Michigan Speaker of the House Joe Tate (D-Detroit) visited Munising on Saturday, July 15 as part of a tour of the Central Upper Peninsula. He was joined by local Representative Jenn Hill (D-Marquette) and spoke to roughly 50 people at the Munising School Public Library for the community event.

“Being in the U.P. provides an opportunity to better understand the needs of those residents. What is most striking to me is that while each region of Michigan is unique, the issues I hear about from locals are consistent across the state. Michiganders want many of the same things: safe neighborhoods, good paying jobs, affordable housing and to see state tax dollars spent in ways they meet the needs of their local communities,” Tate said.

Tate, a U.S. Marine and former collegiate and professional football player in his third term as a state representative, spent most of the tour in Marquette discussing with local business, education and tribal leaders as part of the Energy Reliability, Resilience and Accountability Task Force Listening Tour. Abraham Aiyash (D-Hamtramck), John Fitzgerald (D-Wyoming) and Helena Scott (D-Detroit) also spoke in Marquette as part of the tour, but did not join Tate and Hill in Munising.

The Munising event was held as a coffee hour, allowing Tate and Hill to address issues brought up by locals. The first was firearm legislation, with Democrats supporting more gun control efforts while Republican-led county governments in the U.P. supported Second Amendment sanctuary resolutions.

“These efforts have been enacted in other states, and it’s been successful,” Tate said. “This is something we can do to help with gun violence.”

The speaker left before the event concluded due to travel schedule, but Hill stayed and addressed other concerns from the crowd regarding housing shortages, dark store tax issues and climate concerns.

Hill said that the event was a great way for people to express issues with their elected officials and state leaders.

“I’m so excited to meet with so many community members in Alger County and that we were able to bring someone like Joe Tate to Munising,” Hill said. “Events like this to connect is something we can all appreciate.”