Carl Marlinga running against anti-abortion Rep. John James in 10th Congressional District
James won against Marlinga in the election for the same seat in 2022 by a 1,600-vote margin.
Michigan Democrats nominated former Macomb County prosecutor and former circuit court judge Carl Marlinga in their Aug. 6 primary to challenge Republican U.S. Rep. John James. The November race in the southeastern Michigan-based 10th Congressional District will be a rematch of the 2022 election, in which James prevailed 159,202 votes to 157,602.
On major policy issues, the two hold opposite views.
Abortion
In 2018, when he ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate, James tweeted: “I am 100% #ProLife because I believe life begins at conception and ends at a natural death. We will not stop fighting until we end abortion, for it is our sacred duty to protect the most vulnerable among us; the unborn.” In audio from a campaign event released by the Michigan Democratic Party that year, he compared abortion to genocide and backed overturning Roe v. Wade. While James said in April that he now sees abortion as a decided issue with the adoption of the 2022 state constitutional amendment protecting reproductive rights, he voted in 2023 for a spending bill that would have rolled back access to medication abortion in pharmacies and by mail along with several federal bills restricting reproductive rights.
The “Abortion Rights” page on Marlinga’s campaign website says: “I believe that government has no business interfering with a woman’s health care choices, including any choice that she may make regarding abortion. We must take our rage to Michigan’s ballot box in November and I pledge to codify the protections of Roe into federal law when I get to Washington. This is about freedom, rights, choice and privacy in all healthcare decisions.”
Economy and health care
“We need to strengthen our economy and stand up for families so that everybody has good healthcare, clean affordable drinking water, daycare for working mothers and a dependable transportation system,” Marlinga’s campaign issues page says. “We must strengthen Michigan’s clean energy while creating jobs for thousands and fueling economic growth.” A campaign spokesperson told the Michigan Independent in October 2023 that Marlinga opposes former President Donald Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which slashed tax rates for corporations and the wealthiest individuals and did little to help everyone else.
In 2020, James told the Christian Coalition that he wants to make permanent the individual tax rates under that law, which are currently set to expire in 2025. Such a move would mostly benefit the very rich and would add $4.6 trillion to the national debt over the first decade, the Congressional Budget Office said in May. He voted for a 2023 House bill that would have required drastic cuts to clean energy infrastructure and safety net programs and legislation to overturn President Joe Biden’s executive action to forgive student loan debt, which James called “unconstitutional and immoral.” Additionally, James posted and later deleted videos calling for repeal of the Affordable Care Act of 2010, commonly known as Obamacare, according to a 2019 Talking Points Memo report.
Education
James said during his 2018 campaign that he supported “all education options—public charter, and private,” according to a Detroit Free Press fact check. While his office did not respond to a Michigan Independent inquiry about whether that would include diverting public education funds to private and parochial schools, James has accepted thousands of dollars in campaign donations from former U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, a prominent school vouchers advocate. In January, he co-sponsored a resolution designating a National School Choice Week. In July, he spoke to and praised a right-wing group known for its attacks on public schools that teach about the history of race and racism and about LGBTQ+ people, posting on Facebook, “Thank you to Parents Defending Education for the work you all do to strengthen school choice, educational freedom and parents’ rights!”
During his 2022 campaign, Marlinga touted the endorsement of the Michigan Education Association, writing on social media, “As a strong supporter of public education’s mission to prepare children from all backgrounds to succeed, I am proud to have earned the Michigan Education Association endorsement and am even more proud of public school teachers and support staff who do so much for our children.” “Public education is the answer to everything,” Marlinga added.
Gun safety
Marlinga is running with the support of Moms Demand Action as an endorsed 2024 “Gun Sense Candidate.” “Being exposed to gun violence at an early age in life was the inspiration for my career choice,” he notes on his campaign issues page. “In order to combat the scourge of gun violence, I support Ethan’s Law (safe gun storage) and I fully support a ban on high powered semi-automatic weapons with large magazines (commonly known as assault weapons).”
In its endorsement of James in his 2020 Senate race, the National Rifle Association praised his opposition to universal background checks and a ban on semi-automatic weapons and high-capacity magazines. The group has spent more than $500,000 in support of James since 2018. In June 2023, James voted for a resolution to overturn a federal rule regulating guns with stabilizing braces, effectively converting less-regulated heavy pistols into short-barreled rifles, a kind of weapon often used in mass shootings.
