Mary Stevens/Daily Mining Gazette Houghton native Jake LaJeunesse a candidate for State Senate addresses a meeting of the Houghton County Democratic Party Wednesday.

HOUGHTON — Jake LaJeunesse, who was born and raised in Houghton, recently announced his campaign to take over State Senator Ed McBroom’s seat in the Michigan Senate. The Democrat has spent the last seven years teaching in New Zealand, and visited the Houghton County Democrats’ monthly meeting Wednesday to discuss his platform.

“Essentially, I’ve been in New Zealand watching America, realizing the only way that I’m gonna be able to come back to a country that I wanna be in is to make it myself.” LaJeunesse said.

LaJeunesse wanted to get involved in politics because of his background in writing and rhetoric.

“I feel like a lot of current Democrat campaigns are missing opportunities to reframe a failing talking point,” he said. One of LaJeunesse’s main goals is to bring a new healthcare system to Michigan.

“A lot of health insurance, for example, you can streamline that big time, which is going to save a lot of money. For example, the healthcare program in New Zealand, voters pay the equivalent of about $4,700 U.S. dollars per year…here in the U.S., that’s closer to $12,000,” LaJeunesse explained. “It’s not a socialized healthcare system, it’s a two-tiered system … you’re allowed to get private insurance …I broke my foot there in January and I paid a total of about $30 for the whole thing …I have lived under the system, it is phenomenal … I don’t see why anybody, right-wing or left-wing, would complain about that.”

LaJeunesse also discussed his economic policy, which includes a basic income for Michiganders.

“Chain it to the poverty level, make sure everybody in Michigan gets that much per year,” he explained. “You can pitch this easily to left-wing voters … but there are a lot of right-wing benefits. For instance, if they’re concerned about business, then it’s not a business handout, but it still makes sure that everybody in the state has enough to spend on their business …it’s still promoting free market economy.”

LaJeunesse added that he thinks this basic income will help reduce crime as well.

“It’ll make sure things like … people don’t resort to crime. I got robbed in New Zealand. It was miserable, but it was by someone who was very poor and probably needed the money. How do you benefit his rights against mine? Make sure he has enough that he doesn’t want to break into my house.”

LaJeunesse also addressed the teacher shortage that America has been facing for years.

“Universities hire teachers the way Walmart is hiring cashiers,” he said. “It’s all part-time so you don’t have to pay benefits…one of the reasons I want to propose this healthcare system is because it’s going to free employers from that obligation to pay healthcare. Then maybe they can start hiring full-time teachers again.”

LaJeunesse predicts this will increase teaching quality, as teachers and professors will face less stress about job security.

Finally, LaJeunesse commented on his goals for the Upper Peninsula, including the Keweenaw.

“Up here, our industry is our environment. We attract people to the U.P. through tourism … we’re already seeing people cancel their summer plans because of various fears of immigration or all that. One of the important things is to represent the U.P. appropriately in that realm of business…We are here because we’re pretty, we’re beautiful and people wanna see us, we’re the runway model of right-wing businesses.”

LaJeunesse added that he wants to “… put money in the pockets of Michiganders and send ’em to the U.P. for vacation,” as this will support the local economy.

“One thing I want to point out is, I don’t wanna come off like I’m pandering [to voters] ,” LaJeunesse concluded. “I am a U.P. citizen born and bred, whether I went away or not.