Did a congressional candidate’s husband throw himself out of a moving car in her ad?

State Sen. Kristen McDonald Rivet’s husband, Joseph Rivet, may serve as a Bay City commissioner by day, but could a late career pivot to performing stunts be in the works?

In a recently released ad for McDonald Rivet’s campaign to succeed U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Flint) in Congress, Joseph Rivet is presented as jumping out of a moving vehicle, apparently frustrated with hearing his wife talk about cutting taxes.

“We felt it was really important to tell my record on the largest tax cut for working families in Michigan’s history, and I do talk about it incessantly,” said McDonald Rivet (D-Bay City).

Democrats in the Michigan Legislature, holding a trifecta in Lansing for the first time in 40 years, passed a bill in early 2023 that was introduced by McDonald Rivet to boost the state’s Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) from 6% to 30% of the federal credit.

She’s facing Paul Junge, a former immigration official under former President Donald Trump. As for his economic policy, Junge told the Michigan Advance that the U.S. needs to lower the tax burden for working families and seniors and take action on lowering inflation. He said Trump’s campaign proposals of no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, no tax on Social Security and extending the Trump tax cuts are a “a great start.”

The Rivets wanted to “change the tone” in the race against Junge, said Rivet, who’s a former member of the state House. Junge is making a third bid for the U.S. House after previously losing to U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Holly) in 2020 and Kildee in 2022.

“There’s so much negative. I spend so much time explaining to people that records are distorted in the negative stuff,” Rivet said. “But the reaction to this has just been refreshing, for us too. People have just been very responsive, and they appreciate that it’s taking a completely different tact to how we talk about Kristen’s priorities.”

After the commercial began airing, Rivet said he went shopping and, upon arriving at the register, the cashier told him, “Well, I’m glad to see you’re OK.”

“That’s the kind of response we’ve been getting, with a big smile on her face,” Rivet said. “It took me, like, five seconds to realize. You know, I’m like, what? And then I realized, oh, she saw the commercial.”

McDonald Rivet said that after she spoke at a recent event, people were more interested in taking selfies with her husband than with her.

“That sort of upbeat response, and just making people smile and giving them an opportunity to say some lighthearted things, has just been sort of fun,” Rivet said.

While Rivet said he felt a sense that he could do his own stunts, he added that “the smarter folks at the production company suggested that a professional union stuntman would be a far better thing to do. So I relented to their expertise.”

Rivet said he did not see this year’s remake of “The Fall Guy” – noting that he watched the original series starring Lee Majors – he said he was impressed with the professionalism of the stunt team.

“They knew my height, weight … they tried to make sure the stunt man really did sort of resemble my build and all those kinds of things,” Rivet said. “And they were serious. He practiced. They have a whole stunt safety team who goes through everything to make sure that everything’s done safely. It was impressive to watch.”

But don’t rule out a second career just yet, he said.

“I still – if somebody’s a little more flexible with the chance of a nearly 60-year-old guy hurting himself, breaking something, then I might be willing to do it,” Rivet said. “I understand [Tom] Cruise does his own stunts, so, you know, who knows? I thought I was up for it, but they decided to err on the side of caution.”

While McDonald Rivet said there was a debate on staff about whether the ad was “too over the top,” she said she knew when she first read the script that the ad would be a hit.

“I read the script for the first time and literally laughed out loud,” McDonald Rivet said. “I had to put the paper down, I was laughing so hard.”

“It’s good fun and great substance,” McDonald Rivet said. “Politics doesn’t have to be awful. Every ad doesn’t need to be rooted in hate and fear. We can just talk about what we’ve done, and I think if you can get people to laugh and understand that you’re a human being … that’s good politics, too.”

Michigan Advance is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Michigan Advance maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Susan J. Demas for questions: info@michiganadvance.com. Follow Michigan Advance on Facebook and X.