State Rep. Cam Cavitt of Cheboygan is seeking reelection to the state House, facing Democratic challenger Trina Borenstein, a member of the Alpena Housing Task Force.
“We look to what kind of future we’re going to leave for our grandkids, and, you know, I don’t want a bleak future,” Cavitt said.
The district runs through the Lake Huron shoreline, includes all of Presque Isle, Montmorency, Alpena and Alcona Counties, along with most of Cheboygan and Oscoda counties.
“I think that the the people are frustrated — I know I am — about the problems that we do have here being ignored,” Borenstein said.
Cavitt was first elected in 2022, defeating his Democratic opponent by 30 points.
Borenstein says she was motivated to join the race by a lack of housing access in the district and would support increasing the funding available for assistance programs.
“I don’t see it as an as a difficult problem to solve — I don’t think that there has been sufficient political will to put people in houses,” Borenstein said.
Cavitt says that state investments in construction industries can help spur development in Northern Michigan, saying that more trade workers are needed to meet the demand for housing inventory.
“I definitely think we could beef up training centers around the state,” he said. “That’s something that the state could be doing,”
The candidates weighed in on this summer’s Michigan Supreme Court decision that will raise the minimum wage and begin the phase-out of the state tipped wage early next year.
Borenstein says that she doesn’t anticipate businesses being significantly hurt by the change, while Cavitt says the current tip system allows hard workers to increase their earnings.
“A lot of people make their make their living with tipped wages, and that’s something a lot of people can excel at,” he said. “People understand that if you’re a good waitress, you get paid well. If you’re not a very good waitress, you don’t get paid as well.”
Borenstein says she supports workers earning a higher guaranteed wage, which may lead to employers having to change hiring practices.
“They will have to reconsider how they hire and and support their employees, and I don’t see that as a bad thing at all,” she said. “I think workers are the people who need the real protections, not the employers — who do need protections, but it’s the workers I’m mostly concerned about.”