Written by Tanya Terry
The Michigan Primary takes place August 6 and is less than a month away.
The Genesee County Democratic Party Black Caucus, in partnership with the NAACP-Flint Chapter and the Concerned Pastors for Social Action, recently presented a candidate forum for the 8th Congressional District representative and the 1st and 7th Ward Flint City Council seats.
The forum was held on on Tuesday, July 9th, 2024, at the Gloria Coles Flint Public Library.
The forum offered voters an opportunity to hear directly from the candidates seeking to replace retiring U.S. Congressman Dan Kildee, who currently represents the 8th Congressional District.
Among several other questions, candidates for the 8th Congressional District were asked what their two top priorities would be, if elected, and how they would go about getting the legislation passed.
Anthony Hudson is a Republican, a 21-year truck driver and a candidate for the seat who has described himself as conservative.
Hudson said: I’ve had the luxury of spending over 35 days in our southern border. I’ve seen anything and everything you could imagine at the border – between Eagle Pass, Texas; Yuman, Arizona and San Diego, California – most recently San Diego two weeks ago. When Title 42 expired (a COVID-19 public health restriction affecting migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border), I was standing on the edge of the Rio Grande River. There were approximately 5,000 people standing in front of me on the Mexican border, waiting to just trample through our county.
“…That cannot happen. The cartel cannot be in control of our border. Our open borders have led illegal immigrants to our state, where we have over 100,000 illegal immigrants now.
“Our governor wants you to take them into your home…Will give you $500 a month to take a family of four into your home, get them educated, get the kids in school, get the parents a job. They don’t have a right to be here….You don’t know if you’re getting a drug smuggler. You don’t know if you’re getting a human trafficker. You don’t know if you’re getting a rapist, a murderer. You don’t know what you’re getting.. But Whitmer wants us to open our homes to illegals to house them – and make sure they have the same rights we have in this country.
Hudson said he will help Former President Trump (who he referred to simply as ‘President Trump’) close the border “so that we can have international security.”
Secondly, Hudson said he would put America first.
“We keep our money in this county,” Hudson said. “ We fix our problems. We put our homeless, we put our veterans, we put our hungry, we put our struggling single moms at the top of the list – and we start recognizing them, and helping them and making sure they get the benefits they deserve as American citizens-rather than neglecting them and putting them off into the back seat.”
Matt Collier, a Democrat, former mayor of Flint and Obama appointee for the Department of Veterans Affairs, answered next.
“Well, I think our democracy is at stake,” Collier said. “The manifestation of that is this hardened partisan politics going on. Our freedoms are under attack. Abortion rights are under attack as well. The right for workers to unionize, to organize is under attack. Our voting rights are under attack. Donald Trump and the MAGA right is a danger to our democracy. So, I want to roll up my sleeves, work with other veterans and get stuff done.
“The second issue that I think is the overwhelming issue that’s part of that is the right for women to get an abortion. We need to counterpart Roe V. Wade across the land so that every woman in this country has access to abortions, just like here in Michigan.”
Dr. Pamela Pugh, a Democrat, current president of the State Board of Education and former chief public health advisor for the city of Flint, then gave her response.
Pugh, first pointed out, as the only Black candidate present, Black women make 56 cents to white male non-Hispanic counterparts.
“When we look at reproductive health as a public health person, I come with that lens of the mother’s health as well as the child’s health, and the whole package of reproductive rights,” stated Pugh. “And we have to look at that in that way. That is how I will handle the reproductive health issue and reproductive rights.
“Making sure that our government works for everyone, regardless of your income, regardless of your skin color, or who you know or don’t know. And we know all about that here in Flint. So, making sure…when policies are made that they work for the people.
“And making sure we’re putting safeguards in place and making sure we’re reporting back and that there is accountability for the policies that are put back.
“When we look at co-government, that we make sure that federal-level agencies are working together and are reducing burdens for the people – and that we’re working together at all levels of government.
“Of course, I support pro-choice legislation that looks at gun rights, codifying gun rights, codifying abortion rights, but also making sure that we are making our communities whole and the policies that are already on the books are working for us, the people.”
Democratic Candidate, Senator Kristen McDonald Rivet is currently a state senator for Bay City endorsed by Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Representative Dan Kildee.
At the forum, she said: “I have two priorities. The first is getting costs down.
“So, relentlessly focusing on immediately getting help around housing. It’s too expensive, too hard for people to pay their bill and for them to be able to afford rent or buy a home.
“And capping the cost of prescription drugs. It is heartbreaking to go to Kroger, go to Meijer, go to Rite Aid. People are going to pick up their prescription and they’re negotiating. They’re asking: ‘Can I have half of this?’ ‘What would happen if I pick up this one and not that one?’
“Everybody has a story. Everybody has a story. I have a story.”
McDonald Rivet stated her other priority would include reinstating the Child Tax Credit and attacking the problem of the affordability and availability of really good child care.
McDonald Rivet and her husband, Joseph Rivet, themselves have six children.
Mary Draves and Paul Junge are also running for the Republican nomination but were not present at the forum.
