Sam Singh (D)

One of Singh’s main focuses is continuing his work on higher education reform. He said though the state has made incremental changes in making higher education a priority in the state budget, there is still work to be done.

He serves as vice chair of the House Higher Education Budget Committee. One of his goals in the committee is to invest directly in student aid.

“When the governor first came on board, he cut all public universities and a number of the scholarship programs by 15 percent,” Singh said. “It’s time to catch up and make sure all institutions and all programs are back to their pre-2011 level, and we have to now catch up for probably over a decade of underinvestment that occurred when we were in more difficult times."

Singh's work on issues effecting college students extends to those outside classroom with legislation recently signed into law that protects those who seek medical treatment for a prescription drug overdose or similar emergency from being charged with drug possession.

“We’re seeing a lot of drug overdoses that are resulting in death, and what I wanted to do is provide a mechanism to make it easier to call and get the medical attention they need for a friend,” Singh said.

Singh wants to make strides on energy policy for the state. He said he wants to continue focusing on growing renewable energy and energy efficiency within the state’s electric systems.

“I’ve been advocating for increasing those standards,” he said. “If we are to be competitive, we need to begin to take a look at more renewable energy and energy efficiency.”

George Nastas III (R)

If elected, Nastas’ main focus will be lowering taxes and improving Michigan’s economy. Nastas said he thinks the legislature should lower several different taxes.

“In 2017, the gas tax and vehicle registration tax is going to go up,” Nastas said. “I think that before they raised taxes, they could have shifted the 6 percent sales tax to fund a highway rather than shift these tax increases. ... I think we ought to eliminate the state income tax and real estate transfer taxes. There are many states that have no state income tax or business tax, like Wyoming. We need to shift towards consumption and services for taxation, in particular people who consume government services ought to pay for the services they consume.”

Nastas said he believes his free market beliefs will represent the 69th district well because he wants to see Michigan’s economy grow.

That economic growth is “key” to helping college students, he said. He believes that growing Michigan’s economy will give students more job opportunities and create higher paying jobs.

“(My contribution would) help to create a robust economy that presents graduates with many high compensation, interesting, challenging jobs that provide the opportunity for personal growth, to make a contribution and to create financial independence,” Nastas said via email.