Endorsement: Re-elect Stabenow

The JN endorses incumbent Debbie Stabenow for U.S. Senate based on her proven record in championing policies to benefit manufacturing, agriculture and health care as well as her commitment to protecting the Great Lakes and her support for Israel.

It was also refreshing that her campaign focused on her accomplishments and her policy priorities — not on attacking her opponent.

As co-chair of the Senate Manufacturing Caucus, Stabenow has been a champion for autonomous vehicles and self-driving technologies, which will help enable Michigan to position itself as the global center of this technology. She’s also a proponent of providing more skilled trades training and improving college affordability for Michigan students to put more of our young people on a path to a high-wage job.

As ranking member of the Senate’s Agricultural Committee, Stabenow coauthored the 2018 Farm Bill, which passed the Senate on a bipartisan vote of 86-11. Agriculture is Michigan’s second-largest industry and supports one in four jobs in the state. We need a powerful voice on that committee.

As ranking member of the Subcommittee on Health Care within the Senate’s Finance Committee, she’s working to bring down the cost of prescription drugs and ensure that people with pre-existing conditions will continue to have affordable health coverage.

And, as a senior member of the powerful Senate Finance Committee, she is working to promote policies to help small businesses in Michigan grow and succeed.

Her opponent, Republican John James, has never held public office before; that inexperience would likely make him a less effective champion for Michigan’s interests in the U.S. Senate. That being said, the JN believes James does have a bright future in public office. We found him to be thoughtful, with sound Conservative principles and ideas — and without the bitter partisanship so often found in today’s politicians.

If James were to run for Congress or a statewide office in a few years, he would likely pose a significant challenge to his Democratic opponent as a young leader who is willing to work with others to effect change and solve problems. But the U.S. Senate is no place for someone to cut his political teeth.