Bishop, who is currently running for his third term in Congress, listed tax reform and constituent services as his two proudest achievements since being elected.

“I believe there’s merit in doing whatever you can to be a part of the future of your country, and serving in Congress was something I believed in doing and believed I could bring value,” Bishop said.

Elissa Slotkin, Bishop’s Democratic challenger, spent her professional career as a member of the intelligence community. She made the decision to go into intelligence after she was in New York on 9/11.

During her time in the Central Intelligence Agency, she did three tours in Iraq, serving under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. Bipartisanship is something Slotkin said she doesn’t see in our political discourse anymore. 

“Right now we have a leadership climate coming out of Washington — including our commander-in-chief — that is setting a tone and tenor that is dividing people instead of uniting them,” Slotkin said. “We cannot do what we need to do as a country to protect ourselves, to achieve great things, if we are divided.”

Slotkin said there was a difference between Bishop and herself in both style and substance. 

She noted Bishop made the decision to close an office in Lansing and does not host what he calls “coliseum-style” town halls. In response, she has promised to reopen an office in the Lansing area and says she would host a town hall session once every three months. 

Slotkin signed a letter earlier this year with more than 100 other Congressional candidates calling on Democratic leadership in Congress to make campaign finance reform a priority if the party takes back the House in November.

“No matter what issues you care about, if our politicians are bought and sold then they are not voting on behalf of the interests of their voters,” Slotkin said.

Because the 8th District includes all of MSU’s campus and most of Oakland University’s campus, Bishop and Slotkin frequently have brought up the issue of college affordability.

Bishop called student loan debt “one of the biggest anchors in our economy.”

“It’s preventing young people from experiencing the American dream. They graduate from college and, in many cases, they can’t find a job, yet they’re carrying debt,” Bishop said. “That means they don’t buy their first house, they don’t buy their first car, and unfortunately oftentimes they have to revert back to their family’s home.”

He says a solution requires universities to be more transparent with students and their families about graduation rates, the likelihood of finding a job after graduation in each major and the forecasted cost of attendance. 

Bishop said the best thing Congress can do is to ensure a strong economy so students can find a job after graduation and begin paying their debts.

Slotkin’s plan involves capping the interest rate for student loans at 2.5 percent and instituting a floor for what percentage of in-state tuition the state of Michigan must pay. 

“If you go back 50 years ago, the state of Michigan paid for 75 percent of in-state tuition at (the University of) Michigan or Michigan State, and a student paid 25 percent,” Slotkin said. “Students currently pay more than 75 percent, and the state pays barely 25 percent.”

Another issue in this race has been on-campus safety. Bishop said he was the first Congressperson to call for a federal hearing on the Nassar scandal and to speak on the floor of the House about it.

Communication is key to ensuring something like it doesn’t happen again, Bishop said.

Slotkin agreed and said the procedures for communication need to be updated and clearly reported to students. She said it can’t stop there, and that MSU is in need of a leadership change. 

“When your leadership becomes so distracting that it takes away from the mission of the organization you love, you need to do the right thing and resign,” Slotkin said.

Among other issues, voters in Michigan will decide the fate of a ballot proposal that would decriminalize recreational marijuana use in Michigan. Federal law would still prohibit its use.

Both candidates agreed that the issue should be left for states to decide, and Bishop said that he has introduced a bill to allow states the freedom to regulate it how they wish.