Incumbent Jack Bergman, representative for the First Congressional District, is being challenged by Democratic nominee Callie Barr.
Bergman is a retired Marine Corps lieutenant. He currently serves on the House Veterans Affairs, Budget and Armed Services Committee.
Barr is an educator, lawyer, military-family advocate, mom of two young girls, and a fifthgeneration northern Michigander who graduated from Cheboygan High School and the University of Michigan Law School.
We asked candidates three questions and to keep their response to 75 words or less.
Here are their responses:
1.) Under a new program, about 300 members of Congress, Democrats and Republicans, were reimbursed for about $5.8 million in lodging and food costs they incurred in 2023.
What are your thoughts on the program and would you use it, if elected?
Bergman: The program is intended to help members who have to pay rent in Washington, DC, while also maintaining a residence back home. Instead of raising members’ salaries across the board, this program more wisely allocates money to those costs incurred by the demands of the job.
Barr: This tax-payerfunded program is ripe for abuse because it does not require receipts for reimbursement, resulting in a complete lack of transparency. This is deeply troubling. Case in point, our current Representative, Jack Bergman, was the top spender of this program, paying himself an extra $44,000 (on top of his $174,000 salary). Instead of fighting to lower costs, he’s lining his pockets with the hard earned taxes paid by struggling families. No thank you.
2.) The House of Representatives has been fraught with leadership challenges this year with the removal of the speaker and threatened removal of others. What needs to be done to right this ship?
Bergman: Republicans have one of the slimmest majorities in the House of Representatives’ history, and Republicans are not all from the same walks of life. Disagreement is inevitable and rigorous debate is healthy for our Republic - it’s how our Nation was founded. It’s up to each of us to understand bipartisanship isn’t a dirty word and that we’re all Americans before we belong to any party. It’s what I work towards every day in Congress.
Barr: We need to elect leaders who are willing to put country over party, who are more concerned about their constituents than their own celebrity, who want to legislate not dominate, and who are willing to do what is right, not what is easy. Getting there will mean disincentivizing the draw of partisan politics for political gain, which includes supporting efforts for bipartisanship, campaign finance reform, and an end to gerrymandering.
3.) A bipartisan immigration plan was not approved this year, with many blaming former President Trump. What do you think needs to happen to get a bipartisan plan in place to begin fixing a decades-long failing immigration policy?
Bergman: Let’s be perfectly clear - the border is a crisis because the Biden-Harris Administration dismantled the Trump Administration’s border policies on day one. A bipartisan border bill wasn’t achieved because the Senate declined to take up HR 2, which House Republicans passed. The other so-called “bipartisan border bill” was chock-full of harmful measures that would have extended and codified the crisis. H.R. 2 was – and is – a solution to immediately securing our border.
Barr: For a bipartisan plan, we should encourage bipartisanship and that means electing folks who aren’t working to divide us for political gain. Bergman’s on the bullhorn about the border, but lacks the moral courage to go from issue spotting to issue solving. And, it’s not just immigration. For instance, the Bipartisan Problem-Solver’s Caucus works to address issues facing the nation. Bergman has shown zero interest in this. Fortunately, that’s a problem we can solve. Vote.
