Carrie Rheingans
From Ballotpedia
Carrie Rheingans
Michigan House of Representatives District 47
Tenure
2023 - Present
Term ends
2027
Years in position
2
Predecessor
Compensation
Elections and appointments
Education
Personal
Contact
Carrie Rheingans (Democratic Party) is a member of the Michigan House of Representatives, representing District 47. She assumed office on January 1, 2023. Her current term ends on January 1, 2027.
Rheingans (Democratic Party) ran for re-election to the Michigan House of Representatives to represent District 47. She won in the general election on November 5, 2024.
Rheingans completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Carrie Rheingans lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan.[1] Rheingans earned a B.S. in German and biology, an M.P.H. in health behavior and health education, and an M.S.W. in community organization from the University of Michigan in 2005, 2011, and 2011, respectively. Her career experience includes working as the project director of the Michigan Public Health Institute, the interim director of human services with the Center for Healthcare Research and Transformation, and the director of civic engagement with Casa Latina.[1][2][3] Rheingans has served on the Washtenaw County Board of Health and the Washtenaw Emergency Medical Services Commission.[1]
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.
Committee assignments
Note: This membership information was last updated in September 2023. Ballotpedia completes biannual updates of committee membership. If you would like to send us an update, email us at:editor@ballotpedia.org.
2023-2024
Rheingans was assigned to the following committees:
- House Agriculture Committee
- Health Policy Committee
- Education Committee, Majority Vice Chair
Elections
2024
See also: Michigan House of Representatives elections, 2024
General election
Democratic primary election
Republican primary election
Green convention
Campaign finance
Endorsements
2022
See also: Michigan House of Representatives elections, 2022
General election
Democratic primary election
Republican primary election
Campaign finance
Campaign themes
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Carrie Rheingans completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Rheingans' responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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Carrie is a health policy expert, educator, and community organizer with decades of experience bringing people and organizations together to tackle complex systems issues that improve health and reduce disparities. Carrie believes that we can create conditions for each and every one of us to thrive to the top of our potential. Before being elected, she served as a contractor for the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, working on projects related to Michigan’s behavioral health services systems and healthcare transformation. Before that, she was a health policy advocate and organizer working to ensure access for low-income community members. Carrie seeks the voices and experiences of those affected by policy to guide her when she makes policy decisions. As a Millennial parent, Carrie knows the challenges of making ends meet with rising housing costs, student loans, and high childcare costs. Carrie’s active in her union, American Federation of Teachers Local 6244, and previously served on her county’s Emergency Medical Services Commission and Board of Health. She is also on the board of the national organization Communities Joined in Action, which supports community leaders and organizations to improve health equity and reduce disparities in their own backyard.
Carrie is passionate about healthy people, healthy families, and healthy communities. Every policy issue is a health issue, from basic rights for voters, workers, and LGBTQ+ neighbors, to climate action, education, and care for children and elders – reducing harm from things that kill us and increasing access to health and behavioral health care is only part of what affects our health. With overdose and gun-related deaths rising, an expected increase in maternal mortality as a result of the overturn of Roe v. Wade protections, and increasing demand for mental health services, there has never been a better time to send a seasoned public health expert to Lansing. Carrie has been focused on and worked for health equity for two decades now.
When I was a junior at Linden High School in April 1999, the shooting at Columbine happened. In my small town, we knew just how serious it was, because one of our own classmates had previously been expelled for bringing a handgun to school, so we realized immediately that it could have happened in our school. We spent the rest of that school year plotting out how we could barricade each of our classrooms should a copycat shooter come to our school. That year and the following year, we also had two young men from our school die by suicide by firearm. Gun violence has been a part of my entire adult life, which is why I want to work to enact sensible gun safety policies in Michigan
Michigan is facing many great challenges in the next decade, including more severe weather as a result of climate change, an influx of climate migrants, and increasing needs for mental health and substance use disorder services. These are challenges that are decades in the making, and will take concentrated, strong effort to reverse or adapt to. We must ramp up funding for sustainable and carbon-neutral energy and enact policies that allow us to rapidly increase our housing stock at a wide range of income levels. In addition, implementing a single-payer, universal healthcare system will stabilize and expand our service provision by focusing on service delivery and not profits.
In a state like Michigan with such short term limits, it is beneficial to have legislators with some experience in government and understanding of how public budgeting processes work, so that legislators spend less of their initial months learning how things work, and more of their time getting things done. I'm thankful for my years working as a contractor for Michigan's largest state budget area - Health and Human Services - which enabled me to walk into office on the day I was sworn in and get right to work
I am disappointed that Michigan remains near the bottom of states when considering transparency. I support further action to add Michigan's Governor and Legislature to Freedom of Information Act requirements. I believe we also need to go farther to truly implement transparency of legislators and other elected office holders at the state level, including reporting on spousal assets.
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.
2022
Carrie Rheingans completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Rheingans' responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
Expand all | Collapse all
Carrie is a health policy expert, educator, and community organizer with decades of experience bringing people and organizations together to tackle complex systems issues that improve health and reduce disparities. Carrie believes that we can create conditions for each and every one of us to thrive to the top of our potential. Carrie currently serves as a contractor for the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, working on projects related to Michigan’s behavioral health services systems and healthcare transformation. Before that, she was a health policy advocate and organizer working to ensure access for low-income community members. Carrie seeks the voices and experiences of those affected by policy to guide her when she makes policy decisions. As a Millennial parent, Carrie knows the challenges of making ends meet with rising housing costs, student loans, and high childcare costs. Carrie’s active in her union, American Federation of Teachers Local 6244, and serves on her county’s Emergency Medical Services Commission and Board of Health. She is also on the executive board of her local Democratic club and the national organization Communities Joined in Action, which supports community leaders and organizations to improve health equity and reduce disparities in their own backyard.
Carrie is passionate about healthy people, healthy families, and healthy communities. Every policy issue is a health issue, from basic rights for voters, workers, and LGBTQ+ neighbors, to climate action, education, and care for children and elders – reducing harm from things that kill us and increasing access to health and behavioral health care is only part of what affects our health. With overdose and gun-related deaths rising, an expected increase in maternal mortality as a result of the overturn of Roe v. Wade protections, and increasing demand for mental health services, there has never been a better time to send a seasoned public health expert to Lansing. Carrie has been focused on and worked for health equity for two decades now, and has the experiences and technical expertise to push for legislation that will enable healthy people, healthy families, and healthy communities.
When I was a junior at Linden High School in April 1999, the shooting at Columbine happened. In my small town, we knew just how serious it was, because one of our own classmates had previously been expelled for bringing a handgun to school, so we realized immediately that it could have happened in our school. We spent the rest of that school year plotting out how we could barricade each of our classrooms should a copycat shooter come to our school. That year and the following year, we also had two young men from our school die by suicide by firearm. Gun violence has been a part of my entire adult life, which is why I want to work to enact sensible gun safety policies in Michigan.
Michigan is facing many great challenges in the next decade, including more severe weather as a result of climate change, an influx of climate migrants, and increasing needs for mental health and substance use disorder services. These are challenges that are decades in the making, and will take concentrated, strong effort to reverse or adapt to. We must ramp up funding for sustainable and carbon-neutral energy and enact policies that allow us to rapidly increase our housing stock at a wide range of income levels. In addition, implementing a single-payer, universal healthcare system will stabilize and expand our service provision by focusing on service delivery and not profits.
In a state like Michigan with such short term limits, it is beneficial to have legislators with some experience in government and understanding of how public budgeting processes work, so that legislators spend less of their initial months learning how things work, and more of their time getting things done. I'm thankful for my years working as a contractor for Michigan's largest state budget area - Health and Human Services - which will enable me to walk into office on the day I'm sworn in and get right to work.
I'm proud of Michigan voters for passing the ballot initiative in 2018 to enable Michigan's Independent Citizens' Redistricting Commission. Thanks to the MICRC, our legislative districts are the fairest they've been in decades. I hope other states follow our success for the next round of redistricting later this decade.
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.
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.
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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.
2024
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2024, click [show]. |
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In 2024, the Michigan State Legislature was in session from January 10 to December 23.
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2023
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2023, click [show]. |
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In 2023, the Michigan State Legislature was in session from January 11 to November 14.
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See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Michigan House Democrats, "Meet Rep. Rheingans," accessed May 3, 2023
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on July 1, 2022
- ↑ LinkedIn, "Carrie A Rheingans," accessed May 3, 2023
Leadership
Speaker of the House:Matt Hall
Minority Leader:Ranjeev Puri
Representatives
Republican Party (58)
Democratic Party (52)
