Six candidates are running for Michigan's First Congressional District seat in the primary election on Aug. 4. The seat is currently occupied by U.S. Rep. Jack Bergman, R-Watersmeet, who is running for a fifth term.
WCMU Public Media sent a questionnaire to all six of the candidates in this race on July 9, asking for their views on different issues impacting the region.
Kyle Blomquist is one of three Democratic candidates in the race. His responses are listed below.
Methodology: The same survey was sent to all six candidates. Each response was thoroughly reviewed for grammar and accuracy. We also included links and/or editor's notes for additional information and clarity as needed.
Residents throughout the district are most concerned about affordability. What legislative ideas do you have to make life more affordable in northern Michigan?
"Medicare for All would guarantee healthcare to everyone from birth to death without additional out of pocket costs or expensive supplements, saving Americans $400B while giving them the freedom to move from place to place, job to job without worrying about insurance.
Housing First policy would work to decommodify housing and work to ensure that everyone has an affordable place to live. This is accomplished by banning private equity from buying and owning single-family housing, forcing them to divest, repatriating homes back to the working class. We also place reasonable caps or additional taxes on short-term rentals which have captured so many of our fixer-uppers and starter homes for expensive vacation properties, saving more of those homes for the people that work within those communities. And we address deep affordability by repealing the Faircloth Amendment and diverting the funds of the federal government to build quality affordable public housing.
Outside of working to guarantee every American healthcare and housing, I support increasing the minimum wage to a living wage, passing universal childcare to unburden working families like my own, uncapping social security and taxing the ultra wealthy to increase social security benefits, strengthen consumer protections and antitrust laws to prevent monopolization and price gouging, and invest in a Green New Deal to employ Americans in building public utilities that can compete with private corporations like DTE that control so much of our energy costs."
Many communities have been affected by PFAS contamination, including Oscoda and Grayling. Residents there are upset after the Department of Defense recently announced that clean-up efforts would be delayed for five more years. What actions can be done in Congress to address people's concerns about the clean-up timeline?
"Congress should move to accelerate clean-up of contaminated sites throughout the country to protect our communities and correct the harm that was done. Our priority should always be the people, not the profitability of a private corporation or the recklessness of our military installations here or abroad. There is a tremendous amount of grossly misappropriated funds into the newly and correctly dubbed Department of War. I seek to shrink that growing machine of violence, bring our U.S. servicemembers home to serve in their own communities, and with them, the resources of so many foreign military bases can be deployed stateside to build infrastructure and clean our environment, especially in areas like Oscoda and Grayling."
How should the federal government involve communities when making decisions about implementing AI data centers?
"The federal government should absolutely regulate both AI and its physical infrastructure. I support a full moratorium on data center construction in this country until we are able to establish robust protections on our environment, data privacy, and workforce. Data centers should not be allowed to invade our communities and override local control like we have seen in Saline Township. They should not be allowed to drain our aquifers, poison our water, or pollute our communities with heat and noise. We must guarantee that energy demands are offset with renewable energy and not drive up utility rates for residents. We must prevent AI use in mass surveillance, weapons applications, and protect our intellectual property. And perhaps above all else, we must protect the American working class against AI automation. As we see another advancement in productivity with this latest technological advancement, I want to make sure that more Americans are working less for more money, and that we cannot be laid off so that the remaining workers can be exploited with more responsibility and lower pay. I support a 32-hour workweek to offset this leap and guarantee that we share in the prosperity that AI might bring."
After two years of floods and ice storms, what do you think the federal government should do to help prepare northern counties for future disasters?
"We must be investing proactively in the repair of existing infrastructure and building resilience against the increasing natural disasters brought on by man-made climate change. I'll support a massive investment infrastructure spending on roads, bridges, dams, etc. employing Americans in the building of America. I support a resurgence of the Works Progress Administration and New Deal policies that would create a federal jobs guarantee. I believe that we must fully fund and liberally deploy FEMA to address our increasing states of emergency driven by extreme weather events, rather than withholding resources through a false sense of scarcity. We must address the needs of our communities here in Northern Michigan by shrinking our military spending and taxing the obscene wealth of billionaires."
Several dams across northern Michigan were at risk of failing after historic floods this spring. How should Congress address improving the district's dam infrastructure?
"Yes, as mentioned previously, I support robust infrastructure investment, including the repair and reinforcement of our dams. The flooding this spring is likely a taste of what is to come in terms of extreme weather events, so we must use it as a wake-up call and move quickly to address the problems."
Last year, President Donald Trump called a national energy emergency which would accelerate the permitting for different projects regarding oil, power and gas. Line 5 was one of the first projects chosen to fast track the decision to reconstruct a tunnel. Do you back the Trump Administration's assessment in declaring this emergency and fast-tracking of the tunnel permitting process?
"I do not support the fast-tracking of fossil fuel extraction and production, nor do I support the construction of the Line 5 tunnel. I believe like most Northern Michiganders that we should shut down Line 5 and remove that existential risk to our Great Lakes that primarily benefits a foreign fossil fuel company. I believe that we should be protecting our environment and upholding our Treaty obligations to our Native peoples. If we are to declare a state of emergency around our energy independence, we should be diverting those funds towards the construction of publicly funded, publicly control green energy infrastructure, rather than continuing to use tax payer dollars to enrich fossil fuel companies and grow their monopolies."
Housing costs are another major concern for voters. Experts say one way to help the market is to build more housing units. How can Congress make it easier for contractors to build more homes, or do you believe other solutions are necessary to alleviate the cost of housing?
"As an Architect, I confront the construction industry every day. I can say with absolute certainty that our current housing crisis is not something that you can build yourself out of by cutting red tape, making more capital available for private developers, or providing tax credits. While those are certainly tools at your disposal, the current cost of construction has made the construction of affordable housing functionally impossible while those developments must also turn a profit. At the same time, the housing ecosystem has been killed by private equity and short-term rentals.
We must ban private equity and hedge funds from buying and owning our homes, forcing them to divest, flooding the market with those captured housing units, increasing availability to owner-occupants to build equity and household wealthy. We must regulate short-term rentals to preserve launching-pad homes for young families and working people. We must address the cost and rate of construction by addressing material costs through antitrust laws and consumer protections, while investing in training in the construction trades. And we must use the considerable funds of the federal government that are otherwise spent on violence abroad or cruelty at home to build public housing with deep affordability, understanding that workforce housing is critical infrastructure that must exist for every community to thrive."
What role should American foreign policy play moving forward in Iran?
"We must move quickly to end the Trump administration's illegal war in Iran and use every diplomatic pathway available to normalize relations in the future. We must pass legislation to prevent future presidents from authorizing acts of aggression against other nations without the consent of Congress. And we must acknowledge that so long as we continue to grow our massively oversized military apparatus, we will continue to find ourselves embroiled in needless, costly violence, making our world considerably less safe as a result."
