Nancy Skinner is a nationally syndicated radio and television commentator, based in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

. She has run for political office four times. In 2004, she was a Democratic candidate for an open

U.S. Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and powe ...

seat in Illinois, losing in the Democratic primary election to then-state senator

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

. In 2006, she ran for the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...

Michigan's 9th congressional district Michigan's 9th congressional district is a United States congressional district located in parts of Oakland County and Macomb County in the southeast areas of the State of Michigan. It includes the communities of Ferndale, Royal Oak, Hazel P ...

in the 2006 elections, losing to the 14-year incumbent Republican,

Joe Knollenberg Joseph Kastl Knollenberg (November 28, 1933 – February 6, 2018) was an American politician from Michigan. From 1993 to 2009, he was a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives, representing and . In his congressional term, Knol ...

. In 2014, she ran again for the House of Representatives, this time in

Michigan's 11th congressional district Michigan's 11th congressional district is a United States congressional district northwest of Detroit, comprising portions of northwestern Wayne and southwestern Oakland counties. Until 1993, the district covered the state's Upper Peninsula an ...

, losing in the Democratic primary to Bobby McKenzie. In 2018 she again lost in the same primaries to

Haley Stevens Haley Maria Stevens (born June 24, 1983) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative from since 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, Stevens is the member–elect for the redrawn 11th district in the 2022 election, having de ...

Early life

Skinner was born and raised in

Royal Oak, Michigan Royal Oak is a city in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. An inner-ring suburb of Detroit, Royal Oak is about north of Detroit's city limits. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 57,236. Royal Oak is located along th ...

. She graduated from the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

in 1987, receiving a BBA degree with an emphasis in finance and accounting.

Urban development

After graduation, Skinner worked for the family of businessman

Mike Ilitch Michael Ilitch Sr. (July 20, 1929 – February 10, 2017) was an American entrepreneur, founder and owner of the international fast food franchise Little Caesars Pizza. He owned the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey League and Detroit Tig ...

, helping to renovate Detroit's Fox Theatre and relocate the

Little Caesars Little Caesar Enterprises Inc. (doing business as Little Caesars) is an American multi-national pizza chain. Based on 2020 statistics, Little Caesars is the third-largest pizza chain by total sales in the United States, behind Pizza Hut and Do ...

International (LCI) corporate headquarters to the Fox Office Building. She also worked on area redevelopment projects in Downtown Detroit, serving on the Grand Circus Park Redevelopment Board and helping plan for the theatre district's future.

Environmentalism

Following the great Midwestern floods of 1993, Skinner persuaded President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

's White House to assemble a team of ten federal agencies and the nations' leading architects and engineers to rebuild two entire towns away from the floodplain using the principles of sustainable development. Their efforts were honored with an award from President Bill Clinton's Council on Sustainable Development. Skinner helped launch the

Chicago Climate Exchange The Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX) was a voluntary, legally binding greenhouse gas reduction and trading system for emission sources and offset projects in North America and Brazil. CCX employed independent verification, included six greenhous ...

(CCX), the first voluntary emissions trading program to address global climate change using free market principles. The exchange ran from 2003 to 2010.

Radio commentator

In 1998, Skinner began co-hosting a

progressive Progressive may refer to: Politics * Progressivism, a political philosophy in support of social reform ** Progressivism in the United States, the political philosophy in the American context * Progressive realism, an American foreign policy par ...

weekend radio show called ''Ski & Skinner'' on WLS in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

where she was fired after announcing, on air, that she was running for the U.S. Senate. In 2000, Skinner became co-host of The Doug Stephan Show, a syndicated national morning show heard on over 400 radio stations across the United States. Skinner's show inspired two listeners, Anita and

Sheldon Drobny Sheldon Drobny (1945 – January 24, 2020) was an American accountant and investor, best known for forming the company that later became Air America Radio. Career Drobny was Chairman Emeritus of Paradigm Group II, LLC, an investment firm that ...

, to create the

Air America Radio Air America (formerly Air America Radio and Air America Media) was an radio in the United States, American radio network specializing in progressive talk radio. It was on the air from March 2004 to January 2010. The network was founded as a left ...

Network featuring

Al Franken Alan Stuart Franken (born May 21, 1951) is an American comedian, politician, media personality, and author who served as a United States senator from Minnesota from 2009 to 2018. He gained fame as a writer and performer on the television comed ...

and other liberal radio hosts. Since 1999, Skinner has been appearing regularly as a commentator on cable news channels

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...

MSNBC MSNBC (originally the Microsoft National Broadcasting Company) is an American news-based pay television cable channel. It is owned by NBCUniversala subsidiary of Comcast. Headquartered in New York City, it provides news coverage and political ...

and the

Fox News Channel The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is owne ...

. When she was offered the position of morning host at Detroit's

Air America talk radio station, WDTW 1310 AM, Skinner returned to her home state of Michigan, where she hosted morning drive. Skinner substituted for

Randi Rhodes Randi is both a given name, and a nickname in the English language, popular in North America and Norway. It is primarily a feminine name, although there is recorded usage of the name by men. It may have originated as a pet form of '' Miranda'' o ...

and hosted ''

The Randi Rhodes Show ''The Randi Rhodes Show'' is a talk radio show hosted by Randi Rhodes. The show combines her progressive political commentary with listener participation and live interviews. It was originally broadcast on Air America Radio, Nova M Radio, and Pre ...

'' from February 5, 2009, through February 13, 2009. On February 16, 2009, ''The Nancy Skinner Show'' debuted on the On Second Thought radio network, the successor to the

Nova M Radio Nova M Radio, later known as On Second Thought, was a radio syndication service providing progressive talk programming. Founded as Nova M Radio by Sheldon Drobny, Sheldon and Anita Drobny in 2006, its stated purpose was to purchase, own, and ope ...

network.

Political campaigns

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

, Skinner ran for the U.S. Senate from Illinois, losing in the Democratic primary to

. Skinner's 2006 campaign in Michigan's 9th district against Joe Knollenberg was initially seen as a long shot; as Knollenberg had double digits margins of victory and Skinner chose to run on the issue of climate change in the seat of the auto industry, where she was endorsed in an ad campaign by Robert Kennedy Jr. for her leadership on the issue. Though the race became more competitive in its final weeks, Knollenberg ultimately defeated Skinner 52 to 46 percent. After the election, Skinner took a position with the staff of

First Gentleman First lady is an unofficial title usually used for the wife, and occasionally used for the daughter or other female relative, of a non-monarchical head of state or chief executive. The term is also used to describe a woman seen to be at the t ...

Daniel Mulhern, husband of Michigan governor

Jennifer Granholm Jennifer Mulhern Granholm (born February 5, 1959) is a Canadian-American lawyer, educator, author, political commentator, and politician serving as the 16th United States secretary of energy since 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, she pre ...

and was on the Executive Team of Governor Jennifer Granholm. She resigned from this position and on October 16, 2007, Skinner officially announced that she was again running for the 9th congressional district. On February 25, 2008, however, Skinner announced that she was withdrawing from the race rather than face a contentious primary with former

Michigan Lottery The Michigan Lottery offers numerous on-line and scratch-off games, giving players a wide variety of prize possibilities. Initiated under the authority of Public Act 239 in 1972, the games collect funds to support Michigan’s public school system. ...

Commissioner

Gary Peters Gary Charles Peters Sr. (born December 1, 1958) is an American lawyer, politician, and former military officer serving as the junior United States senator from Michigan since 2015. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the U.S. representativ ...

. (Peters went on to win the election.) In 2014 Skinner ran again for the House of Representatives in

. She came in 3rd in the Democratic primary, with 26.5% of the vote. The winner of the Democratic primary, Bobby McKenzie, went on to lose to the Republican nominee, David Trott.Michigan's 11th Congressional District elections, 2014

Ballotpedia Ballotpedia is a nonprofit and nonpartisan online political encyclopedia that covers federal, state, and local politics, elections, and public policy in the United States. The website was founded in 2007. Ballotpedia is sponsored by the Lucy Bur ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Skinner, Nancy Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American environmentalists American women environmentalists American talk radio hosts American women radio presenters Radio personalities from Detroit Radio personalities from Chicago People from Royal Oak, Michigan Michigan Democrats Ross School of Business alumni 21st-century American women