Hundreds of American politicians have switched party affiliations during their careers, but when Donald W. Riegle Jr. went from Republican to Democrat in 1973, he was one of the first sitting members of the House to move across the aisle.

The shift by the Michigan congressman and later senator was a dramatic one, too, given that the man who first encouraged him to run for office, Richard M. Nixon, became the main reason Riegle left the GOP.

Nixon’s policies as president, including his conduct of the Vietnam War and his mixed record on civil rights, pushed Riegle into the Democratic Party, where he continued to champion progressive causes until he announced his retirement in 1994 under the cloud of a banking scandal.

Riegle, a member of the House from 1967-76 and a senator from 1976-95, died at his home in San Diego on April 24 at age 88. 

Those who knew Riegle — I covered his last eight years in Congress for Michigan newspapers — remember a passionate, friendly and hard-charging man who, like all politicians, won some (he shepherded the Chrysler bailout through the Senate in 1979) and lost some (he opposed the North American Free Trade Agreement adopted in 1994) while firmly focused on his state’s economic engine, the auto industry, especially in his hometown of Flint.

“Don was a charismatic orator, a great retail politician and a thoughtful policymaker,” said Mike Casey, Riegle’s communications director from 1990-94. “But in a way, he never left his roots in Flint,” said Casey, now president of Tigercomm LLC, a clean-tech communications firm based in Vienna, Va. 

“He cared deeply about average working people, and the economic unfairness they face infuriated and drove him. I admired him for that more than anything else,” Casey said.

“He was a champion for Michigan workers, equality, and economic opportunity,” Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., posted on X. “Don was a friend, and as a dedicated public servant who always put our state and country first, he was also a mentor.”

Riegle grew up in Flint, where his father owned a printing business and was the city’s mayor in the 1950s. After earning degrees in business and finance from the University of Michigan-Flint and Michigan State University, Riegle went to Harvard Business School and met Nixon as he was preparing a second run for president in the mid-1960s. The two hit it off, and Nixon agreed to attend a fundraiser for Riegle in Flint if he would run for Congress in 1966.

The young congressman made a name for himself during his five terms in the House, questioning Republican positions on Vietnam and other issues after Nixon won the White House in 1968. 

He also wrote a book in 1972, titled, “O Congress.” His collaborator, Trevor Armbrister, said in the foreword that it was meant to “portray the human side of Congress honestly and to reveal its inner workings.” A reviewer for The New York Times said, “a book like this could be a very genuine political risk.”

After his party switch in 1973, Riegle opted to run for the Senate in 1976 to succeed retiring Democratic Sen. Philip Hart. He defeated Republican Rep. Marvin Esch in November, then after Hart died in December, Michigan Gov. William Milliken appointed Riegle to the vacant seat on Dec. 30, 1976.

Riegle’s three terms in the Senate coincided with a period of peak power for the Michigan congressional delegation, with Democrat John D. Dingell chairing the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Rep. David Bonior serving as House Democratic whip and Rep. Guy Vander Jagt leading the National Republican Congressional Committee as candidates for Congress were learning to navigate the post-Watergate campaign finance laws.

And for nearly all his tenure in the Senate, Riegle served alongside Michigan Democratic Sen. Carl Levin, who chaired the Armed Services Committee from 2001-03 and from 2007-15.

Riegle was chairman of the Senate Banking Committee for six years starting in 1989, the same year the Lincoln Savings and Loan led by Charles H. Keating Jr. collapsed and required a $3.4 billion federal bailout. 

Riegle and four other senators had received contributions from Keating, which led to accusations that they had steered federal regulators away from Lincoln before the collapse. 

After a series of hearings on the so-called Keating Five scandal, the Senate Ethics Committee found that Riegle had not violated Senate rules, but had given “the appearance of being improper” by seeking to intervene with banking regulators on Keating’s behalf. 

Riegle returned more than $78,000 in donations from Keating and his associates but decided not to seek reelection in 1994 in the wake of the scandal.

He worked at Shandwick Public Affairs (now Weber Shandwick) and APCO Worldwide after his retirement while staying involved in progressive and Democratic politics, including by endorsing Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., for president in both 2016 and 2020.

Michigan Democratic Party Chairman Curtis Hertel issued a statement with a tribute to Riegle after his death was reported.

“Throughout his time in office, Senator Riegle was a champion for Michigan workers and stood against harmful foreign wars, unfair banking practices, and discrimination,” Hertel said. “Sen. Riegle’s legacy demonstrates the power of conviction and compassion.”