By ALEXANDRIA BOURNONVILLE, The Mining Journal

MARQUETTE — Profiles of candidates in the House of Representatives 109th District seat are included below to inform voters in today’s primary.

The 109th District includes Alger, Baraga and Marquette counties as well as parts of Dickinson County.

Quotes were sourced directly from each candidate unless otherwise stated. Information concerning the candidate’s background, priorities and stances were found on their campaign website and/or Facebook page.

BURT MASON

Republican candidate Burt Mason has a background in business development with national and international sales manager positions at Hurco, Sony and Hexagon.

Mason serves the Baraga County Chamber of Commerce and the Baraga County Memorial Hospital Board as well as chairs two non-profits, Friends of the Huron Mountains and the Huron Island Lighthouse Preservation Association.

“We need common-sense energy policies in Michigan,” Mason said. “The recent energy bills drive up cost, puts a strain on businesses and took away local zoning rights. The increasing cost of energy is a major driver in inflation.”

Additionally in energy, he supports the building of Line 5 and other industrial projects while preserving and respecting the wildlife and nature of the U.P. and cites the Eagle Mine as an example of how mining can be safely performed with minimal impact on the environment.

“The housing shortage limits employment in the U.P. and must be addressed,” he continued. “We need improved health care. We shouldn’t have to leave the U.P. for serious health issues.”

“And we need more support for our first responders, prison guards and veterans,” he added. “My business development background gives me the insight and negotiating skills necessary to address these issues. Let’s stop over-regulating and mandating so we can rejuvenate our economy.”

JENN HILL

Incumbent Democratic candidate Jenn Hill has been serving the 109th District for the last year after being elected in 2023. Prior to that, she has worked at 5 Lakes Energy and served on the Citizens Utility Board of Michigan, Groundwork USA, the Michigan Trails and Greenways Alliance as well as the Marquette City Commission.

“Hometowns across the Upper Peninsula have been unfairly burdened by the dark store loophole for far too long, causing devastating public revenue losses and forcing cuts to local services,” Hill said. “I was proud to sponsor a bipartisan bill package, along with fellow Yooper Rep. Greg Markkanen and downstate Reps. Julie Brixie and Mai Xiong, to ensure that big-box retailers pay their fair share of property taxes, just like every other business and homeowner. Other top issues are accessible housing for all stages of life, water affordability, and reforming our unemployment insurance that has not been changed since the 1990s.”

While in office, Hill has also voted to invest over $2 billion to upgrade drinking water facilities and repeal the retirement tax.

She has received Legislator of the Year from the Michigan Energy Innovation Business Council and currently serves on the following committees: Energy, Communications and Technology; Higher Education; Local Government and Municipal Finance; and Majority Vice Chair of Natural Resources, Environment, Tourism and Outdoor Recreation.

KARL BOHNAK

Republican candidate Karl Bohnak is a Marquette resident, published author and former chief meteorologist of 40 years at WLUC-TV6.

“I believe reliable, affordable energy is our key issue here in the 109th District. We went from coal-fired electric generation to natural gas. Any further transition to other energy sources must take into account reliability and affordability. Our way of life in the 109th District is dependent on these two essential aspects,” Bohnak said. “If elected, I will work with the rest of the U.P. legislative contingent to stand against radical Lansing politicians and bureaucrats who want to cover the U.P. with acres of unreliable, intermittent wind and solar energy projects.”

For education, he is “alarmed” by Michigan’s consistently low ranking in the U.S. and believes parental advocacy and input are important for a student to thrive and succeed.

He is an opponent of local and national red-flag laws and is a supporter of law enforcement.

MARGARET BRUMM

Democratic candidate Margaret Brumm is a resident of Marquette with family ties to the area. She has worked as a patent attorney, currently works as a contingent assistant professor at Northern Michigan University and serves on the Marquette Board of Light and Power.

” … the people of the 109th District need a representative who will represent them and obtain for them goods and services from Lansing that are needed in the 109th District and that our state taxes should be paying for,” Brumm said. “When elected, I will request an audit be made of all State Agencies identifying the sources of their income and where their money is being spent within the State. Any agency that is not supplying adequate goods and services to people of the Upper Peninsula will be tasked with reprioritizing its distribution of goods and services to make sure the people of the 109th are being treated fairly.”

Brumm supports the acquisition of any and all grant money from federal programs that will raise compensation for Michigan teachers as well as student loan forgiveness for school staff and quality, free preschool institutions for children. She also suggests an adjustment to the State Personal Income Tax Rate so it lowers the longer the person resides within Michigan.

MELODY WAGNER

Republican candidate Melody Wagner is a former dairy farmer and police officer who lives in Forsyth Township. Previously, Wagner worked in the Luce and Schoolcraft Counties in 2018 and 2020 for the former 109th District, now part of the new 108th District due to redistricting. Presently, she serves as a substitute teacher in several school districts and volunteers in her community and ministry with youth and adults.

In a statement, Wagner said the district’s most pressing issue is the “dysfunction and corruption over decades within our state government by both parties” that has caused a shift of power from the people of Michigan to “unaccountable, non-transparent and unethical representatives” like “lobbyists, lawyers and appointed and controlled bureaucrats.”

“I would promote further education into our August ‘open’ state primary elections to assure that accountable, ethical and transparent representatives are elected to pass effective state legislation in Lansing to serve the residents and make it possible for us to thrive again,” she said.

Wagner further advocated for equal representation in elections law that requires an even number of Democrat and Republican election inspectors as well as a mandated time period after a state representative’s service in Lansing and before their future employment with a lobbyist, lawyer or bureaucratic position.

Her other goals include: supporting a federal investigation into the Dark Store tax loophole in Michigan, bringing light to unsafe housing, ending “corrupt” Unlimited PIP Car Insurance, returning municipal monies to local law enforcement to allow 24-hour sheriff patrols and requiring Michigan’s Home Inspectors to be licensed, among other issues.

RANDY GIRARD

Democratic nominee Randy Girard is a yooper born in Huntsville, Ontario in Canada and a U.S. resident as of 1974. Since then, he has served in hospital and school district management as well as township, county and federal government operations.

He serves as a commissioner on the Marquette County Board of Road Commissioners, the Marquette Community Federal Credit Union Board and the Marquette County YMCA Board.

In a statement to The Mining Journal, Girard said each county in the district has its own unique issues of great local importance but that energy bills are concerning to all.

“The bills as written remove years of sound land use planning and development determinations from the constituents through their local elected officials and shifts that authority to un-elected officials in Lansing,” he said. “Further, the bills establish mandates and target energy access directives without constituent input as a ballot question. If elected, I will work diligently with the 107th, 108th (and) 110th representatives and our senator to develop reasonable alternative proposals addressing the impacts upon the U.P. economy, culture, history and future.”

Girard supports a retention of local control over environment and recognition of established, long-term protective plans and zoning ordinances.

Expansion of housing, rehabilitation of existing housing and local control of zoning and land use are crucial to addressing the current housing shortage, according to Girard.