(The Center Square) – Michigan’s newly drawn 8th District is a key battleground for the GOP’s attempt to reclaim a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Vying for the House seat in an area covering Genesee, Bay and Saginaw counties, as well as parts of Tuscola and Midland, counties are Flint Twp. Democrat Dan Kildee and Grand Blanc Republican Paul Junge. Kildee is currently serving as a U.S. Representative for Michigan’s 5th District, winning his first election for the seat formerly held by his uncle Dale Kildee in 2012.
Other contenders for the seat are Libertarian David Canny and Working Class Party Kathy Goodwin.
Kildee enjoyed a comfortable House berth over the past 10 years due to his name recognition as well as the solid blue-collar Democrat control of Flint and Saginaw. The newly adopted redistricting maps that created the 5th District added a significant dollop of Independent and Republican voters from Midland and Tuscola counties, which puts Kildee’s Congressional seat up for grabs.
Junge is a former criminal prosecutor and news anchor and served with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in the administration of former President Donald Trump.
In a debate earlier this month on the Saginaw Valley State University campus, Junge and Kildee squared off on questions posed by WNEM-TV’s Collette Boyd and the Detroit News’ Chad Livengood. The two candidates agreed with one another when both said they opposed Sen. Lindsey Graham’s proposed federal law to ban abortions. Kildee and Jonge said the decision should be left up to voters in each state. However, Jonge positions himself as anti-abortion in most cases while Kildee is pro-abortion in most instances.
The men clashed on the causes for spiraling U.S. inflation – with Kildee laying blame on the pandemic, the microchip shortage and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s unprovoked war against Ukraine. He noted he has been working to reduce health care costs for Michigan residents, including a bill he sponsored to cap monthly insulin costs at $35. He also said he’s attempted to lower gasoline prices by advocating for ethanol additives year round and warning oil companies to avoid gauging their customers. He said he’s looking out for the general public rather than defending “stockholders in oil companies and Texas billionaires.”
Junge responded there is “very little question” the causes of inflation are the policies of the administration of President Joe Biden, which Junge asserted are “supported by Dan Kildee.” He claimed the $3 trillion federal spending bills passed by the U.S. Congress are responsible for inflation, as is the current administration’s “attack” on the nation’s energy independence, which he said is driving up costs for families and businesses.
Both men expressed their support for Ukraine, but said their support stops short of putting U.S. military boots on the ground. Noting 75% of support for Ukraine comes from the United States while the second-largest support from the United Kingdom represents only 5%, Junge commented: “We need to continue to encourage our European allies to do what they can and not totally rely on American largesse and American power, but to be part of that battle to stand up for freedom.”
Positioning himself as a bipartisan unafraid to stand up to his own party, Kildee said he worked with Trump to revise the North American Free Trade Agreement and spoke out against Biden’s plans to forgive federal student loans. He also said “defunding is the dumbest idea that I’ve ever heard when it comes to police” before stating “people in uniform saved my life on January 6.”
Junge mostly concurred with Kildee on forgiveness of student loans and defunding the police. He reiterated U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s assessment more than a year ago that the president does not possess unilateral authority to forgive student loan debt.
