What's in this Guide
U.S. Senator
Representative in Congress, 6th District
Kalamazoo County Commission, Districts 1, 6, 7, 10
The Primary Election
A primary election is held by the political parties to select their nominees for the offices to be elected at the upcoming general election. In a primary, Republicans run against Republicans and Democrats run against other Democrats. If other parties qualify to appear on the primary ballot, their candidates run against each other as well. In a primary, you may vote on only one party’s candidates. You cannot split your ballot between the various political parties. If you attempt to vote in more than one party’s primary, your ballot will be invalidated. A primary election may also be held for nonpartisan races in order to narrow the number of candidates for the general election.
A general election is between party nominees and any candidates without political party affiliation. The general election determines which candidates will occupy the office that is up for election. Statewide ballot proposals also appear on the general election ballot.
Elections included in this Guide are ones in which:
There is more than one candidate for a political party in a national, state or county race. For example, if there are two or more Republicans running against each other, we included information about those candidates, as well as any Democrats in that race, even if there is a single unopposed Democrat. The races that meet this criterion for the August primary are:
- U.S. Senator
- Representative in Congress, 6th District
- Kalamazoo County Sheriff
- Kalamazoo County Commission, Districts 1, 6, 7 and 10
Note: There may be additional contested races on the ballot that are not included in this Guide. They will occur if a qualified write-in candidate files for a race in a party in which there is at least one other candidate on the ballot. The League of Women Voters included all qualified write-in candidates who had filed with the Kalamazoo County Clerk by the time the Voter Guide was ready to be published.
For information about candidates on your ballot:
The Voter Information Center on the Michigan Secretary of State website allows voters to confirm their registration status, obtain information on the location of their polling place, view a sample ballot and obtain other election-related information.
U. S. Senator (Michigan)
Duties: U.S. Senators share the responsibility with U.S. Representatives for enactment of the nation’s laws as provided in the U.S. Constitution. Senators ratify international treaties and confirm Presidential appointments of Cabinet members, federal judges, and foreign ambassadors.
Qualifications: A Senator must be at least 30 years of age and a U.S. Citizen for at least 9 years. There are 100 Senators, two from each state.
Six-year term — Vote for one
- Federal budget: How will you address the federal deficit? [500 character limit]
- Health care: What is your position on affordable health care for all? [500 character limit]
- Energy: Do we need a national energy plan? If so, summarize what should be included in it. [500 character limit]
- Immigration: What changes, if any, do you support to immigration
policy? [500 character limit] - Effective government: What will you do to reduce the current level of hyper-partisanship in Congress? [500 character limit]
- Priorities: What are your legislative priorities and what actions will you propose regarding them? [500 character limit]
REPUBLICAN
Clark Durant
President, New Common School Foundation. B.A., Tulane Univ., 1967–71; J.D., Univ. of Notre Dame, 1973–76. Vice Pres., Hillsdale College, 1972–73; practice of law, 1976–94; Trustee, Ann Arbor Railroad, 1983–89; Chair, Legal Service Corp, 1983–88. Cornerstone Schools Founding Chairman, 1991–03; CEO, 2003–09; current board member. President, New Common School Foundation, 2001–current. http://www.clarkdurant.com
- Economic growth in the private sector, significant spending cuts, reduction of debt, and entitlement reform that enhances personal choice and long term sustainability, an examination of the cost-effectiveness and constitutionality of ALL government spending. Our tax code must be flatter, fairer and simpler, not penalizing savings and investment. We need to re-thinking how to monetize federal assets, and re-examination the appropriations/budgeting process.
- Affordable healthcare for all is possible if you have patient centered choice, where patients can drive change and individualized care through options. Government, bureaucratic, and politicized care must be repealed. States should repeal bans against the interstate sale of health insurance policies, and the tax benefit given to employers to provide healthcare should be given to taxpayers, so they are not tied to a job to keep healthcare benefits. These reforms will allow individuals to evaluate their needs rather than being forced into the “one-size-fits-all” rationing approach of Obamacare.
- Our national energy plan will allow for the full development of oil, natural gas, clean coal, nuclear power and alternative renewable pursuant to customer driven market based prices and development. This policy promotes economic development rather than centralized power in Washington. We will increase American supply, create American jobs, and generate government revenue. The private sector will create affordable energy.
- America represents hope and promise to millions of people worldwide. However, coming here from another country should not be a free-for-all. Attracting human capital is critical for economic growth. We must allow more highly skilled people into the U.S. They often start companies employing many and growing the economy. We have the ability to secure our borders. What we need most is the will and commitment to enforce current immigration laws and restore the integrity of our immigration system.
- Madison in Federalist #10 said factions in government are as air is to fire. Our founders developed the separation of powers and the diffusion of power. We need to re-discover these core constitutional ideas and work for their restoration if we wish to minimize the negative effects of zealous partisanship. I have spent 40 years solving problems, fixing broken things, and creating new opportunities with Democrats, Independents, and Republicans. I will try to do so in the Senate.
- First, remove regulatory and tax barriers to the creation of jobs, new businesses, and the expansion of existing businesses. Unleash energy development and promote economic growth. Second, reduce federal spending and debt. Third, restore constitutionally limited government. Social Security can be saved by considering means-tested benefits, changing the retirement age, and giving an option to leave the system.
Gary Glenn
President, American Family Association of Michigan. B.A., Political Science, Lenoir-Rhyne Univ., 1982. Led 1980’s effort to pass Right to Work law in Idaho, founding member of group pushing same law in Mich. As county commissioner, authored nation’s first Health Savings Account plan for county employees. President, American Family Assn. of Mich.; coauthor, Michigan’s Marriage Protection Amendment. http://GaryGlenn.US
- Close federal depts. of Education, Energy, and Commerce. Reform all healthcare spending based on Health Savings Account model. Adopt Connie Mack “Penny Plan” to cut federal spending by one penny of every dollar spent the previous year. Repeal ObamaCare and other burdensome new regulations, pass national Right to Work law, aggressively harvest domestic oil and gas, and reduce or eliminate federal capital gains, inheritance, and what is currently the world’s highest corporate income tax.
- Repeal ObamaCare in full. Allow purchase of insurance across state lines. Model all future spending on Health Savings Account concept so that consumers once again care what healthcare costs, the only way to apply market pressure to healthcare providers to bring the cost of healthcare down for all Americans. We can also help bring the cost down via tort reforms that cap cash awards in medical liability lawsuits, thus bringing down the cost of medical liability insurance.
- Close the federal Department of Energy and aggressively harvest, process, and use American oil, gas, and coal resources from both private and government-controlled lands. End Solyndra-type abuses of tax dollars, get the government out of the way, and let the demands of the free market determine what new sources of energy, if any, are developed.
- Build a physically impenetrable fence on our southern border, actually enforce existing federal laws against illegal immigration, end taxpayer-funded benefits that incentivize breaking our laws, and at the same time dramatically streamline the process by which to legally immigrate or receive a legal work permit.
- The great divide is not between Republicans and Democrats but between taxpayers and the political class of both parties. Both parties are responsible for the debt being piled onto future generations. The big-spending, consistently common sense-defying culture of Washington that must be changed, which historically hasn’t changed regardless of which party is in control. Returning the federal government to its expressly authorized Constitutional duties will require overcoming partisanship, period.
- Create jobs as outlined above, bringing back jobs that fled our over-regulated, high-tax business climate. Cut spending and deficit as outlined above, restoring individual freedom and state and local govt. responsibility for functions not authorized to Congress. Earmark royalties for drilling on federal land to debt retirement. Traditional American values: marriage, Right to Life, responsibility of able-bodied persons to work, religious liberty, and protection against unlawful detention.
Randy Hekman
Full time candidate for U.S. Senate. B.S., Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; J.D., George Washington Univ. Law School. U.S. Naval Officer in Secretary of Navy’s office in Pentagon; Asst Prosecuting Attorney, Kent County; youngest elected Probate Judge in Michigan. Exec. Director of three non-profits; CEO, Hekman Industries, LLC (energy). Author of two books: “Justice for the Unborn” and “Truth that Sets America Free.” http://randyhekman2012.com
- Almost half of Americans pay no income tax yet get major benefits. We also have corporate welfare and crony capitalism on the other end of the scale. Our welfare system produced a growing class of people perpetually dependent on government handouts; it has encouraged the rise of births out of wedlock, the recipe for generational poverty; and it has cost taxpayers $17 trillion since 1964. Turn this back to charities, churches, extended families and neighbors moving people to independence.
- Who can disagree with the ideal of affordable health care for all? But I maintain that to provide healthcare for all is not government’s responsibility. Still, government can help set up the guidelines to make healthcare more affordable. We need to increase market forces through Health Savings plans and other means, and decrease expensive litigation with tort reform.
- Infatuated with solar energy, our federal government has thrown away millions of our dollars on ill-fated solar energy startups. The best federal policy for energy should be to let the market tell us what works from an energy point of view. We have ample oil and gas reserves in the U.S. that should be harvested. Get government out of the way for the economy to work! EPA is killing jobs and the economy through excessive and unnecessary regulations.
- We should encourage legal immigration to our nation. In doing so, we should have a policy of requiring all immigrants to have at least a rudimentary ability to interact in English and pass a test in English in on the subject of our American system of law and government. Beyond that, we MUST secure the borders. Any immigration policy is destined to failure if we don’t do that. After that, we must encourage all the illegals in America to come out of the shadows, but no general amnesty.
- A house divided will not stand. I am not making personal criticisms of my opponents in this race. I can disagree with you on a policy without hating you. I believe there are truthful concepts that work as operating instructions for a nation, so that all parties can work together to discover them. I even have a Democrat running for State House in Detroit who has endorsed my candidacy, and I’m endorsing his! His name is Jonathan Wright running in the 4th District.
- The top priority must be reducing our federal debt. It is the house that is on fire. All other issues pale in significance compared to this. I will work tirelessly to save our nation. I also believe leaders need to lead by example. I am not taking any corporate or trade association PAC money as I consider this a legal bribe. I see my role as a public servant, not a public master. Good leaders serve their people, and I intend to do exactly that.
Pete Hoekstra
Former U.S. Congressman; serve on several advisory boards and a Senior Advisor at Dickstein Shapiro. Bachelor’s, Hope College; M.B.A., U of Michigan. I worked for 15 yrs at Herman Miller, a Fortune 500 company, becoming Vice President of Marketing. I served for nine terms as U.S. Representative for the Second Congressional District of Michigan. During my time in Congress, I served as the Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. www.hoekstraforsenate.com
- Washington has a spending problem, not a revenue problem. We need to end duplicative programs, many have been identified by the GAO that would save billions. We need to streamline government to eliminate redundant programs between governments. We also need to return to pre-Stimulus spending levels (minus Veterans) that would save us billions more. For the long-term, we need to reform entitlement programs. A major component will be growing the economy by implementing pro-growth policies.
- I support common sense, free-market health care solutions that provide for affordable and accessible health care for all Americans. I believe every American should be able to choose their insurance, doctors, and hospitals. Patients should have the right to choose their health care provider and receive access to care when they need it. Commitment to reforms that ensure less government interference and more individual control of health care is needed. Government should not have the ability to decide who your doctors are and what insurance you have.
- The United States must adopt a long-term, multifaceted “all of the above” approach to addressing the current status of energy prices. For far too long we have allowed ourselves to become dependent on foreign sources of energy putting our economic and national security at risk. America could achieve energy independence. Congress must adopt a balanced energy plan that can increase production and promote conservation while protecting environmental priorities.
- Continue to advocate for rational, balanced immigration reform that opposes amnesty, secures the border, does not award illegal behavior, and utilizes a workable paperwork process. Workable and effective immigration reform is an important objective and should certainly recognize our immigrant heritage. The focus, however, must be on border security and a legal identification process. Border patrol and law enforcement must be provided the tools, technology and resources to control our borders.
- It’s about relationships and leadership. In many regards, the tone is set from the top. Unfortunately, Pres. Obama locked out Republicans his first two-years with wide margins in the Senate and the House. After the election, he doubled down and again refused to work with Republicans and pursued his policies through regulations. I am willing to work with anyone that is interested in reforming government, reducing wasteful spending and creating jobs through free market principles.
- We need to embrace pro-growth policies. This includes tax reform, regulatory reform, domestic energy reform and spending reform that encourages investment and creates jobs. We must make the tough decisions and allow the free market to operate in order for us to leave a better country for the next generation.
Democrat
Debbie Stabenow
United States Senator. Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees, Michigan State Univ. Grew up in Clare, where family ran the neighborhood Oldsmobile dealership and mom was a nurse at the hospital. Now Chairwoman of the Senate Agriculture Committee. Champion for Michigan and always stands up for Michigan families, seniors and small businesses. www.stabenowforsenate.com
- We need to scrutinize everything the government does and cut what is not working to reduce our debt rather than balance the budget on the backs of middle-class families and seniors. As Chairwoman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, I authored a bipartisan Farm Bill that cuts $23 billion in unnecessary government spending while strengthening initiatives focused on growing our economy. Creating jobs is critical—we will never get out of debt with so many Americans out of work.
- We need to do everything we can to lower the cost of healthcare for Michigan families and businesses. I authored the provision that allowed small businesses to get a tax cut right away for providing health insurance to their employees. I have been a strong advocate for making sure women have access to basic health care services like birth control, maternity care and women’s health screenings. I am also committed to preserving and protecting Medicare that our seniors have earned.
- To get our state growing rapidly again, we must continue to transform our economy and see more advanced manufacturing in Michigan. That’s why we need a “do it all” energy strategy that includes more American oil and natural gas, more wind, solar, and other clean energy sources, more fuel efficiency, and more advanced batteries for vehicles. This approach will create jobs, help our companies and workers be more globally competitive, and reduce our dependence on foreign oil.
- I have consistently supported strong border protections and tough enforcement to stop illegal immigration. It is clear that we need comprehensive immigration reform, which should be focused on supporting our national security, American jobs, and the needs of Michigan.
- As Chairwoman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, I brought Republicans and Democrats together to pass a bipartisan Farm Bill to cut $23 billion in spending and help strengthen Michigan agriculture. I work closely with my Republican colleagues, like Congressman David Camp, on issues important to Michigan like stopping Asian Carp and protecting our Great Lakes. I work across the aisle every day on initiatives to strengthen American manufacturing and stand up for workers.
- My top priority is getting our middle-class families back on their feet by focusing on what we do best in Michigan: making things and growing things. I will continue to push for new job opportunities in agriculture, and to advocate for policies that make Michigan a leader in manufacturing and producing advanced batteries and vehicles of the future, and will stand up to countries like China who cheat our trade laws. I will continue be a champion for our Great Lakes and natural resources.