Republican Lisa Trombley, left, and Democratic state Rep. Betsy Coffia respond to questions at the Cherry Pie Debate on Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. | Izzy Ross/IPR News
This coverage is made possible in part through a partnership between IPR and Grist, a nonprofit environmental media organization.
The two candidates in a closely watched House race in northern Michigan laid out their positions as an audience ate pie and ice cream inside the gym at Glen Arbor Township Hall.
The 103rd House District encompasses Leelanau County, as well as parts of Grand Traverse and Benzie counties. The Cherry Pie Debate is presented by the Leelanau Enterprise, IPR and the League of Women Voters of Leelanau County.
Coffia and Trombley showed a stark contrast on things like climate change, gun control and abortion, while also addressing more local topics, like northern Michigan’s difficult housing market and the struggles of area cherry farmers.
Climate change
Last year, Michigan House Democrats passed the state’s new clean energy standard by razor thin margins. One of those votes came from Coffia, who in 2022 flipped that seat for the Democrats by a margin of 765 votes.
Coffia and Trombley have different approaches to climate change — and what to do about it.
“I’m probably not going to do much on this topic,” Trombley said. “Science can argue science. In my mind, a lot of that ends up being theoretical and hypothetical, and we have so many problems and challenges that we need to address that we can completely get to the root cause of lay in a plan of attack and make something happen, I think we ought to stay focused there.”
Scientists are in wide agreement that human-caused climate change is happening.
Trombley said the push for clean energy had to be balanced with practical considerations and said she opposes expensive measures to address climate change.
Things that are expensive — talk about Asheville being underwater,” Coffia countered, referencing the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, which devastated western North Carolina and several other states. (Climate change is contributing to dangerous hurricanes like Helene.)
She said it made financial sense to address the crisis now and that Michigan has the most clean energy jobs and workers in the Midwest.
“We are in the position now to draw down over $8 billion in federal infrastructure money because we adopted Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s MI Healthy Climate plan,” Coffia said. “We codified it, and what that does is move us in the direction of clean, carbon neutral energy as a state by 2040.”
Coffia praised local utilities, like Cherryland Electrical Co-op, which is hoping to be carbon-free even sooner by 2030.
Housing
The two candidates agreed broadly on the need to fix northern Michigan’s housing woes, even if they differ on how to do that. The region has been struggling with low housing availability and high costs.
Coffia said she wants to direct money from visitors back into local investments.
”There’s a bill package right now that I support that would allow us to tax our vacationers (and) use the funds from those short term rentals toward building housing for our permanent workforce, as well as pay for infrastructure and public safety,” she said.
Trombley said Lansing can’t solve the problem alone, but there are steps the state can take.
“The legislature could drive forward and work an expansion of some of the utilities in the infrastructure that would also then make whatever housing gets built on top of that that much more affordable,” Trombley said. “So there are ways to move forward and to move the needle, and there’s not one size fits all.”
Addressing gun violence
Mass shootings continue to happen in American schools and in other public places — including in Michigan.
Coffia and Trombley are far apart on what should be done about it, at least at the legislative level.
Coffia noted that shortly into her first term, a shooting happened just a few miles away from the Capitol, on the campus of Michigan State University. And she pointed to several measures state lawmakers passed afterward — from universal background checks and safe storage laws to a red flag laws that temporarily removes guns from people deemed a danger to themselves or others.
“I grew up in a hunting family. That’s part of how we fed ourselves in the winter, was venison,” Coffia said. “I’m an excellent shot with a pistol and I enjoy target shooting with my sheriff in Grand Traverse (County). And this is about reasonable protections for public safety and especially our children. There is more we can do.”
Coffia said she wants to look at additional action in the term ahead.
Trombley was much more reticent to see more laws about firearms.
“What can Lansing do? We can have 3,000 laws on the books. It’s not going to stop that one person who is compelled to create violence in any kind of circumstance,” Trombley said. “I know that’s a terrible thing to say and we don’t want to hear that, but at some point we have to understand what we can and cannot do. It’s imperative that we be cautious with additional laws because every law we put on the books, quite frankly, is an infringement on that Second Amendment.”