Rivers, Lynn N. (Lynn Nancy), 1956-

<p>Lynn Nancy Rivers entered politics as a “mom who got mad at the system.” As one of a handful of Democratic freshmen elected during the 1994 “Republican Revolution,” Rivers championed the interests of her Michigan district, as well as lobbying regulations in Congress.</p>

<p>Lynn Rivers was born in Au Gres, Michigan, on December 19, 1956. Her father was a mailman, and her mother was a small business owner. The day after she graduated from Au Gres-Sims High School in 1975, she married Joe Rivers, who soon found work as a member of the United Autoworkers Union. The couple had two daughters: Brigitte and Jeanne; the Rivers later divorced. While working a series of low-paying jobs, Lynn Rivers put herself through college, graduating with a BA from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor in 1987. In 1992 she earned her JD from Wayne State University in Detroit. While attending law school, Rivers served as a trustee of the Ann Arbor board of education, where she served from 1984 to 1992. In 1993 she was elected and served one term as a member of the Michigan state house of representatives.</p>

<p>When Michigan Congressman William David Ford, a Democrat, retired after the 103rd Congress (1993–1995), Lynn Rivers breezed through the Democratic primary in her bid to succeed the 15-term veteran and former chairman of the Post Office and Civil Service Committee and the Education and Labor Committee in the Ann Arbor-centered district. In the general election she faced Republican John Schall, whose Harvard education and long service in the Ronald Reagan administration contrasted with Rivers’s humble background. Rivers ran on a platform identifying with Ann Arbor working-class voters as a former teenage mother with an autoworker husband. “We went without health insurance when jobs didn’t provide it. We were in the job market with not very salable skills. We had to get our education as adults and struggle through that,” she noted, adding, “I think my experience has provided me with some real life understanding of the problems that are facing people.” Schall tried to paint Rivers as “a classic ultra-liberal,” while emphasizing his more moderate political stance and goal to build business and high-tech jobs in the district. In the late stages of the campaign, Rivers disclosed that she had been living with bipolar disorder for 20 years. Though most politicians avoided discussing their own mental health, Rivers, who was on medication to control the disorder, accepted the risk. “It’s very easy for Members of Congress to be advocates for mental-health treatment,” she later admitted. “It’s hard for Members of Congress to admit being consumers of mental-health treatment.” Voters were unfazed. Despite a Republican sweep across the nation as well as GOP gains in traditionally Democratic Michigan, Rivers defeated Schall with 52 percent of the vote. Congresswoman Rivers was re-elected to three succeeding Congresses, garnering between 57 and 64 percent of the vote.</p>

<p>Lynn Nancy Rivers (born December 19, 1956) is an American politician and lawyer from Michigan. She served four terms in the United States House of Representatives from 1995 to 2003.</p>

<p>Rivers was born in Au Gres, Michigan and graduated from Au Gres-Sims High School, Arenac County, in 1975. She received a B.A. from the University of Michigan in 1987 and a J.D. from Wayne State University in 1992. She served as a trustee of the Ann Arbor board of education from 1984 to 1992 and was a member of the Michigan State House of Representatives between 1993 and 1994.</p>

<p>Rivers was elected as a Democrat from Michigan's 13th District to the United States House of Representatives for the 104th and to the three succeeding Congresses, serving from January 3, 1995 to January 3, 2003. Rivers resorted to negative attack ads against her opponent David W. Geiss (the endorsed candidate of sitting Congressman William D. Ford) to win the Democratic primary in 1994. Her district was eliminated after Michigan lost a district in the United States 2000 Census, and most of her territory was merged with the 15th District of long-time incumbent John Dingell. Rivers challenged Dingell in the Democratic primary for the new 15th. However, running in a district that was over 65 percent new to her, she lost to Dingell.</p>