CLICK BELOW TO HEAR JACK HALL’S INTERVIEW WITH STATE REP. JENN HILL (D-MARQUETTE)
CLICK BELOW TO HEAR JACK HALL’S INTERVIEW WITH STATE SEN. ED MCBROOM (R-NORWAY)
Sunday’s announcement from President Joe Biden that he was dropping out of the 2024 presidential campaign was met with mixed reaction from Upper Peninsula lawmakers, and as you might expect, the response was predictable along party lines.
Biden, a Democrat, withdrew from the race in a post on the social media site “X”, formerly Twitter, at about 1:45 Sunday afternoon. He did not give an address to the nation, nor did he answer any questions. Biden’s staff suggested that there might be an address later this week, which we will broadcast on the Radio Results Network.
State representative Jenn Hill (D-Marquette) spoke with RRN News shortly after Sunday’s announcement from Biden that also included an endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) to take his spot on the top of the ticket.
“President Biden is a true patriot,” Hill said. “He has served his country for 50 years. His final act of service was to put the country ahead of himself. To be clear, he will serve the rest of his term this year. We are united in continuing the accomplishments of the Biden-Harris Administration.”
State senator Ed McBroom (R-Norway) also spoke with RRN News, and had a different take on the Sunday afternoon announcement.
“We knew this was coming for weeks now,” McBroom said. “It was pretty obvious. I don’t think anybody was shocked when it happened. If they were, they were lying to themselves. I have been getting these Democratic texts, saying ‘oh, sign this card thanking President Biden for all the tremendous stuff that he’s done.”
“The incredible job growth? Yeah, after the government closed down all of our jobs when COVID (2020-21) was happening,” McBroom continued. “They say, look at all the great stuff that he did, and then they say, oh, well, he’s great person. It’s a big nothing-sandwich. They make it sound like he accomplished so much, but and there’s actually so little to show for it.”
But Hill says that’s not true, and that there is plenty that Biden did for the Upper Peninsula during his time in office.
“First and foremost, the Soo Locks,” Hill said. “The reconstruction of the Soo Locks is happening under President Biden and Vice President Harris. It’s an incredible investment in the Soo Locks that people have been asking for for decades. It’s happening NOW, thanks to the Biden-Harris Administration. The price of insulin is capped at $35 a month. There’s water infrastructure improvements in Escanaba and Ishpeming. I just want to thank President Biden for his tremendous career of service and the work he has done.”
McBroom, however, shot back that the building of the new Soo Lock was initiated by former President Donald Trump during a visit to Michigan in 2020. News reports from that time back up McBroom’s argument, although the actual go-ahead for the Army Corps of Engineers project has moved forward under Biden.
“The Soo Locks was something that (Republican Congressman) Jack Bergman got going with Trump’s assistance,” McBroom said. “It’s just laughable. And what are they doing to us with this ‘green economy’ crap? Let’s just drive all of our industry over a cliff for electric vehicles, and battery, and solar, and wind? It’s just a recipe for disaster, and we see it in the inflation that we are facing.”
Hill says that she supports Harris taking over for Biden. But McBroom does not.
“It’s just laughable,” McBroom said. “I can’t believe Joe has endorsed her. This whole day is just a big laugh for me. And for the national media to finally realize that Joe is in this bad of shape? We should not let them get away with how they have been lying about this, and complicit in this charade for months, if not years.”
And what about Governor Gretchen Whitmer being put up for the presidential nomination instead? She has insisted that she wants to stay in Michigan and finish out her term here. But some on the national stage wants her to throw her hat in the ring.
“I appreciate that she’s going to be here for Michigan,” Hill said. “We are not done with the work that needs to be done here in Michigan. There’s a lot of important issues that we need to work on. I’m glad that she’s going to be here to help find solutions for people.”
But what if Whitmer did decide to run?
“Well, certainly, I think electing someone who has served as an attorney general, rather than someone who has been convicted of 34 felonies is an important distinction to make about the choices that we have in November,” Hill said, referring to former President Trump’s conviction in a “hush money” case with a former porn star in New York.
McBroom’s not sure whether Whitmer will run or not, knowing that she had insisted that she would not run for governor when she was state senator, but ultimately did run.
“When she said that, it was something that everyone knew wasn’t true,” McBroom said of Whitmer’s 2018 statements. “The presidency one? That’s really tough to say, because she’s doing a lot of the usual run-up-to-presidency things you’ll see.”
“Traveling around the country on a book tour. Doing the big news shows? That all signals presidential ambitions,” McBroom continued. “I don’t know if she’s playing it cool, or whether she’s playing it clever, or whether she’s just being straight up. What I can tell you is that she is a very, very skilled campaigner. She is a master at taking the comments that one person says and shape them in what she needs them to be.”
But going forward, what does a Harris presidential campaign mean?
“She is tremendously unpopular across the nation,” McBroom said. “She has demonstrated almost zero skill sets at administrating government, or understanding the needs of the people.”
Hill, however, disagrees with that assessment, laying out her best case for Harris.
“She was, in fact, the Alameda (Calif.) County District Attorney,” Hill said. “She opened that county’s first child sexual assault cases and created a Bureau of Children’s Justice as the California Attorney General. She has been a part of our foreign policy as Vice President and has tremendous experience there.”
“The Biden-Harris Administration restored our country to good standing, and is working with our allies to restore democracy across the globe,” Hill added. “And I’m looking forward to women’s rights, and the protection of women’s reproductive health. Government does not belong in the doctor’s office.”
Click the audio above to listen to our full interviews.
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