Democrat Clint St. Mosley challenges GOP Congresswoman Lisa McClain in conservative 9th District

Michigan’s 9th Congressional District is a reliably red area for the GOP. The district includes the thumb region and parts of northern metro Detroit.

Voters there strongly supported Donald Trump in 2020.

Incumbent Republican Congresswoman Lisa McClain won in the area by roughly 30 percentage points two years ago.

Now McClain is seeking a third term against Democrat Clint St. Mosley and third party challengers Kevin Vayko (Libertarian Party) and Jim Walkowicz (Working Class Party).

During an interview with WDET, St. Mosley argued that he understands the needs of the district in a way he claims his Republican opponent does not.

McClain did not immediately respond to repeated requests from WDET for an interview.

Listen: Democrat Clint St. Mosley discusses top priorities for Michigan’s 9th Congressional District

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Clint St. Mosley, Democratic candidate, Michigan 9^th Congressional District: As a small business owner and a father of twin boys, I think it’s really important to have representation and leadership that positively impacts us all. I didn’t feel that from my current representative. I was raised in a very middle-class environment. My father was a carpenter, drywaller and truck driver. My mom was a small business owner and a personal assistant. I grew up in public education, lived in several different states. I’ve had corporate experience, I’ve worked in large organizations, I’ve worked at small start-up companies. And for the past six years I’ve been a small business owner. I own an insurance agency in Sterling Heights. So from a professional standpoint and with my experience raising twin 7-year-old boys, I felt like all those experiences and interactions led me to this point.

Quinn Klinefelter, WDET News: Given that kind of a background, as you look across the district, what would you say are the major issues that you see facing voters there?

CSM: As we’re talking to people from Lake Orion up to Port Huron, No. 1 is the economy. That includes things like inflation, affordability, but also wages, right? People want to make sure that they have their share of what they work for and earn. The second thing that comes up frequently is health care access and affordability. How do we expand access to more people? And then, thirdly, reproductive rights. A lot of people continue to be concerned about that. It’s something that affects a lot of families. I personally, my wife and I, struggled with fertility and starting our family. So we were lucky to have access to fertility treatments. IUI is what we use, but it’s kind of similar to IVF. That access gave us twin boys. So, the economy, the kitchen table issues.

QK: If you were elected, you’d be one of 435 people in the U.S. House. How would you go about trying to attack some of those issues?

CSM: I think the first point is the opportunity economy. Making sure that we have living wages, that we really fight for policies so working families have access to good paying jobs, good benefits. And the way we approach that, in my opinion and from working with a lot of leaders, is one, access to unions. We see that in Michigan, higher wages, better benefits, better dignified retirements. Secondly is health care. I know a lot of Republicans and independents, and I work a lot with them, we have a shared goal of making sure that people are well. I think we have to look at the data. What is working from a cost standpoint, from a quality standpoint, from a customer experience standpoint and how we do more of that? I’ll work with a lot of people on Medicaid and Medicare, very popular programs. They do achieve a lot of what we want. But I believe that everyone deserves a basic level of health care and that people shouldn’t go bankrupt for getting sick. And I think those are things that we can work towards.

QK: People in the district typically have voted pretty heavily Republican. How are you as a Democrat going to convince them to vote otherwise?

CSM: The first thing I would say is we haven’t been a district for long. Redistricting changed up the district. What we look at when we’re talking to people is the issues. We were up in Huron County and I was talking to two people from Harbor Beach Medical Center. They talked a little bit about the affordability of care, about simplicity for their patients coming in and not understanding what’s covered, what’s not covered, getting a large surprise bill. I offered up some of my solutions, what I would propose and what I would vote for. And we had that shared agreement. Even when we found out that they’re Republican, I’m a Democrat, we had that common ground where someone said, “We talked about the issue, we talked about the solution, now we can move forward.” We can have a conversation. And that’s what we need to have more of, as many conversations with people as possible. We see some of the extremism, some of the things that get attention. But when I’m knocking on people’s doors, when I’m at the fair, people are kind, people are reasonable and they will talk to you about the issues. We can have shared differences and ways that we want to move forward. But as long as we’re having shared sets of facts, then we can have a conversation. And I would say 80%, 90% of the people that I talk to, whether it’s at their doorstep or out in the community, they have that same mentality. That’s what gives me optimism. When we get together, we have conversations and we talk about actual solutions, people are receptive and they’re open. So that’s what we have to do more of to move this district in a different direction. Continue to have conversations and continue to show results so people can actually feel that. Sometimes that takes time to actually affect change and for the policies to make its way to your doorstep. But then we can have progress.

The general election is taking place on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. For the latest election information, visit WDET’s Voter Guide at wdet.org/voterguide.