1st Congressional District candidates participate in public forum at NMU
MARQUETTE, Mich. (WLUC) — NMU hosted a Q&A for candidates running for Michigan’s 1st Congressional District seat.
The district covers all of the Upper Peninsula and parts of Lower Michigan.
This event, hosted by Lake Superior Region Indivisible, was the 7th of 11 planned events for these candidates. Attendees could write down a question before the event started and have it asked during the forum.
One question was about climate change.
“What do you think are the three most important things we should be doing here in our district to increase our resilience in the face of climate change?” asked moderator G.G. Gordon.
Each candidate had 90 seconds to answer.
First up was Wayne Stiles (D). He says small communities should have control over what happens in their towns.
“We need to make sure that our small communities have access to funds to help protect themselves, so when larger corporations come from outside of the state and see Michigan as an easy target, they can have some money to defend themselves,” said Stiles. “But they may want some of these programs. There are a lot of tax advantages to some of these things.”
Next was Kyle Blomquist (D). He says war is bad for the environment, and he supports the Green New Deal.
“For what it does to our carbon output and for our energy resilience, but also for what it does as a jobs program,” said Blomquist. “I oppose the location of AI data centers in places like the Upper Peninsula and Northern Michigan.”
Zebulon Featherly (Independent) was next. He wants the United States to be energy independent.
“We are being affected by the risks, you know, by the actions of one man and his campaign, and what I would love to see is for us to start converting our resources to a more renewable system,” said Featherly.
Justin Michal (R) was last. He says the climate change discussion keeps changing, which in turn hurts our wallets.
“I look at this as one of those things that pushes and drives policies as very expensive to the American taxpayer, and our Country can’t afford that,” said Michal. “So, we need, yes, sure, (to) have some alternative energies, but we also need to look at what’s best for us and look at the reality of the situation for which we live, not what drives policies and positions.”
Two candidates did not attend today’s forum: Callie Barr (D) and Congressman Jack Bergman (R-1st District). The incumbent Bergman has held the 1st Congressional District seat since 2017.
The Primary Election is scheduled for Tuesday, Aug. 4.
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