Washington ― Michigan’s three Democratic Senate hopefuls squared off Wednesday morning as the contenders sought to draw contrasts with one another on manufacturing policy, corporate money in politics, regulating artificial intelligence and protecting unions.
“A senator representing Michigan must represent working people,” said Mark DePaoli, director of the UAW’s Region 1A that covers most of Wayne County and Monroe and Washtenaw counties.
The forum marked the first time sharing the stage for U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens of Birmingham, state Sen. Mallory McMorrow of Royal Oak and physician Abdul El-Sayed of Ann Arbor as they made their pitches at a Washington, D.C., conference hosted by the United Auto Workers union, whose endorsement is coveted by Democratic candidates in Michigan.
The trio are vying for the Democratic nomination for Michigan’s open U.S. Senate seat that’s up for grabs after Sen. Gary Peters, D-Bloomfield Township, decided not to run for a third six-year term.
Presumptive Republican nominee, former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers of White Lake Township, did not attend Wednesday, with his campaign noting they learned about the event from social media last week. (The UAW claimed they invited Rogers, but the email went to a staffer from a previous campaign cycle, a Rogers spokeswoman said.)
In answering questions from UAW members, the three Democrats sought to highlight their union-friendly records for the crowd in the hotel ballroom, with each agreeing to push for passage of the PRO Act to protect collective bargaining rights, safeguarding Social Security and defined benefit pension plans, supporting the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and resisting the “federal takeover” of local elections.
Each supports raising the federal minimum wage and allowing Medicare to negotiate the price of prescription drugs.
“I’m not just talking about it. I’m doing something about it,” Stevens said about legislation drafted and sponsored during her four terms in Congress.
While Stevens touted her manufacturing policy wins and took shots at Rogers as a “rubber stamp” for President Donald Trump, El-Sayed and McMorrow isolated Stevens as the only candidate on stage who accepts donations from corporate political action committees.
“Too many politicians out there tell you that they’re working for the working class while too often serving two masters. I have never asked for their money. I will never ask for their money,” El-Sayed said.
Stevens didn’t directly answer the question on corporate PAC money but instead noted she backs campaign finance reform. McMorrow previously accepted money from corporate PACs but hasn’t in her Senate campaign.
“Look, friends, I’m not a millionaire. … I’m running my campaign in a grassroots way, where 95% of my donations are $200 less,” Stevens said. “I cannot be bought.”
McMorrow pointed out that Stevens didn’t answer the question. After the forum, Stevens declined to address the criticism and, when asked by a reporter, twice refused to clarify whether the 95% of small-dollar donations she cited was for the quantity of cash or the number of donations.
“I’m getting donations from grocery clerk workers, factory workers, nurses, retirees, teachers, educators, and that’s what I’m deeply proud to showcase,” she said.
McMorrow and El-Sayed differed on their proposals to ban stock buybacks, citing examples of companies accepting taxpayer-backed incentives and later buying back millions in stock and laying off workers.
McMorrow on Wednesday announced state-level legislation that would prohibit corporations from repurchasing their own stock on the open market if they received tax breaks from the state of Michigan.
El-Sayed said corporate stock buybacks should be banned outright.
“I don’t think it should be conditional on whether or not you got a tax incentive,” El-Sayed said. “If those tax incentives are wrong, I think we should ban stock backpacks outright.”
To keep jobs from moving overseas, McMorrow called for protecting manufacturing jobs and expanding into “what’s next.”
“How do we do that? By investing in you, by investing in education, healthcare, workforce development,” she said. “You are the most powerful tool we have at growing our manufacturing base.”
Stevens highlighted her No Chinese Cars Act to revise U.S. trade rules “so those cars don’t come in here and squash your jobs and our plants through unfair trade practices.” She also said that when lawmakers in Congress rent or buy a car for their official duties, they should have to choose vehicles that are American-made or assembled by unionized workers.
On healthcare, Stevens emphasized the need to protect and expand the Affordable Care Act, while codifying the ability for Medicare to negotiate drug prices with pharmaceutical companies. McMorrow emphasized expanding access to generic drugs to increase competition on the federal marketplace for individual insurance plans.
El-Sayed, a physician and former public health official in Wayne County and the city of Detroit, called for Medicare for All that would enact government-funded health coverage that’s guaranteed for every American without premiums or co-pays. Stevens and McMorrow, in contrast, favor a public option that would allow individuals to buy into Medicare or other government insurance.
“I’m done with politicians telling us what we cannot have and should not fight for, that we just gotta wait a couple more years until the time is right,” El-Sayed said.
One question from a union member asked how the candidates would support female employees who balance caregiving responsibilities while working overtime and mandatory shifts.
El-Sayed, a father of two, said he’s the only candidate in the field who’s been on both sides of the bargaining table. He supports management giving workers predictable schedules and said child care should be free.
Stevens has co-sponsored legislation that would require paid family leave and prioritize time off for pregnant women and nursing women. “We have seen unfair labor practices,” she said.
McMorrow, mom to a 5-year-old, recalled going on leave after giving birth then getting a call from a Lansing lobbyist who insisted she meet with a client anyway. She said union contracts should address parental leave and scheduling.
“The fact that the United States of America is the only industrialized nation in the entire world without guaranteeing paid leave is an embarrassment,” McMorrow said. “We wonder why our birth rate has stagnated. We made it impossible for women to go to work to support their families.”
The Michigan Senate contest is expected to be among the top competitive races nationally in the fall midterms.
National Republicans are bullish on their chances of flipping the seat, noting that the last time the GOP won a Senate race in Michigan, in 1994, was also the last year the state held a protracted, competitive Democratic Senate primary.
“Haley Stevens, Mallory McMorrow, and Abdul El-Sayed all support the radical Green New Deal policies that would slash 35,000 jobs in Detroit,” said Samantha Cantrell, a regional press secretary for the National Republican Senatorial Committee. “They are not the champions of Michigan’s auto industry they are pretending to be.”
mburke@detroitnews.com
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Michigan Senate Democratic hopefuls pitch UAW workers at D.C. forum
Reporting by Melissa Nann Burke, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
