Donavan McKinney

Donavan McKinney is a lifelong Detroiter, proud husband to the love of his life, Shaunté, and devoted father of two young children. He grew up poor in northeast Detroit and was raised by his mother and grandmother, who taught him the importance of community, leadership, and service. He is a proud product of Detroit Public Schools, and proud to be the first in the family that raised him to become a college graduate (Go Blue!).

As a current State Representative for this district, his firsthand experience living with the problems many in his community face has led Donavan to fight for solutions in Lansing as big as those crises — and he's committed to continuing to push for bold, progressive policies in DC. Growing up in the shadow of Detroit's smokestacks and factories, Donavan developed an asthmatic cough he still has today — a cough his mother, grandmother, and brother have too, and a cough he's committed to preventing in his own two young children. In January 2020, two years before his election to the State House, Rep. McKinney made history with his appointment to Michigan's first Environment Justice Council by Governor Gretchen Whitmer, where he has advocated for water accessibility and affordability, and was instrumental in Gov. Whitmer's $2 million Water Restart Grant Program and her statewide Water Reconnection Executive Order during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the State House, Rep. McKinney has fought hard for his district. MI House District 11 is the poorest district in the state, with a median household income of less than $20,000. His priorities while in office include ensuring families have access to clean air and water, ensuring every child in Michigan receives a quality public education, bringing justice to the criminal justice system, promoting a robust and quality public transit system, and expanding the rights of unions and workers. He has worked to lower costs and increase affordability for the people of his district, such as through his efforts in the State House to advocate for free pre-K for all children in Michigan and to reduce Michiganders' utility bills. He has also led on efforts to transform the criminal legal system, such as in legislation he co-introduced to prohibit police officers tampering with body-camera evidence, to limit the use of no-knock warrants, and to revoke an officer's license if they use excessive force that results in a Michigander's death or serious bodily injury.

Since being elected, he has helped win more than $10 million in community violence intervention programs to Detroit and other areas, leading to the creation of Michigan's first-in-the-nation statewide CVI program, as well as helping secure millions of dollars for community rec centers and public schools, and helping fund over $600 million to replace lead pipesin Detroit and its suburbs. Because no parent should have to worry about their children's drinking water poisoning them, he is committed to elevating the voices of voters, 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. He is proud to be building a, big-tent coalition of community members in Detroit and its surrounding suburbs, from the Pointes to Southgate, Detroit, Romulus, and beyond.