Former Rep. John Dingell, who in his nearly 60 years in the House became the longest-serving member of Congress, is ailing.
His wife, Rep. Debbie Dingell, suggested on Twitter Wednesday morning she had missed President Trump’s State of the Union speech the prior night to be with her husband, 92, a fellow Michigan Democrat.
“Friends and colleagues know me and know I would be in Washington right now unless something was up. I am home with John and we have entered a new phase. He is my love and we have been a team for nearly 40 years.”
“I will be taking each day as it comes. We thank people for their friendship and support and ask for prayers and privacy during this difficult time.”
I will be taking each day as it comes. We thank people for their friendship and support and ask for prayers and privacy during this difficult time.
— Rep. Debbie Dingell (@RepDebDingell) February 6, 2019
Debbie Dingell succeeded her husband in representing an Ann Arbor-area district once he left the House in 2015. John Dingell first came to Congress in a 1955 special election, succeeding his late father, John Dingell Sr.
After leaving Congress, John Dingell became a frequent tweeter, posting as recently as Saturday. He regularly chided President Trump and talked up the University of Michigan football team.
During the prime of Dingell’s congressional career in the 1980s and early 1990s, he chaired the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over broad swaths of the federal government. With Republican presidents in the White House for 12 of Dingell’s 14 years heading the panel, he conducted what he called aggressive oversight of the executive branch — an approach House Republicans at times called harassment.
After Republicans won the House majority in 1994 — their first in 40 years — Dingell spent the next dozen years as the Energy and Commerce Committee’s ranking Democrat. He regained the gavel with the Democrats’ wave-year win in 2006 but lost it after two years due, in part, to concerns from his increasingly liberal-minded colleagues over his opposition to environmental regulations.
Usually a stalwart Democrat, Dingell at times also clashed with his party over gun rights. For many years, Dingell received an A+ rating from the National Rifle Association, though he moderated his views in later years as his party moved left.
