Democratic 10th Congressional Candidate Carl Marlinga sat down with me for a one-on-one interview as I profiled the two candidates for Michigan's 10th Congressional District.
The 10th District includes much of Macomb County, plus areas of Rochester and Rochester Hills.
In the interview, I asked what voters can expect as part of his platform.
“I was a prosecutor, judge; I depend on evidence. There is no evidence that there is anything insecure or fraudulent about our system," Marlinga said.
Watch my full interview with Carl Marlinga below
In a one-on-one interview from inside a campaign office in Sterling Heights, Marlinga, a retired judge and former prosecutor, is talking politics and the importance of the upcoming election.
He's facing incumbent Rep. John James, a rematch of the 2022 election that James won by just 1,600 votes.
Watch my interview with Rep. John James in the video below
“Top of the list for many voters is inflation and economy. What would you do to address those?”
“What we have to do is have alternatives to oil and gas, in order to bring the price of oil and gas down," Marlinga said. “It doesn’t matter how much you drill. In fact, if you drilled more, Venezuela and Saudi Arabia would drill less to keep more oil off the market.
“We have to end reliance on foreign suppliers, from China or someone else. We have to make things here," Marlinga added.
He says he supports the auto industry.
Here at home and abroad, he says he wants to help allies, including Israel and Ukraine, defend themselves, and he doesn't believe we are any safer if we don't.
“The U.S. is continuing to support Israel and Ukraine. Do you want to see more money spent to support those two countries?” I asked.
“We have to make sure Ukraine has the weapons, the aid and ability to defend itself," he said. “We have to be ready, willing and able to support our allies. That means allow Israel to defend itself against Iranian aggression.”
On women's rights, he wants voters to know this.
“You and nobody else have the right to determine what they should do with their body. IVF, abortion or whatever. Your body. These are your choices," he said.
On the border, Marlinga is expressing the crucial need to establish a better system. He says that should include a new way to tell those who legitimately need asylum apart from those simply looking to come over illegally.
He said existing cases also need to be tackles.
“For a time, maybe a year maybe two, the attorney general should appoint 8,000 temporary immigration law judges. A massive number, but there are a lot of retired judges like I am,” he said. “Take care of the backlog. Once we get the backlog done, that means that people with valid claims to stay here because you don’t want to send them back to be tortured and killed, they can stay here but the others who falsely claimed asylum with no right would be sent back.”
Closer to home, Marlinga feels more must be done to keep kids safe.
“MSU, Oxford. Rochester Hills. How do we prevent mass shootings?” I asked.
“Universal background checks. You don’t allow weapons to be sold at gun shows or private sales. Everybody has a background check and safe storage," he said. “We have to take the common sense gun regulation in Michigan and make it nationwide.”
Marlinga tells me he has full confidence in this election being run fairly and he's counting on voters to show up to the polls to make their voices heard.
“We have a very secure system. It’s accurate," he said.
As a husband and father, Marlinga said he's proud to have been elected to other offices in Macomb County, and believes he can truly make a difference in Washington.