The Democratic candidate for Michigan lieutenant governor, Garlin Gilchrist, wrapped up his three-day trip to the Upper Peninsula Monday with a stop in Escanaba. He did a meet-and-greet at the United Steelworkers Union Hall, and said that despite the fact that the Upper Peninsula is only three percent of the state’s population, he and Gubernatorial candidate Gretchen Whitmer want to hear our issues.
“As I’m going and meeting people in parts of the U-P, I’m seeing that people want to know that the leadership in Lansing is actually listening, respecting, and responding to them,” Gilchrist told RRN News. “People feel like the conversation in Michigan sometimes is too focused on other parts of the state.”
Gilchrist, a University of Michigan graduate and Detroit native, his been to the U-P only one other time: while he was in high school on a trip to Michigan Tech University. He says he wants to learn about what’s important up here.
“What we want to show by being here, and being present, is that every community in Michigan matters to Gretchen Whitmer and Garlin Gilchrist,” Gilchrist told RRN News. “ That’s why she visited all 83 counties in the primary, because she knew that every community needed to see and hear from their governor. And so as lieutenant governor, I feel the same way.”
Gilchrist says he that he has no problem working across party lines, noting that Whitmer worked with GOP Governor Rick Snyder (and U.P. State Sen. Tom Casperson, R-Escanaba) on passing Medicaid expansion in Michigan.
Gilchrist also supports more government transparency, including making the govenror’s office subject to Freedom of Information Act requests. That legislation was championed by former GOP state representative Ed McBroom (R-Norway), who is now running for the U.P. state senate seat.
Gilchrist’s three-day trip included stops in St. Ignace, Sault Ste. Marie, Marquette, and now, Escanaba.
