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1. Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation?
- Pro-choice
2. Other or expanded principles
- AS an emergency physician, I strongly believe that a woman should have the freedom to make private health decisions with her physician and healthcare provider, without interference from the government or other third parties.
1. In order to balance the budget, do you support an income tax increase on any tax bracket?
- Yes
2. In order to balance the budget, do you support reducing defense spending?
- Yes
3. Other or expanded principles
- I believe wealthy corporations and billionaires should pay their fair share. Investing in our people, for the people, from healthcare for all and strong schools to healthy lakes and safe drinking water, must be priorities for the United States.
1. Do you support the regulation of indirect campaign contributions from corporations and unions?
- Yes
2. Other or expanded principles
- Dark money and out-of-control corporate campaign money is corrupting Congress, and encouraging too many career politicians in Washington to work for their campaign donors and not for the people they're supposed to represent.
1. Do you support federal spending as a means of promoting economic growth?
- Yes
2. Do you support lowering corporate taxes as a means of promoting economic growth?
- No
3. Other or expanded principles
- I believe wealthy corporations and billionaires should pay their fair share. Investing in our people, for the people, from healthcare for all and strong schools to healthy lakes and safe drinking water, must be priorities for the United States.
1. Do you support requiring states to adopt federal education standards?
- No
2. Other or expanded principles
- As a trustee at our local public school district (Spring Lake Public Schools) and a parent with three children in our public schools, I believe in local control of our public schools because every community is different and parents and educators must be allowed to impact education in ways that work best for their community.
1. Do you support government funding for the development of renewable energy (e.g. solar, wind, thermal)?
- Yes
2. Do you support the federal regulation of greenhouse gas emissions?
- Yes
3. Other or expanded principles
- As an emergency physician, I see firsthand the dangerous effects of pollution and contamination on people, from carbon pollution that harms children with asthma to poisoning as the result of contaminated water. To reduce harmful pollution and contamination, we must promote renewable energy, which will strengthen our energy independence and reduce costs for families already struggling with stagnant wages and increasing costs of living.
1. Do you generally support gun-control legislation?
- Yes
2. Other or expanded principles
- Gun violence kills nearly as many people as opioid overdoses, and I believe we must treat gun violence as a public health crisis and pass common-sense, responsible regulations to keep our children and communities safe. Washington politicians must put the safety of their families first, and stop doing the biding of the gun inustry lobby and the NRA.
1. Do you support repealing the 2010 Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare")?
- No
2. Other or expanded principles
- The Affordable Care Act is helping tens of millions of Americans previously uninsured to finally have healthcare. Washington politicians are doing everything they can to sabotage and undermine the ACA, including increasing out-of-pocket and prescription drug costs that benefit Big Insurance and Big Pharma. The ACA is an important first step toward universal healthcare through Medicare for all, which will help families stay healthy and give them the freedom to live their chosen lives.
1. Do you support the construction of a wall along the Mexican border?
- No
2. Do you support requiring immigrants who are unlawfully present to return to their country of origin before they are eligible for citizenship?
- Yes
3. Other or expanded principles
- Immigrants who are lawfully entering the United States, including families seeking asylum, should be allowed to apply for legal status as provided by law. I oppose separating children from their parents and indefinitely detaining children with their families.
1. Do you support the legalization of marijuana for recreational purposes?
- No
2. Other or expanded principles
- As a physician, I support reclassifying marijuana as a Schedule 1 drug under the Controlled Substances Act and conducting rigorous peer-reviewed research into its effectiveness as a medicine that could potentially manage a range of conditions from chronic pain to seizures.
1. Should the United States use military force in order to prevent governments hostile to the U.S. from possessing a nuclear weapon?
- No
2. Do you support increased American intervention in Middle Eastern conflicts beyond air support?
- No
3. Other or expanded principles
- The United States must end our constant state of war, approaching its second decade in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as covert operations elsewhere. These endless wars are inflicting a tremendous cost in money and lives that is harming our nation and fellow citizens at home and abroad. This is occurring at a time when the current administration is decimating our diplomatic capabilities and resources, which I support fully restoring and prioritizing over force.
Please explain in a total of 100 words or less, your top two or three priorities if elected. If they require additional funding for implementation, please explain how you would obtain this funding.
- Healthcare for all, through making wealthy corporations and billionaires pay their fair share.Stronger schools and affordable post-high school learning, by making wealthy corporations and billionaires pay their fair share.Ensuring the health and safety of our lakes and drinking water, by making corporate poluers pay for cleaning up their contamination.
By Rob Davidson My congressman, whom I'm challenging on Election Day, has been taking a lot of money from banks, including those that don't have any presence in our district. Curious, but otherwise unremarkable, given how banks, insurance companies, drug makers and their front groups are flooding Congress with enough cash to drown out the voice of the people. Who can keep track of all this? Yet, we must, more so now than ever. When I launched my campaign for Congress to represent citizens of the Second Congressional District in West Michigan, I made a few promises to myself, to my family and friends and to the citizens I met as I talked to people and knocked on doors. One of those promises is that I would not take corporate campaign money. To listen to people effectively and consistently, I had to make sure that they remain the foundation of my campaign -- and that meant rejecting any corporate political action committee, or PAC, money. Given the things I've said about fighting so all Americans have healthcare, I doubt the insurance industry and drug companies would cut a check for my campaign. I believe insurance companies shouldn't deny people who have preexisting conditions or sell junk insurance that covers nearly nothing. Drug companies, hungry for profits, shouldn't gouge patients. In return for my refusal to do what they want, they'll give money to my opponent instead, which they have. So, no corporate PAC money for me. Just small donations from ordinary folks -- $20 here, $35 there. These small contributions reflect the sense of hope in people -- Republicans, Democrats and independents -- that our politics can transcend money and that the people we send to Congress should listen to them, not the wealthy corporations and their high-priced lobbyists. Here's the reality: a congressional race on average can cost north of $1 million. Congressman Bill Huizenga is no slouch at raising money. To date, he's raised $1.5 million, according to campaign finance records, and more than $1 million of that comes from corporate PACs. Politicians and PACs are nothing new, and none of this would be noteworthy, except for a Fox Business report on Aug. 10 that shed light on the efforts of a front group funded by the nation's largest banks to weaken safeguards designed to prevent banks from taking the kinds of extreme financial risks that led to the 2008 Great Recession. Congressman Bill Huizenga signed a letter to help big Wall Street banks avoid oversight and allow them to take the same kinds of risks that led to the 2008 financial meltdown and taxpayer bailout. And he's getting hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign donations from those same Wall Street banks in return. We should be skeptical of free money, coincidences and ambitious politicians. And in the era of Citizens United and untraceable dark money, corporations are playing an even larger role in trying to influence politicians so they'll push policies that favor campaign donors. This political quid pro quo comes at a cost. When politicians take money from insurance companies and drug makers, they're expected to vote in support of their donors, even if that means taking healthcare away from 20 million Americans -- including tens of thousands here in West Michigan. When politicians take a total of $6.8 million from big banks this year alone and then pressure the Federal Reserve to sideline a safeguard that prevents banks from reckless behaviors that led to the Great Recession, voters are right to demand more transparency. No wonder voters are angry. Wall Street billionaires and big banks just got a nearly $2-trillion tax handout -- a giveaway that's blowing up our national budget and raising concerns that some politicians, including Huizenga, are sharpening their knives to slash Medicare and Social Security. With all that money changing hands and a lot of already wealthy people getting even richer, Michigan families who work hard and struggle from paycheck to paycheck are the ones in danger of getting left behind by a Congress that's too busy cashing campaign checks to listen to their own constituents. -- Dr. Rob Davidson is a Democratic candidate for Michigan's Second Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Tue 7:30 AM – 8:00 PM EST
Progressive Democratic Women's Caucus Muskegon, MI
