LANSING, Mich. (WZMQ) – As the election approaches, we are talking with the candidates for the races across the Upper Peninsula. The 108th House district representative will be on the ballot for voters in Menominee, Delta, Schoolcraft, Luce, Chippewa, and the western portion of Mackinaw County.
Like the majority of the U.P., the 108th district of Michigan’s House of Representatives has been historically Republican. This fall, Democrat Christiana Reynolds hopes to flip the seat.
Reynolds was born in Escanaba but moved around the state for most of her life before settling back in the 108 to start her family. She is a high school history teacher with three young children. She held a seat on the Escanaba City Planning Commission and co-organized Delta County Citizens for Ethical Leadership. Reynolds said she got her passion for advocacy and community service from her grandmother and wants to use that experience to fight for teachers and families in Lansing.
She says if elected she wants to improve housing and childcare costs and access, and by pushing to bring broadband to the Upper Peninsula, she would also be focused on economic development and getting the U.P. up to speed with the rest of the state. As a teacher, Reynolds has worked in online, public, and charter schools, she said that gives her a unique perspective to advocate for all kinds of teachers and their needs.
She said that it would be her main priority to work with the other U.P. lawmakers and that it all comes down to compromising, communicating, and collaborating.
“As soon as you engage with your neighbors in a very authentic, genuine, and educational way. people respond very positively.” Reynolds said. “I really would consider it to be the honor of a lifetime to represent my community in Lansing, and I would just ask for my neighbors and community members to give me that opportunity.”
The republican incumbent, Dave Prestin, has a background as a business owner and first responder. A husband and father, prestin has 30 years of experience in the food and beverage industry in multiple states.
He worked as a volunteer firefighter and in EMS before becoming a paramedic and has held seats on the Alger Delta Board of Directors and the Menominee County Commission.
In his first term in Lansing, Prestin worked on legislation to extend temporary licenses for emergency medical personnel and allow EMTs to become certified at 17.
He says if re-elected, he wants to keep working as a voice for small business owners and first responders in Lansing, pushing back against energy and regulatory policies he says have gone too far.
Clean energy standards and goals have generated solar and wind farm citing laws that many Republicans worry take too much control away from locals. With party control of the House up for grabs in this election, Prestin said he hopes that if Republicans take over they can make exceptions for some of the natural gas and reciprocal Internal combustion generators in the Upper Peninsula that he said are still needed to power the U.P. but can’t carbon capture in the way current laws will require.
With changes also on the way for Michigan’s minimum wage and tipped credit, Prestin said small business owners need someone in Lansing to represent them more than ever before.
“I’ve worked in a lot of states, Michigan was by far one of the toughest ones to establish a business and operate in. I just think we can do better, especially for the U.P.” Prestin said. “Whenever Lansing sees a stream of money that they can get a hold of, it seems like they’re just they’re looking for a way to whittle their way into it. I feel it’s my job to just try to be that check and balance and push back.”
Early voting is already underway in the 108th and across Michigan. You can find your early voting center or election-day polling place at Michigan.gov/vote.
WZMQ will be tracking results as they come in on the night of November 11th.
