face we will continue to serve the people with purpose and not politics.

What is the first historical event that happened in your lifetime that you remember? How old were you at the time?

I remember the first Million Man March that took place in our nation's capitol in October 1995. I was only 3 years old at the time.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

At 9 years old, my younger brother and I started our own snow shoveling and yard care service in the neighborhhood. We had it through high school.

What was the last song that got stuck in your head?

Tee Grizzley- "Mr. Officer" (feat. Queen Naija & Members of the Detroit Youth Choir)

What is something that has been a struggle in your life?

As a teen growing up in the 3rd house district, 14 of my closest friends died within a span of 18 months. Our family moved 13 times, my mother often worked 3 jobs just to make ends meet. I needed a leader who would stand with me and my family and fight for policies that would improve our lives. Today, I stand with the members of my community as th