LANSING, Mich. (WZMQ) – Northern Michigan attorney and caregiver advocate Callie Barr has announced her second campaign for Michigan’s 1st Congressional District, challenging Republican U.S. Rep. Jack Bergman in what she describes as a deeply personal effort to bring rural voices back into the national conversation.
Barr, a Democrat from Cheboygan, ran for the same seat in 2024 and said this campaign builds on that foundation with renewed focus on local needs and community connection.
“This time around, we’re really building off of last cycle,” Barr said during a campaign announcement. “But what’s really important to me now is elevating the voices of people here.”
In a sprawling district that includes the entire Upper Peninsula and much of northern Lower Michigan, Barr emphasized the challenges residents face when it comes to health care access, infrastructure, broadband, and workforce transitions amid technological change.
“In an age of artificial intelligence, we’re still getting the internet,” Barr said. “We want to have businesses succeed here, we want students and remote workers to stay here—but we need the tools to do it.”
Barr also pointed to her personal background as a caregiver advocate and attorney, citing her work with the Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregiving and Blue Star Families, as well as her experience in business litigation, as foundational to her problem-solving approach.
“This district has unique needs,” she said. “If our hospitals are already struggling, if our roads are crumbling, we will feel the consequences more acutely than other parts of the state.”
Barr criticized Bergman’s voting record and absence from public forums, saying she believes voters are ready for a representative who will meet constituents where they are. She pledged to hold open town halls and attend events across the political spectrum, referencing her previous visit to a biker rally as an example of outreach beyond traditional party lines.
“There’s no argument—I’m the clear underdog,” Barr said. “But I think Congressman Bergman has shown us who he is. We need someone who will prioritize people over politics.”
While acknowledging the partisan divide in Washington, Barr said her campaign will focus on rebuilding trust and emphasizing shared values across party lines.
“You might vote on the Republican ballot, or you might vote on the Democratic one,” she said. “But you’re an American first. That’s where our allegiance belongs—to the people here.”
Rep. Bergman, a retired Marine Corps lieutenant general, has held the seat since 2017 and won re-election by wide margins. In a statement to WZMQ, the Bergman campaign dismissed Barr’s candidacy:
“The Bergman campaign gladly welcomes Callie back into the race for Congress,” said campaign spokesperson James Hogge. “Her flat out lies, radical woke ideology, and anti America-First rhetoric only boosted General Bergman’s support last election and helped him defeat her by over 100,000 votes. The voters of the First District won’t be fooled by her downstate lawyer double-speak this cycle either.”
The 1st Congressional District is one of the largest by land area in the country, encompassing 32 counties and stretching from Monroe County in the Lower Peninsula to Keweenaw County at the tip of the U.P. Barr says her campaign will focus on listening sessions, rural economic development, and making sure constituents’ voices are heard in Washington.
Barr, who ran against Bergman in 2022, criticized what she called a “missing and dishonest incumbent,” citing the closure of rural hospitals, lack of broadband infrastructure, and no public town halls in nearly a decade.
“We’ll be more creative, more ambitious — and we won’t stop until every resident has a fair shot at success,” Barr said during the briefing, adding that the campaign would prioritize direct outreach in small communities across northern Michigan.
