Michigan lawmaker charged in February with drunken driving

LIVONIA, MICH » Detroitarea state Rep. Mary Cavanagh, who is running for state Senate, is facing a drunken driving charge following a February arrest.

The arrest was not known to the public until Gongwer News Service reported it this week.

In the early hours of Feb. 25, Cavanagh was pulled over by Livonia police when an officer noticed she was driving with two flat tires, according to a police report. Police observed Cavanagh’s car swerving between lanes and one of the front tires disconnecting from the rim.

After performing a breath test at the scene, Cavanagh was arrested. Her blood-alcohol content was redacted in the report.

This is the second time the first-term Redford Democrat has been charged with operating while intoxicated by Livonia police, according to court records. Cavanagh, now 30, pleaded guilty to impaired driving following her first charge in 2015. She was sentenced to a year of probation.

Cavanagh is currently running for Senate to represent the newly drawn 6th District, which includes a portion of Detroit, Livonia and Farmington.

This legislative session in Michigan has seen two other publicly known drunken driving instances where lawmakers were at the wheel.

Republican Rep. Bryan Posthumus was sentenced to 15 days in jail in 2021 after he hit a mailbox and rolled his Jeep over with a blood alcohol content of nearly twice the legal limit.

Democrat Rep. Jewell Jones was sentenced in March of this year to two years of probation for drunken driving last spring. His charges include assaulting two police officers and having a gun in his possession while drunk.