The 1st District covers the Upper Peninsula, as well as 20 counties in northern Michigan.

A new interview with Bergman could not be completed in time for publication. He spoke about his priorities for a possible fifth term during a Gazette interview in September. 

Callie Barr

Barr, who grew up in Traverse City, originally went on to become a teacher after obtaining her. After her husband came back from fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan with post-traumatic stress disorder and a traumatic brain injury, she became involved in advocating for military families, working with Blue Star Families and the Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregiving. Feeling like she “needed more tools in my toolbox” to be a voice for enlisted service members, she went back to school and received a law degree from the University of Michigan, working for several years as a litigation attorney, where her job included helping to build a program to give veterans free legal services.

Bergman

“During this time, we’ve had increasing polarization and extremism,” she said. “For me it just felt like we really needed someone to show up for us and for our district and to give voice.”

Barr said her priorities in office would include addressing income inequality, the housing crisis, access to health care in rural areas, mental health care treatment and protecting Medicare and Social Security. 

“We’ve got to take care of one another here … and we can support the economy while we do that, bring good jobs here,” she said. “I want my kids to be able to stay if they want to stay, be able to find work and employment. And we’ve got 21% of the world’s freshwater, so we need to be good stewards of our Great Lakes.”

She criticized Bergman for his vote against certifying the 2020 election results, saying “I have the absolute and utmost respect for our democracy and for the voices of folks in this district.”  She also took issue with the level of Bergman’s reimbursements, citing a recent analysis that he led the House with $44,000 under a new federal program that compensates members of Congress for food and lodging. 

She contrasted her views with Bergman’s vote against the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which contained funding to help modernize the Soo Locks and expand broadband internet into rural communities in the 1st District.

“To me, that’s where I really see a difference between someone who’s really just part of this extremist movement, and where I would not do that,” she said. “I really care about bringing jobs, money into our district to help support people who live and work here.”

Barr said she would like to return national abortion law to where it stood prior to the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade. Barr criticized legislation co-sponsored by Bergman that would impose criminal penalties on physicians who perform abortions where a “fetal heartbeat” is detected. The bill makes exceptions for cases where the mother’s life is at risk from physical complications, but not psychological or emotional conditions. Bergman has since said he would not support a national abortion ban.

Addressing the high cost of goods, Barr said she would continue to place an emphasis on restoring supply chains disrupted by the pandemic, as well as working to combat price-gouging by corporations.

Fixing the supply chains will also be part of addressing the lack of housing in the area, she said. Barr said she would also work to make sure builders can access flexible funding and capital to be able to build affordable residences.

Barr said more commitment from Congress would help in situations such as that closure, the loss of the hospital in Ontonagon, the U.S. Post Office’s attempt to downsize its center in Iron Mountain and the shutdown of a factory in Alpena with 200 manufacturing jobs.

“The one thing I can promise is that I’m going to show up every day,” she said. “No one will work harder to help folks in our community and I get it because I grew up here and I know these hurts, I know these pains.”

On guns, Barr said she favors “common-sense gun owner responsibility” including background checks and safe storage requirements. 

“My husband’s a combat vet, both my girls hunt, and my 13-year-old got a four-point last season,” she said. “She’s hoping that she can get an eight-point this year, and she doesn’t want to be murdered in middle school. We can do both things, and that’s the truth.”

Barr said voters should choose her because she will put the district and the country before her political party, stressing that “we’ve got to see each other and neighbors and Americans first.”

“I will show up, I will work hard, and I believe in who we are and who we can be,” she said. 

Jack Bergman

Bergman, of Watersmeet, is running for his fifth term in office. Prior to joining Congress, he served in the U.S. Marines, eventually reaching the rank of lieutenant general, and then 

During an interview in September, Bergman said voters should make their decision by looking at his performance over the previous eight years. 

‘Have I done what I said I would do?,” he said. “Have I listened to the constituents and have I been the representative who comes and sits down and talks to you, or has my representatives come and sit down and dialogued with you and find out what’s going on? Are we responsible to the constituents? And if the answer is yes, then I would say, ‘Well, how about, how about giving me another chance to continue to do what I’ve already done?'” 

Bergman said his top priorities would be related to his work on the Armed Services and Veterans Affairs committees. That includes recruiting and retention for the military, and continuing to provide increased benefits for veterans. He pointed to his 2022 support of the PACT Act, which provided benefits for veterans exposed to toxic chemicals such as Agent Orange, despite some conservative opposition.

” My priorities are still to stay on those committees to provide a military readiness capability so that our citizens are safe and secure,” he said. “That’s armed services, to include recruiting and retention, so that more men and women, boys and girls and their families or influences — their coaches, their pastors, whatever it happens to be — see some time in the military as a positive part of your experience, and feel that it would be good for them and be proud of it.”

On the Budget Committee, Bergman chairs the Oversight Task Force. He said the budgeting committee has spent the past two years informing itself on the government’s budgeting process to see where money is headed. Bergman said they would exercise oversights over improper payments, which the government made either in the wrong amount or in error. The federal Government Accountability Office estimated the amount at $236 billion for the 2023 fiscal year. 

“We’ve got to clean out our basement, and our garage, with a lot of stuff that’s growing mold down there, and a lot of it is government programs,” he said. 

He said the committee would not look at cutting Social Security or Medicare benefits, but wold look at waste and fraud within the programs. He also said he would work to shrink the control of the Department of Education, although some special needs and disabilities requirements would still be controlled federally, he said. A House bill introduced this summer would send education funding to the states in block grants, bypassing the DOE. 

“What they did was a job created to administer money that could have easily been administered by the states more effectively,” he said. 

In a letter to Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson Thursday, Bergman asked what steps the department is taking to ensure only citizens are voting after a Chinese student at the University of Michigan cast a ballot in the 2024 election. Because the votes are anonymized after they are cast, the ballot will be counted, officials said. 

The student is charged with perjury and a felony count of attempting to vote as an unauthorized elector. Attorney General Dana Nessel is also launching a parallel investigation. 

Studies have shown the rate of non-citizen voting to be rare. A Brennan Center for Justice survey after the 2016 election found 30 incidents of non-citizen voting in federal elections out of 23.5 million votes.

“Having instances of non-citizens voting, however isolated they may be, puts doubt into the minds of the millions of Michiganders who entrust you with ensuring our elections are secure, free, and fair, and that the results are valid,” Bergman said.