Democrat Kristen McDonald Rivet, left, and Republican State Rep. Annette Glenn
The two candidates for the 35th State Senate District – Republican nominee Rep. Annette Glenn and Democratic nominee Kristen McDonald Rivet – provided written answers to several questions emailed to them by the Daily News.
Below are the questions, each followed by the answers from the two candidates.
If legislation that would effectively ban abortion in Michigan – in all forms and under all circumstances – came before you for a vote, would you vote to approve it? This requires a yes or no answer.
GLENN: No. Ending a pregnancy should obviously be allowed in the rare case it's necessary to save the mother’s life, and in all cases, we must ensure both prenatal children and their mothers receive needed care, before and after birth.
MCDONALD RIVET: No. The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe was unprecedented. For the first time in our nation’s history, the Supreme Court took away a federal constitutional right. For nearly 50 years, the Supreme Court recognized that our Constitution protects all Americans' freedom to make our own personal decisions about our own families. That recognition was right and just and continues to be supported by a majority of Americans. In the wake of this unprecedented loss of constitutional protections, I would support state legislation that would restore Roe’s standards for access and restore Americans’ freedom to decide pregnancy and abortion.
It’s possible that Michigan’s abortion law will change as guidelines move back to the states to decide. If Michigan’s law criminalizes abortion, would you support legislation that would allow police to arrest and prosecute mothers and abortion providers?
GLENN: I strongly oppose prosecution of pregnant mothers. Instead, we should ensure they are fully supported both before and after giving birth – with financial help, medical services, diapers, and other infant supplies and mental health and spiritual counseling if they choose. That’s why I’ve long supported pregnancy resource centers such as Life Clinic Community Resources – LifeClinic.org – which has offices in Bay, Midland and Saginaw counties.
MCDONALD RIVET: No. Roe was overturned, but the fate of Michigan’s 1931 abortion law is unknown. A preliminary injunction is protecting legal abortion here until Michigan’s Supreme Court weighs in on the 1931 ban, or until Michiganders vote on Proposal 3. If Prop. 3 is adopted, the freedom to obtain pregnancy care, including access to abortion prior to viability, would be guaranteed by the Michigan Constitution. Once established, this right would be protected from most legislative efforts to modify it. If Proposal 3 fails, pregnancy care and abortion decisions will be in the hands of our state courts and legislature.
With recent mass shootings in Oxford, Michigan, Uvalde, Texas, and elsewhere, many Michiganders are calling for gun control measures. Would you support or oppose universal background checks, assault weapon bans, high-capacity magazine bans, red flag laws or any other legislation that would limit the Second Amendment in Michigan? Explain your reasoning.
GLENN: I oppose passage of additional “gun control” laws that have only one practical effect: restricting the rights of law-abiding citizens. It’s simple common sense that only law-abiding citizens would obey so-called "gun control" laws. The criminal or mentally deranged person willing to break existing laws by using a gun to take someone's life will obviously ignore any new laws too, which means such laws would have no effect whatsoever on criminal activity. That's proven by the fact that gun crimes are the highest in Democrat-controlled cities that have the strictest gun control laws.
MCDONALD RIVET: I support background checks on all sales, with family carve-outs, to close Michigan’s loophole currently allowing felons and prohibited others to buy rifles and shotguns unchecked. I support giving all prosecutors jurisdiction to enforce federal prohibitions on convicted domestic abusers. I’d support Red Flag laws if drafted to ensure expedited due process, limit who could initiate judicial review, impose substantial penalties for false claims, and make court-ordered restrictions temporary. I support Michigan’s Concealed Pistol License. I’d carefully consider high-capacity magazines and assault weapons bills, and believe violence intervention programs and stopping illegal transactions would substantially reduce gun violence.
Should public school curriculum decisions fall solely to state education and local school officials? What if any input should parents have on what is taught in classrooms in areas such as history, government and science?
GLENN: State law provides: “It is the natural, fundamental right of parents to determine and direct the care, teaching and education of their children. The public schools of this state serve the needs of pupils by cooperating with the pupil’s parents to develop the pupil’s intellectual capabilities and vocational skills in a safe, positive environment.” After Michigan Democrats’ January Facebook post saying parents shouldn’t have any say in their children’s education, I introduced House Bill 5703 to require that current law be posted in every school office and school board meeting room. It passed the House 85-16 with strong bipartisan support.
MCDONALD RIVET: Currently, the state education department does not have any role in choosing curriculum. Appropriately, curriculum is the responsibility of local school boards. I believe that parents should play an active and engaged role through their local school boards.
Do you believe that critical race theory is being taught in Michigan’s element ary, middle and high schools? Please clearly answer yes or no and then explain your reasoning.
GLENN: Yes, Critical Race Theory is taught in at least some Michigan schools. ChalkBeat Detroit reported last November: “‘Our curriculum is deeply using Critical Race Theory, especially in social studies, but you’ll find it in English language arts and the other disciplines,’ said (Detroit Schools) Superintendent Nikolai Vitti. …Vitti reiterated the district embraces the basic tenets of CRT.”
I believe in equal opportunity for all and strongly agree with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., that all should be judged on character, not race or color. I oppose teaching children they’re inherently oppressors, or inherently oppressed, based solely on their race.
MCDONALD RIVET: I have raised six kids in our community and never encountered Critical Race Theory in our local school districts. Our students need to understand the full history of our country and our world in a developmentally appropriate way. Course work should never aim to instill shame but rather connect our past to our present in a manner that encourages honest examination and discussion.
Many Michiganders are dealing with higher costs at grocery stores and $5-a-gallon gas prices. What is one idea you would bring to Lansing to try to help Michigan residents trying to cope with rising inflation and gas prices?
GLENN: With a $7 billion surplus, lower taxes. As state representative, I’ve voted to suspend state gas tax six months, cut state income tax, triple Earned Income Tax Credit for middle and lower-income families, and enact a $500-per-child state income tax credit. I support repeal of the Pension Tax and voted to exempt up to $40,000 of retirement income from state income tax. Unfortunately for taxpayers, all these measures were vetoed.
I’ve introduced legislation to repeal the annual gas tax increase that started in 2022, indexed to inflation, part of a tax hike package passed in 2015.
MCDONALD RIVET: While gas prices across our district are closer to $4/ gallon at the time I received this questionnaire, I still support, and believe our legislators should approve, a pause in the gas tax. It’s not a new idea that’s needed so much as new leadership. GOP leadership won’t allow this bipartisan-backed gas tax pause to move forward because withholding a political win from Gov. Whitmer is more important to them than providing relief to Michiganders who really need it.
I also support the largest tax break for working families in Michigan’s history— an expanded Earned Income Tax Credit.
After the 2020 general election, the integrity of U.S elections became a debated issue. Michigan was one of the states that often was cited by critics as having problems. Do you believe that the 2020 election in Michigan resulted in fair and honest results? Or do you believe that a level of fraud occurred that resulted in an unfair and dishonest result?
GLENN: Polls consistently find one-third of Americans no longer have faith in the integrity of our elections. That’s why I voted for the election integrity reforms detailed in response to the next question. To restore voter confidence, such questions should be investigated – to the satisfaction of all Americans – by the new Republican Congress following this election. Restoring voters' faith in our elections is critical to the survival of our democracy.
MCDONALD RIVET: Yes, it was fair, up and down the ballot. Candidates have the right to pursue recounts, legal challenges and audits. They also have the democratic obligation to accept electoral defeat when scrutiny yields no evidence to question or overturn it. Michigan completed 250+ audits and the Republican-led Michigan Senate Oversight Committee spent months conducting their own investigation of the 2020 election. Their report aligned with audits and definitively stated they "found no evidence of widespread or systematic fraud." I agree with that finding and believe it’s subversive to democracy and the will of the voters to ignore that finding.
What type of election reform, if any, would you support as state senator?
GLENN: I support requiring a photo ID to vote, and as state representative, voted in favor of legislation to: prohibit connecting voting machines to the Internet and block private entities such as billionaire Mark Zuckerberg from accessing the voter file, to remove dead people from the voter file, to make it a felony to knowingly provide false information on an absentee application, and to require the Secretary of State to train local clerks how to lawfully verify absentee ballot signatures.
MCDONALD RIVET: I support the election reforms which Ballot Proposal 22-2 would enshrine in Michigan’s Constitution to make our voting more secure, modern, and accessible. These include nine days of in-person voting; more secure drop boxes; robust absentee ballot tracking; verification of voter identity; audit requirements; and ensuring election results are determined solely by votes cast by registered Michigan voters. I also support processing early vote ballots as they are received.
I support nonpartisan, fully-resourced election administration to prevent unfair, partisan skewing of our elections. I support a paper trail for every vote, so Michiganders can ensure their votes are counted.
Some states are considering, or have passed laws, banning transgender athletes from competing in sports with the gender they identify with. Would you support a similar bill in Michigan?
GLENN: Yes. Forty years ago, in high school, I was a state champion in the Mile Relay. I’m committed to protecting women and girls from unfair demands that males be allowed to compete in women’s and girls’ sports. Polls indicate my commitment to protect women’s and girls’ sports is overwhelmingly supported by most Americans, including strong majorities in both parties, and I led the House floor debate this year in support of adding language to our K-12 budget requiring only girls be allowed to participate in girls’ sports. K-12 funding, including that language protecting girls' sports, passed with bipartisan support.
MCDONALD RIVET: No. I believe that participation and competition eligibility decisions are best left to local school districts and sports governing boards.
A recent U.S. Supreme Court decision ruled in favor of a public high school football coach who led the team in Christian prayers on the field. Another decision allowed taxpayer money to be used to pay to send students to attend religious schools in Maine. How would your religious beliefs impact your decision-making when you consider proposed legislation? Do you think faith should play any role in the job of an elected official?
GLENN: Yes, faith and worldview impact a lawmaker's performance as an elected official. Voters value authenticity, and I’ve made clear my faith in Jesus Christ defines me, my worldview, the sense of duty I feel to fellow citizens and our community, and the moral values and standards by which I judge legislation. The old line, “You can’t legislate morality,” is inaccurate. Someone’s sense of morality is legislated every time a bill becomes law. My worldview is traditionally Christian, that we are all of equal value in the eyes of God, and that's how every citizen should be treated under the law.
MCDONALD RIVET: As your state senator, my primary obligation is to the people of this district and the State Constitution. As a practicing Catholic, it is impossible to fully separate my faith and lived experiences from my day-to-day decision making. Faith is often highly formative for how we think and act, just as are family-upbringing, education, and life-experiences.
As state senator, explain one idea you would bring to Lansing to improve mental health care for Michiganders.
GLENN: As state representative, I introduced legislation to make communications between human trafficking victims and mental health counselors inadmissible in court without the victim’s consent, protection we already give sexual assault and domestic violence victims. I also introduced legislation to revoke the medical license of individuals convicted of sexual assault under pretext of medical treatment. As House Appropriations K-12 Subcommittee vice-chair, I supported funding to give students immediate access to on-campus mental health counseling during the school day, and to combat a statewide shortage, I supported legislation to allow retired mental health professionals to resume working without losing pensions.
MCDONALD RIVET: There is no doubt that Michigan's mental health care system needs improvement. Addressing the gap in funding is critical to ensuring mental health services are readily available, especially for our youth. As the mom and stepmom of six kids, I know how hard the last few years have been on our children. I support expanded funding for schools to increase the number of social workers, nurses and counselors in our school buildings. This investment will allow parents, teachers, and mental health providers to increase early detection when students require extra support.
Michigan’s auto insurance reform has helped many save money on auto insurance, but it also has stripped away financial support for residents who have suffered catastrophic injuries in auto accidents. What can be done to provide necessary support for disabled crash survivors and yet keep insurance premiums more manageable for Michigan families?
GLENN: In fact, state law mandates that catastrophic accident victims continue to receive all the medical services they need. If anyone is not receiving needed services, please contact my legislative office at 517-373-1791 or annetteglenn@house.mi.gov so I can assist in ensuring state law is obeyed and necessary services are provided. The landmark auto insurance reform demanded by Michigan voters has saved drivers hundreds of dollars per vehicle on what used to be the highest auto insurance rates in the nation.
MCDONALD RIVET: We need to support disabled crash survivors. We have to find reasonable balance to keep premiums low and provide this assistance. It is absolutely imperative that we increase transparency around the MCCA funds that are meant to help crash survivors and determine how much surplus is actually in the accounts. Also, the legislature must address how we hold insurance companies accountable to drivers who pay their premiums and expect to get help they deserve in the unfortunate event an accident changes their entire life. Under the new system, the legislature created some unrealistic rate schedules that need to be revisited.
Dan Chalk was born in Midland and graduated from Midland High School in 1989 and from Adrian College in 1994. He had a six-year teaching career both overseas in the Peace Corps and in Michigan, which overlapped slightly with his journalism career. He has worked for the Midland Daily News since 1998.