Rep. Bart Stupak (D)

The congressman from the 1st District is Bart Stupak, a Democrat and a “Yooper” from Menominee on the Wisconsin border, just a short jaunt from Green Bay. He was a police officer in Escanaba, then became a Michigan state trooper in 1974 and also earned a law degree. In 1984, he was injured in the line of duty and retired from the force. In 1988, he was elected to the Michigan House, and in 1990, he lost a race for the state Senate. Stupak got into the 1992 U.S. House race when incumbent Republican Bob Davis, who was caught up in the House bank scandal with 878 overdrafts, decided to drop out. In the general election, he beat Republican Philip Ruppe, who had represented the district from 1966 to 1978, 54%-44%.

Stupak’s voting record has been centrist for House Democrats, and usually more conservative than most of them on cultural issues. He is strongly opposed to abortion rights, and spoke out against them at the 1996 Democratic National Convention. In 2003, the House passed a bill he co-sponsored to prohibit cloning, including for the production of embryos intended for research, but the bill stalled in the Senate. In 2006, he supported President Bush’s veto of the bill to expand embryonic-stem-cell research, which uses excess embryos from in vitro fertilization. Stupak has paid fastidious attention to local issues. He claims to be the first elected official to oppose drilling for oil and natural gas under the Great Lakes, and he worked on the successful bill to permanently kill it in 2005. He has been a leading Democratic proponent of a measure to crack down on oil price-gouging. In 2007, he helped to organize a Congressional Water Caucus, which he hopes will devise a comprehensive water-use policy for the nation. The House defeated in June 2008 his proposal to approve land exchanges that would have permitted two Indian tribes in Michigan to open urban casinos away from their reservations in the UP.

On Mother’s Day 2000, Stupak suffered a personal tragedy, which for a time raised questions about his political future. His 17-year-old son B.J., a high school football player and class president, killed himself on the morning after his prom. In coping with the tragedy, Stupak and his wife, Laurie, focused on their son’s use of Accutane, a prescription drug for acne treatment that can have adverse psychological effects, including suicide attempts. Stupak held a hearing on the use of Accutane, and in December 2004, the Food and Drug Administration tightened restrictions on the drug, including creation of a mandatory registry for individuals who dispense or use it.

In 2007, Stupak took over as an aggressive chairman of the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee at Energy and Commerce, which has long been a platform for then-committee chairman Rep. John Dingell, a Democratic home-state ally. He held hearings on several Democratic staples, including gas price-gouging, energy futures trading, and FDA regulation. Under pressure from Stupak, the FDA in 2008 reversed its plan to close seven field offices, including one in Michigan. “You have this administration turning a blind eye to corporate America,” Stupak said.

In 2000, Stupak faced a vigorous challenge from Chuck Yob, a Republican national committeeman, who criticized Stupak for taking more than 80% of his campaign money from special-interest groups. The NRA, an influential force in his district, endorsed Yob. Stupak argued that voters favored commonsense gun laws, and voters seemed to be in no mood for controversy in light of Stupak’s family tragedy that year. He won 58%-40%, losing only one county. He hasn’t had a competitive race since. Republicans hope to win the seat if Stupak does not run, but there is little chance as long as he does. In 2008, Republicans ran state Rep. Tom Casperson. But 2008 was a tough year for Republicans in Michigan, and Casperson never elevated the contest to make his run a serious threat. Stupak won 65%-33%. Stupak has been mentioned as a candidate for governor in 2010. But he likely would face a challenge in gaining support of Detroit-area Democrats in a primary.