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David Nicholas: Michigan is home to multiple key U.S. House races this election cycle, and the 8th Congressional District is no exception.
It encompasses the Saginaw Bay region and the city of Flint. Republicans hope to unseat Democratic incumbent Kristen McDonald Rivett with an unexpected challenger.
WCMU's AJ Jones starts his breakdown of the race with Tina Sawyer by sharing what McDonald Rivet is running on.
AJ Jones: McDonald Rivet has been focused on affordability, like most national Democrats, and she's been talking a lot about manufacturing, and that's significant because this particular district is one of the big manufacturing bases in the state of Michigan.
The Saginaw Bay region has been impacted by high-profile layoffs at SK Siltron, a computer chip maker, and at Dow Chemical. In addition, Sandisk killed plans for a $55 billion semiconductor plant in Genesee County.
McDonald Rivet has focused her message in light of that on Trump's tariffs and his decisions to cut back on things like federal EV and clean energy policies. She told me that Trump's decision-making is contributing to those manufacturing job losses.
Kristen McDonald Rivet: Tariffs on, tariffs off. Markets open, markets close, and that changing on a month-by-month basis is devastating in these innovative sectors.
AJ: She has also called for an end to the war in Iran, saying it is contributing to rising energy costs.
KMR: The first thing that we can do is end this war that nobody wanted in the Middle East that is escalating costs on every American.
AJ: She also told me she supported reinstating Affordable Care Act tax credits and increased efforts to ensure work sites are ready for industrial development.
Tina Sawyer: AJ, back in the summer, no one expected her Republican opponent, Tom Smith, to win, but he pulled off a surprise upset in the August primary. Tell us what happened there.
AJ: Yeah, he was one of three GOP candidates in that primary. The favorite in that race was Amir Hassan, who was backed by President Donald Trump. Tom Smith dropped out in July, about a month or so before the August primary date, and he endorsed another candidate in the race.
And in shock to everyone, including us, Smith won. He literally was not running on election day when he won. And Smith did this, only raising $1,820. But GOP figures have suggested that Amir Hassan's name also played a role in the results.
David Forsmark lives in the district and is a Republican strategist. He does not work for the Smith campaign. He told me this.
David Forsmark: People who are casual consumers thought Amir Hassan was somebody else. Everybody knows a Thomas Smith. I know at least two.
TS: So in light of that, what do we know about Tom Smith?
AJ: Well, to start, he didn't talk to us. I sent his campaign 3 emails. My final e-mail included a list of questions. I called a number belonging to him. I reached out to people who I was told worked on his campaign as campaign manager. No response.
Luckily, Tom Smith has spoken to a few other outlets and there is other reporting on him that I can refer to.
Tom Smith is a 75-year-old retired GM engineer. He is a US Army veteran and the owner of a company, Jarhead Salsa.
He did a survey with the Midland Daily News and he said he supported expanding domestic energy to lower costs and streamlining work visas. He also says he wants more deregulation and lower taxes and that will bring down costs for families.
Now his campaign has run into some controversy. He was present at a Stop the Steal rally on January 6, 2021.
He told the Detroit News in an interview that he went there to listen to President Trump speak and he went back to his hotel room after his legs got tired. Smith denied going onto restricted grounds in that Detroit News interview and he also denied it to the blog Talking Points Memo.
TS: And you've spoken to other Republicans about Tom Smith and his campaign. What have you heard from them?
AJ: People have told me they find him quite relatable. I spoke to Mark Seneco. He is the chair for the district's Republican Party branch, so they manage the local GOP operations. Seneco acknowledged that beating an incumbent is always hard, but there is an appetite to beat Congresswoman Kristen McDonald Rivet amongst Republicans in the district.
David Forsmark, the Republican strategist from earlier, who I said lived in the district, said that the campaign has not been very visible compared to KMRs in terms of things like advertising and public events. Forsmark told me the campaign was, quote, nowhere.
DF: It's not real. It's an illusion.
TS: AJ, as we build up to election day, what are you paying attention to in the race?
AJ: The big X factor for me is that McDonald Rivet has a lot more money. The latest FEC filings show Congresswoman McDonald Rivet has $5 million or so in contributions. Smith, on the other hand, has raised just under $250,000.
The headwinds in the campaign seemed to favor McDonald Rivet, but Smith told the Detroit News that he was confident in his campaign's ability to win.
DN: That was WCMU's AJ Jones speaking with Tina Sawyer about the race in the 8th Congressional District.
