McBroom and Braamse compete for 38th State Senate District

MARQUETTE, Mich. (WLUC) - Incumbent Republican Ed McBroom will square off against Democratic challenger John Braamse on Nov. 8.

McBroom has served as the 38th State District Senator for the last four years. Before that, he was the state representative of the 108th District for six years.

“I’m a dairy farmer in the south-central U.P and I graduated from NMU in music and social studies education,” McBroom said.

Meanwhile, John Braamse is a 5th generation Yooper. He was in the army for 25 years, including a combat tour in the Persian Gulf.

“I’ve seen a lot of what good policies can do and the lack of investment in strong infrastructure and healthcare, education. It makes a big difference in how people have a better quality of life,” Braamse said.

Brammse supports affordable health care, expanded voting rights, and proposal three which would ensure reproductive freedom to Michigan residents.

“Also, I believe the minimum wage should be a living wage, so I support expanding the minimum wage to $15 an hour,” Braamse said.

McBroom said he is pro-life and advocates for lowering the cost of living, he also continues to support government reform.

“I have introduced a number of bills over the number of years. we still haven’t gotten a governor that would support those in their final product. I hope this next term might finally be the moment that we get the governor and legislator on board for freedom of information and more transparency to the public,” McBroom said.

Both candidates support increased spending on public education

“Especially maintaining local control and returning control over curriculum especially career-based curriculum to our local schools,” McBroom said.

“I think that the future of our state and economy really rely on the next generation and that’s why I strongly believe we should invest more money and resources into public education,” Braamse said.

All of the U.P. - except eastern sections of Chippewa and Mackinac counties - are in the 38th State Senate District

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