Meet the candidates for the 108th House seat
SAULT STE. MARIE — Two candidates are competing for the 108th district House seat in the upcoming Nov. 8 election.
Chris Lopez (Democrat) and David Prestin (Republican) are the two candidates that survived the primary election on Aug. 2.
The 108th district is located in all or parts of Mackinac, Schoolcraft, Delta, Luce, Menominee and Chippewa counties.
Legislative maps are available to view at www.michigan.gov/micrc.
All candidates were asked the same questions.
The Evening News reserved the right to edit responses for length, clarity and adherence to Associated Press style guidelines.
Chris Lopez (D)
Q: Tell us about yourself
A: I’m 38 years old and have lived in Escanaba since 2014, I am married with five kids ages 21, 18, 16, 16 and 11.
This is my first time running for elected office, but I've dealt with the military side of politics as a human intelligence team leader in Iraq. It was my job to get information about the enemy, so it was my job to find enemy sources and really engage with them and convince them to work with us, it's a lot like campaigning.
Q: Why do you want to run for public office?
A: I've wanted to get involved in politics since I got back from Iraq in 2008, having four young kids at home it wasn't really a priority at that time. I stopped working in 2014 to focus on my kids and being a better dad and husband.
Now that my kids are older and I see the way the community has been due to the candidates over the last couple of elections, and I'm just disappointed in our top leadership in Washington, D.C. and their failures are on full display and have been for quite some time. I want to be a candidate who sets a different example.
Q: What are your priorities if elected?
A: My main priorities are going to be to help people with some of this inflation so we need to have some tax reform and use some of the tax surplus to get back to the people who are most effected, especially small businesses.
The areas I've been campaigning in like Newberry, Michigan seem to have gotten hit the hardest, they used to have a vibrant downtown and when I went down there it was mostly closed up businesses, very little activity. It was all because of the mandates and shutdowns, I think that we need to help our citizens get through this inflation.
Q: Any other issues in the community that need to be addressed?
A: Mental health is a huge one, I think that we need to increase funding for mental health facilities and mental health caregivers. But more importantly, we need to add to our school curriculum, mental health and behavioral health classes that help our children get the lessons that they need that they're not getting at home on how to manage their emotions.
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David Prestin (R)
Q: Tell us about yourself
A: I am a husband of 22 years and the dedicated father of a 16-year-old daughter.
I was in the food and beverage industry for approximately 25 years, but we moved up here after we sold our business. We bought a shuttered truck stop that was about to enter bankruptcy back in 2007. We rebuilt that property and had it operating for 10 years. We sold that stop five years ago, during the time I owned it I had a parallel career in first response. I am a 12-year volunteer firefighter for the Cedarville volunteer fire department and I was a 10-year EMT with Mid-County Rescue Squad.
In that same time I joined the Alger Delta Electrical Cooperative Board of Directors. I've been serving in various roles (on the board) from interim manager to president (and) vice president on the cooperative board for the last nine years.
Right after selling the gas station I ran for county commissioner in Menominee County. I'm currently a county commissioner in Menominee County, I serve on the dual county Delta Menominee County Health Finance Board.
Q: Why do you want to run for public office?
A: Witnessing the pandemic, the ramifications of the pandemic, both to our children and our economy, I just felt a duty. When I see problems and issues develop I guess I just have a calling to serve.
Q: What are your priorities if elected?
A: Government overreach is one of my big priorities. I feel like the government is far, far too involved in our lives, both on local from township, county, municipality, entrepreneurial level. They've got their hands in our lives in every way, shape and form of how we operate, especially up here in the U.P.
Q: Any other issues in the community that need to be addressed?
A: Another one of my top priorities is energy, I completely understand the difficulties that we face in energy. I see the impending potential disaster coming with the shutdown of our baseload generation, the aggressive augmentation of renewables in their place. It's widely known that throughout the U.P. that it's just unsustainable up here.
My third and final priority is public safety. From problems like crime to mental health, drug abuse, we've got to reaffirm our officers, our prosecutors and our court systems.
— Contact Brendan Wiesner: BWiesner@Sooeveningnews.com
This article originally appeared on The Sault News: Q&A: Meet the candidates for the 108th House seat
