It feels good to work for good people. And in our book, Dan Kildee is pretty awesome. Our D.C. bubble likely knows Dan succeeded his uncle, Dale Kildee, when he was elected in 2012. What you didn’t know is this is a guy who started his life in public service right out of the gate. We don’t want to spoil this great interview for you, so read on to get to know Dan Kildee a little bit better! (Interview conducted by MAA Principal Hannah Huey).

HANNAH: You’ve had a long career in public service, getting elected to the Flint Board of Education at just 18. Tell me a little bit about your career trajectory and what ultimately inspired you to run for Congress.

DAN: Well, in fact, just on Saturday, I marked the 43rd anniversary of my election to the Flint Board of Education. I was 18 years old, had graduated from high school, and enrolled at the University of Michigan and immediately launched my campaign for the Board of Education. I was a bit of a hippie, I had long hair --hard to believe -- a big beard, but I had really been moved by the activism that I witnessed growing up. I got elected in 1977 but I was this precocious kid who was really enamored of politics, partly because of my uncle who was in the State Legislature and then later served in Congress but, really, my mom and dad, who were really active. I was inspired by Bobby Kennedy so I thought there was something poetic about the fact when I came to Congress, I was elected with his grandson, and Joe and I have become pretty good friends.

That was the beginning for me and with the exception of several years that I was running a national nonprofit, I have been in elective office one way or the other, mostly local government. I feel like it literally and figuratively is in my DNA and I like it and I think I'm good at it, so, maybe in my next career I'll do something different but it's kind of getting to the point where I think I've settled on this.

HANNAH: When you took over the seat, your uncle, Congressman Dale Kildee, probably had a lot of advice for you. Are there one or two pieces of advice that particularly resonated with you?

DAN: There's a couple. I think the most important one was to be true to yourself - don't believe that somehow you get smarter after you get elected. I always felt like that about him and he gave me that advice by example. He also gave me some really specific advice -- one thing he said which is kind of an odd anecdote to come from him, he said, sometime in the first six months, find some procedural vote and miss a vote. He served for 36 years and lost or missed, like, 50 votes. I think he went 13 years at one point without missing a vote, he had a perfect voting record.

I say that only because I think what his advice meant was stay focused on actually getting things done, that the things you can get wrapped up in, like a lifetime 100% voting record is something to be careful about. He also said, see the world, don't make the mistake of pledging to never go to a foreign country as some did and he did. Don't miss the opportunity to be a good representative of this country and to learn from other people by visiting them in their countries, and so I've been able to do that as well.

HANNAH: Well, you've nicely tee’d up my next two questions for you. What is your proudest constituent service moment?

DAN: The ones that really get our attention are when we can change somebody's life. We recently had a case - a member of the US military who was told that if he stayed in for x number more months that he would qualify for a VA education benefit that he could pass on to his children and so, he made the decision to stay in. That allowed his daughter to enroll in college and get a degree. As she was finishing her studies, somebody in the defense department made the determination that he was a few days short of the time required and this was one of those cases where we said, "No way. We're just not going to let this go." And we won that fight - we got some benefits for her, and rather than having to pay back tens of thousands of college debt, she's able to move on with her life.

I can think of other cases helping veterans. A constituent of mine who was injured and was not being allowed to get the benefit that he was due. People in military, when they sign up, they take out an insurance policy against the injury - a TSGLI insurance policy - and his was being denied despite the fact he's in a wheelchair due to an injury he suffered in service, in battle. It was one of those bureaucratic things and I remember telling some member of the top brass, that we won't quit. We're just not gonna quit until we win this fight, so, he might as well settle in because we're not gonna quit and we ultimately won that.

And then bringing home my constituent, Amir Hekmati, who was imprisoned in Iran. In Amir's case, it was a big thing, but the cases that people never hear about, where we know that because somebody on my staff would not take no for an answer, that's some of the best work that we do. It doesn't make headlines but it changes somebody's life. That's what the job is about.

HANNAH: You've had the opportunity to participate in a few CODELs since getting elected to congress. Do you have a favorite trip?

DAN: Leader Pelosi, she was then the leader, not the speaker, asked if I would accompany her on a trip to Asia to visit with some heads of state. It included a trip to Hanoi and a couple of days in Vietnam speaking directly to the leadership of Vietnam. It occurred to me in that moment what a unique opportunity I was given to serve in Congress. As a child, I was sort of an observer of the 1960s. I watched 1968 unfold before my very eyes - as a 10-year-old, I watched the debate over the war in Vietnam. And then to stand in front of the leader of the communist party in Vietnam, the person who is the embodiment of the battle itself and to talk to him specifically about human rights, about some of the issues that we were raising, it occurred to me what a unique and incredible experience it was and to be there, never imagining I'd have a chance to go to Vietnam and talk about my country and the people that I represent who still bear the battle scars from that place in one way or another.

To go with Nancy Pelosi and to spend time with her and to get to know her early in my tenure in Congress was a pretty amazing experience despite the fact that a CODEL with her means no sleep. It's just nonstop but it was a great experience.

HANNAH: I know you've been driving back and forth between Flint and D.C. for votes. What do you like to listen to on those long car journeys?

DAN: Usually audio books, some really long histories. I just finished listening to Madeleine Albright's, book, Fascism -- pretty timely. Right now, I’m in the midst and will probably finish before I drive again, Doris Kearns Goodwin’s book on leadership. I'm also anxious to get a copy of my former high school teacher’s book -- David Blight, who wrote what is now the definitive biography of Frederick Douglass. He was my high school history teacher.

He teaches at Yale and just won the Pulitzer Prize for his book on Douglass and he's been a good friend. I think it's long enough where I could maybe take a couple of round trips, but it's a good way to pass a long time in solitude without, you know, letting your mind get to mush.

HANNAH: If you decided to listen to music, what would it be? Do you have a favorite artist?

DAN: I finally got to see Cat Stevens at the Kennedy Center a couple years ago. I think he's just one of the greatest songwriters of all time. But if not Cat Stevens, I really love James Taylor. I'm a complete Beatles fanatic, so put me in that genre and I'm a pretty happy camper.

I play the drums, so I often use that great old music in my headphones as I'm playing. For some reason, this last Christmas, my wife bought me an electronic set of drums which only plays into the headphones. I don't know if that was a gift for her or for me.

HANNAH: If you could have dinner with one person dead or alive, who would it be?

DAN: Wow. That's a really good one. It’s hard to avoid somebody like Washington or Jefferson. That's a tough question. It really is. Certainly, Kennedy. I sort of tend toward the political…

HANNAH: You can have a dinner party and pick more than one person to sit at the table.

DAN: One of my bigger regrets is that toward the end of his life, I missed the opportunity to meet Nelson Mandela. I studied the situation in South Africa when I was in college. I was much enamored of him and I watched him walk to freedom. I was once in a place where he was right nearby and I could see him but I didn't quite make it over to say hello. He’s a person that I'm just fascinated by. I would have loved to meet him.