Coffee and Conversation with Chris
Candidate for Michigan's
38th Senate District
Saturday May 9th 1 P.M.

Fifth & Elm at The Orpheum Theater
426 Quincy St,
Hancock, MI 49930

The UP takes care of its own, and I'll be watching to make sure our communities get every dollar they're owed.

State of emergency declared for Marquette and Iron Counties (in addition to Menominee County seven days ago). Thank you to every first responder, road crew, and neighbor already out there helping. The declaration unlocks state resources and Section 19 funding for recovery.

Had a great time at the Michigan Democratic Party Nomination Convention. Thank you to all of the caucuses that allowed me to speak. Congratulations to the candidates who won their endorsements last night.

People here aren't food insecure because they made bad choices. They're food insecure because the system left them behind. I'll fight for real investment in food access, SNAP, mobile pantry infrastructure, and local food systems, because hunger doesn't wait for Lansing to notice us.

Alger County is classified by the USDA as a "low income, low access community,” where people have to drive at least ten miles to reach a fully stocked grocery store. Alger isn't alone. Western and central UP counties face the same reality.

Demand for charitable food in our region has increased 70.7% since 2021, driven by the end of pandemic-era SNAP benefits and a cost of living that keeps climbing while wages don't.

Michigan's overall food insecurity rate is 11.5%. In the Upper Peninsula, where every single county is rural, the food insecurity rate is 14%.

The consequences are concrete: nurses, teachers, and tradespeople leaving because there's nowhere to live on what they earn. I'll push for workforce housing tied to real affordability standards, local contractors, union labor, and land bank reform that actually moves properties into use.

That's a handout to developers dressed up as a policy solution. Michigan is short more than 141,000 homes statewide, with just one home built for every 14 new jobs created between 2014 and 2023.

A Marquette housing report found that rent has risen beyond what the average resident can afford, while new development has stalled.

The state awarded $15 million to build UP workforce housing, and some of those dollars went toward apartments renting at $2,900 a month.

UP officials are the most likely in Michigan to report insufficient single-family housing (59%) and multi-family housing (61%) in their communities. The solutions being offered aren't reaching people who actually need them.

We need more of it, not less, expanded LIHEAP, stronger weatherization reach into rural communities, and real accountability for utility companies that keep raising rates on people who have no alternatives. Nobody in the Upper Peninsula should be cold in their own home.

Meanwhile, federal heating assistance is under threat and weatherization programs barely reach rural households.

In the UP, heat isn't a comfort. It's survival. And right now, UP families are getting hit from every direction. Consumers Energy just received an 8.9% rate hike approved by the MPSC, the latest in a string of increases that have added nearly $800 million in annual revenue for the utility since 2020

Wisconsin and Maine have already closed this loophole. Michigan hasn't, because the Retailers Association and Chamber of Commerce keep blocking it. I'll keep pushing until it's done. Together, we build what's next.

In Marquette, the direct result was the UP's largest public library closing on Sundays. In Houghton, Walmart sought a $1.2 million tax refund while continuing to do millions in business. Your local government eats the difference, meaning less for roads, less for schools, less for fire and police.

Big box retailers have argued their operating stores should be assessed based on the sale prices of vacant, abandoned properties, and the Michigan Tax Tribunal has largely agreed, causing losses in revenue and increased costs for local UP governments.

The dark store loophole has cost Michigan municipalities an estimated $2 billion in lost tax revenue over recent decades Michigan House Democrats, and it hits the UP harder than almost anywhere else.

Had an amazing time at Flatiron Brewing in Manistique with the Schoolcraft Democrats. It was an awesome vibe and atmosphere and the beer was great.

In UP communities where family incomes are stretched thin and food deserts are real, school meals aren't a convenience. They're often the most reliable nutrition a child gets all day. I'll fight to protect this program and make sure no one in Lansing treats it as a line item to cut.

Since Michigan launched universal free school meals, more than 140,000 additional students started eating school-provided lunches daily. Student breakfast participation jumped nearly 26%. Bridge Michigan That's not a statistic, that's kids who were going hungry before this program existed.

I'll fight to make sure UP counties get their fair share and that we're not the last ones to see it. Around here, fixing the roads isn't a bumper sticker. It's how people get to work, get to the doctor, and get home safe. Together, we build what's next.

We have 15,000 square miles to maintain, brutal freeze-thaw cycles that destroy pavement faster than anywhere downstate, and local road commissions that have been underfunded for decades. When Lansing designs a road funding formula, it needs to account for what rural infrastructure actually costs.

Money was promised. It hasn't all arrived yet. And in the UP, we feel that gap in every pothole and washed-out county road.

Michigan passed new road funding last year, and that matters. But here's the catch: road agencies actually saw a 15% drop in funding distributions right after the package passed because of timing gaps and bureaucratic delays.

The snow is melting. And what it's leaving behind, every UP driver already knows.

Lansing's response has been a downstate-focused economic development fight that leaves UP entrepreneurs on the outside looking in. I'll fight to change that. Together, we build what's next.

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while shortages in housing and healthcare limit the ability to attract and retain residents Upjohn Research, the exact employees small businesses need to survive.