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Meet The Candidates

Three Democrats vie for the chance to represent the 14th District in Congress.

Jackie Headapohl
I Managing Editor

V

oters in Michigan's 14th
Congressional District can choose
from three Democratic candidates
during the Aug. 5 primary: State Rep. Rudy
Hobbs, Southfield Mayor Brenda Lawrence
and former Congressman Hansen Clarke.
(There's a fourth candidate on the ballot,
Burgess "Dwight" Foster, but he is a political
unknown).
Whoever wins on Aug. 5 is likely to win
the congressional seat in the November
election as no Republican candidate has
managed to get 20 percent of the vote since
the district was created to be a Democratic
stronghold in 2012.
The gerrymandered and oddly shaped
14th District begins in the Grosse Pointes,
and then meanders through Hamtramck,
Southwest Detroit and some of Detroit's
poorest neighborhoods. It heads north
through Oak Park and Southfield and then
heads west to Farmington Hills, then north
again through parts of West Bloomfield,
before ending up in Pontiac.
The seat was put up for grabs when Rep.
Gary Peters, who beat both Lawrence and
Clarke in a race for the seat in 2012, decided
to run for the senate seat left open by the
retirement of U.S. Sen. Carl Levin.
Hobbs, now finishing his second term in
the state legislature, was the first to jump
into the race, earning the endorsement of
the powerful Levin family and many local
elected leaders. He also earned endorsements
from unions such as the UAW, AFSCME
Council 25, Michigan AFL-CIO and the
Michigan Education Association, as well as
gained the support of the business-friendly
Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce.
Most political insiders would have thought
that Lawrence, a longtime soldier for the
Democratic party, would have earned many
of those endorsements had Hobbs not beat
her to the punch.
Clarke was first elected to Congress in
2010, ousting Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick,
mother of disgraced Detroit Mayor Kwame
Kilpatrick, but redistricting cut short his
career. He was the last to announce his can-
didacy.
The three candidates say they like each
other, and "there are no issues we absolutely
disagree on:' Hobbs told political columnist
Jack Lessenberry.
Any one of the three candidates would be
a good representative of the district, which
is split between city and suburb, black and

36 July 24 • 2014

-4.

Rudy Hobbs

Brenda Lawrence

white, and encompasses a large majority of
Detroit's Jewish community
"The polls are volatile and show a close
race between Hansen Clarke and Brenda
Lawrence, with Rudy Hobbs a slim possibil-
ity as an underdog; Lessenberry said when
asked his thoughts on the race.
"Some think Brenda has an edge because
she is a woman. Others feel Hansen does
because of name recognition and he's from
Detroit and the other two are from the sub-
urbs:' he added.
"Hobbs has a lot of substance. I think he
might be most effective and is young enough
to build up some seniority for the district:'
Lessenberry said. "There's also another
problem in that many people feel Southfield
will fall apart swiftly without Brenda, who
has done a lot to hold it together. Hansen
is incredibly charming, but some question
his ability to be an effective advocate for the
district:'
Over the past few weeks, each of the
candidates paid a visit to the Jewish News'
offices in Southfield to talk with the edito-
rial staff about their views and priorities. All
are solid progressive Democrats and express
strong support for strengthening our region
economically, education, jobs, Medicare and
Social Security, mass transit, women's rights
and Israel.

RUDY HOBBS

Hobbs was raised on Detroit's east side and
moved to Southfield with his family as a teen
before heading to Michigan State University
He was a first-grade teacher in Detroit
when he first became interested in politics.
He began his political career by knock-
ing on doors for Southfield Mayor Brenda
Lawrence, whom he calls his "political
mom:' The Lawrence and Hobbs families are
longtime friends, and he says he called her
in May 2013 before he announced his can-
didacy for the 14th District, one month after
Rep. Gary Peters announced his decision to
run for the seat Sen. Carl Levin was vacating.

Hansen Clarke

Lawrence did not express an intention to run
for the open seat at that time.
Early in his career, Hobbs worked for
Congressman Sander Levin, starting at the
bottom and working his way up to district
director. He then went to work for Lt. Gov.
John Cherry as policy director, before being
elected to the State House in 2010, ascending
to the second-highest-ranking Democrat in
the Michigan House of Representatives.
Hobbs said his candidacy is about "mov-
ing the needle for working-class families:'
According to Hobbs, the "wins" to make
that a reality will come in the local com-
munity but, if elected, he plans to "use D.C.
as a partner to address issues, find funding
resources and build relationships to develop
programs for the region7
He is passionate about bringing trans-
portation and infrastructure dollars to the
region. "Mass transit is more than con-
necting people to jobs:' he said. "It creates
economic development along the routes and
creates an environment attractive to young
people:'
His top three issues are education, the
economy — "everyone wants to see a suc-
cessful transition for Detroit" — and mass
transit.
Hobbs has been to Israel twice, once with
the AJC and once with the Federation. "I
know the importance of Israel as a homeland
for the Jewish people," he said. If elected,
he wants to take regular trips with the
Congressional Black Caucus to get other leg-
islators passionate about Israel and "grow the
Black-Jewish relationship:'
He parts ways with President Obama's pol-
icies in the Middle East, particularly in Iraq,
where he says the U.S. left a political vacuum.
"The U.S. has to be committed long-term to
democracy," said Hobbs, who thinks the U.S.
needs to "re-engage" in the region.
He added that the U.S. "needs to keep its
foot on the neck of Iran" to eliminate the
threat of its nuclear program.
If elected, Hobbs said he will seek out

committee assignments on the Financial
Services Committee "to bring dollars to
the region for economic development:'
and the Transportation and Infrastructure
Committee because "Michigan never gets its
fair share of dollars back from D.C.," he said.
"That's one role the federal government can
play to move our region forward:'
He added that he knows name recognition
is his "largest obstacle:' He plans to spend the
remaining weeks of the campaign getting his
message out on broadcast TV and working
hard to get out the vote. He's also focused on
gaining the support of the Jewish commu-
nity, he said.
"I want to transform this region," he said.
"My generation has left in droves for more
opportunity and a better quality of life else-
where. I want that opportunity and quality
of life here — for ourselves and for future
generations:'

BRENDA LAWRENCE

Brenda Lawrence was born and raised in
Detroit and has been Southfield's mayor
since 2002. She lost a bid for Oakland County
executive in 2008 and lieutenant governor in
2010 as well as the nomination in the 2012
14th Congressional District race, which was
won by Gary Peters. She is president of the
National Association of Democratic Mayors.
Lawrence has won high respect for keep-
ing services in Southfield at a high level
despite the challenges of the Great Recession.
She's been a friend to business and labor and,
in the past, has earned those endorsements.
This time, those endorsements went to her
onetime protege Rudy Hobbs.
"Rudy started a year and a half before me'
Lawrence said. "Even with all of his blessings
from the Levins, I'm still leading in all the
polls. I've worked hard to gain a record that
people in this district can respect:'
Lawrence has earned the backing of major
women's groups, including Emily's list, and,
as a woman, she says she would bring a
unique focus to Washington, D.C. "The con-
versation changes when a woman sits at the
table' she said.
Her top priority? Education, along with
protecting seniors and women. "We all want
the best educations for our children. Head
Start has shown that regardless of economic
background that if you get a child early,
their percentage of education increases by
50 percent:' she said. "I would also work to
promote vocational education:'
Lawrence is also passionate about the
need for safe, reliable, regional mass transit.
"We've got to go a lot further than the Ml
rail. Mass transit is about getting people to