Chelsea Bossert/Daily Mining Gazette From left, Liz Hakola, Zebulon Featherly and Kyle Blomquist (D) (right) gather on the Hancock Community Hub stage for a candidate forum Wednesday.

Keweenaw Indivisible and Voters Not Politicians hosted a Meet The Candidates forum at the Hancock Community Hub Wednesday. Prospective candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives MI-01 district gathered to spread awareness of their campaigns and communicate their policy stances.

Those at the event were Democratic candidates Wayne Stiles and Kyle Blomquist, Independent candidate Zebulon Feathery, Republican candidate Justin Michal and Working Class Party candidate Liz Hakola. Incumbent U.S. Rep. Jack Bergman, R-Watersmeet, Republican candidate Matthew DenOtter and Democrat Callie Barr did not attend.

Moderator Nadija Packauskas said the questions asked to each candidate were determined prior to the event through ranked choice voting by participants who registered online. The topics discussed included the SAVE Act, AI data centers, bipartisanship, immigration, housing and the War in Iran.

The candidates were each given three minutes to answer the first four questions and two minutes for the last two questions. Additional 30 second to one minute comment period was also allocated after each round of questions to candidates for them to make any additional points.

Packauskas’s said her job during the forum was to keep the candidates on topic and to hold decorum while answers were given. After the event concluded she said she was pleased with the civility by both candidates and the audience. “My job as a moderator was to make them shine and to make their truth come out,” Packauskas said. “The most truth and hope that came out last night was the hope for America.”

Once the forum portion of the event concluded, half an hour was allocated to give candidates time to get off stage and meet with the audience. All five of the candidates present participated in this portion of the event.

Wayne Stiles said he believes his policies and stances will appeal to either side of the aisle as well as people who find themselves in the middle. “I’m running as a moderate democrat because I believe that’s the only path that leads to a path to victory for me and for our party,” he said. “I cannot run on a platform that totally alienates the whole base.”

Although Stiles calls Traverse City home, he spoke on how his interests and stances on environment and conservation align with voters in the UP. “I’m a huge proponent of our clean water, our forestry, the hundreds of thousands of miles of the beautiful coastline that we have,” he said. “I want to protect that for future generations.”

Michal who is running against two others for the Republican nomination, including four-time Jack Bergman — said he is campaigning on his authenticity and presence in the community. “I think one of the hardest things for candidates is that when you are authentic, there are constantly people who are trying to judge you or criticize you, and it forces individuals to kind of come into a shell,” he said. “Because authenticity allows you to be direct and honest.”

Michal is advocating for smaller communities to get out there and support causes they believe in. He says he has taken it upon himself to advocate for those communities by participating in events like the one Wednesday. “One of the things that I’ve done is specifically target areas that no one wants to go to,” he said. “I’m in the small local bars, or I’m in the small local businesses, or I’m with small groups of people to talk to them and encourage them to get out and be more active in their communities.”

Running as an independent candidate, 29-year old Featherlynspoke about how new ideas and perspectives need to be brought to Washington. “I think there’s a lot of discontent right now with both parties,” he said. “That’s why I decided to run as an independent myself.”

Born and raised in Houghton, but currently living in Traverse City, Featherly spoke about how AI and other new technological advancements championed by new generations could benefit this district. “I do fully believe that even as a somewhat rural area with these technological advancements, with these new ideas coming through, we can truly benefit everyone,” he said.

Kyle Blomquist, running for the Democratic nomination against Stiles and Barr, said he has not always considered himself a Democrat. He currently aims to convey his messaging as palatable to an audience who may not be Democrats or familiar with progressive policy. “If I could get an invite into every Republican room in this district, I would gladly go there because I need to represent them as well,” he said.

While the Working Class Party does not officially have a nominee for the MI-01 district yet, Hakola is hopeful to be its nominee. She said is running on a platform which looks at our current economic system as insufficient and could change for the better.

“The Working Class Party was formed because working-class interests are not fully represented by the two-party system,” she said. “The objectives are for the working class to take control of the processes for the work that they do. They know how to do all of the work. They make everything in this country run and there should be a switch in roles.”

Historically, third party candidates often have a hard time garnering wide support, but Hakola said she is offering voters an alternative that is neither Democrat nor Republican. “We are suggesting that you don’t have to settle. That we have — we offer something different and, it is way different,” she said. “We’ve got this two party system ingrained in our heads. And so we’re just saying, you know, take another look at us.”