Michigan — 13th District

DETROIT, MI - Five candidates are competing to represent Michigan’s 13th Congressional District in the U.S. House in the Nov. 3 election.

The candidates are Democrat Donavan McKinney, Republican T.P. Nykoriak, U.S. Taxpayers Party candidate Chris Dardzinski, Green Party candidate Raelyn Light and Working Class Party candidate Simone R. Coleman.

MLive has partnered with the nonpartisan League of Women Voters of Michigan Education Fund to provide the VOTE411 voter guide. McKinney, Nykoriak, Dardzinski and Coleman participated in the questionnaire. Light did not submit responses.

Candidates were asked about health care, the economy, energy and the environment, and immigration.

All responses in the voter guide were submitted directly by the candidates and have not been edited by the League of Women Voters, except for necessary cuts if a reply exceeded character limitations.

Spelling and grammar were not corrected. Publication of candidate statements and opinions is solely in the interest of public service and should not be considered an endorsement. The League never supports or opposes any candidates or political parties.

Here are the candidates’ responses:

Donavan McKinney, Democrat

Occupation / Current Position: State Legislator

Education: Bachelor’s Degree, Public Policy from the University of Michigan’s Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy

HEALTH CARE: What specific steps will you take in Congress to address healthcare affordability, access, and quality for the people you represent?

I will fight to guarantee universal coverage, lower prescription drug costs, and expand investment in community health centers and mental health services. Healthcare must be a right for every American, not a privilege for the wealthy few. Which is why I support Medicare for All. Healthcare is a human right, not a commodity. A single-payer system would guarantee universal coverage, drive down costs, and remove the profit motive from basic care. I believe no one in America should go bankrupt simply because they got sick, and Medicare for All is the clearest path to making that vision a reality.

ECONOMY: What policy initiatives do you support for residents to earn a living wage and address the overall question of affordability across Michigan?

I believe in the radical idea that anyone working full-time should be able to afford a home, put food on the table, see a doctor, care for their kids, and retire with dignity. That’s why I’m fighting to raise the federal minimum wage to a true living wage, strengthen our unions, and invest in affordable housing and public infrastructure that puts people to work in good-paying union jobs.

ENVIRONMENT & ENERGY: How would you approach ensuring energy reliability, consumer affordability, and environmental protection in Michigan?

Michigan needs an energy approach where reliability, affordability, and environmental protection work together. That means modernizing the grid and investing in storage to end the outages that continue to cost us time and money every year. It means diversifying our energy mix with wind and solar, pushing for stronger oversight of rate hikes, expanding low-income energy assistance, and growing programs that lower bills over time, like community solar.

IMMIGRATION: What is your position on due process, First Amendment, and Fourth Amendment rights for all Michigan residents, including noncitizens, and what changes, if any, would you support?

Everyone in the United States, citizens and noncitizens, are entitled to due process and protection under the Bill of Rights.

T. P. Nykoriak, Republican

Occupation / Current Position: Congressional Candidate

Education: Masters Law Diplomacy

HEALTH CARE: What specific steps will you take in Congress to address healthcare affordability, access, and quality for the people you represent?

Candidate has not yet responded.

ECONOMY: What policy initiatives do you support for residents to earn a living wage and address the overall question of affordability across Michigan?

Healthcare is personal. In Congress, I will fight for affordability, access, and accountability. I will protect Medicare and Medicaid while combating fraud, waste, abuse, and administrative inefficiency. I will work to lower prescription drug costs, reduce bureaucratic barriers that delay medically necessary treatment, and improve access to doctors and specialists. Patients—not bureaucracy—must come first. I will fight for veterans’ healthcare, including faster VA care, mental health services, PTSD treatment, and reduced wait times.

ENVIRONMENT & ENERGY: How would you approach ensuring energy reliability, consumer affordability, and environmental protection in Michigan?

Michigan needs an energy policy that keeps the lights on, protects families from rising utility bills, and safeguards our air, land, and water. In Congress, I will support reliable American energy production, strengthen the electric grid, and demand accountability from utilities and federal regulators. I support an all-of-the-above approach that includes natural gas, nuclear, and renewable energy. Environmental rules should be practical, science-based, and focused on measurable results without destroying jobs or forcing unaffordable costs onto Michigan families, seniors, and businesses today..

IMMIGRATION: What is your position on due process, First Amendment, and Fourth Amendment rights for all Michigan residents, including noncitizens, and what changes, if any, would you support?

The Constitution protects fundamental rights, and government must respect due process, free speech, and protections against unreasonable searches and seizures. I support strong border security and enforcement of our immigration laws, but enforcement must be lawful and accountable. In Congress, I will work to ensure federal immigration and Border Patrol officers respect constitutional rights and cannot hide behind qualified immunity when they knowingly violate them. We can secure our borders, enforce the law, protect Michigan communities, and uphold constitutional rights at the same time.

Chris Dardzinski, U.S. Taxpayers Party

Occupation / Current Position: Owner: Lincoln Towne LLC

Education: HFCC: 1988 Graduate, 2-year degree: Politics, architecture, engineering, journalism

Qualifications and Experience: 31 years in international trade, 4 years on city council, operations manager, business owner.

HEALTH CARE: What specific steps will you take in Congress to address healthcare affordability, access, and quality for the people you represent?

Index Medicare and Medicaid for COLA and core-inflation. Drop all limitations for selling insurance across state lines. Pass legislation based on therapy-based health support for mental illness. Audit all Medicaid funding to states for compliance as per: 42 CFR 438.230. Institute and guideline that all state governments must contract an independent audit of their state health departments, every 24 months. This was done in Michigan in 2021 and they found lots of waste and improper payments.

ECONOMY: What policy initiatives do you support for residents to earn a living wage and address the overall question of affordability across Michigan?

Introduce legislation for the Economic Democrat Act, a policy proposal from 1984 by the Center for Economic and Social Justice. Based on Capital Ownership and income creation for all persons. Based on Binary economics, that creates a second economic layer. Single rate tax system. eliminating ALL loopholes in years one. No person making under $48K, will pay federal income taxes. As the economy grows the single rate of 15% will be droppwed as deficits fall. Eventually after 10 years(est) of growth, the federal income tax can be eliminated. Use the Chevron act to start a new U.S. Currency certificate, backed by previous metals/commodities.

ENVIRONMENT & ENERGY: How would you approach ensuring energy reliability, consumer affordability, and environmental protection in Michigan?

The moon has approximately onr million metric tons of ‘clean’ Helium-3. Helium-3 combined with Deuterium, is a stable, clean fuel for nuclear fusion. Helium-3 on the moon, is a clean isotope. There is enough Helium-3 on the moon, to provide clean cheap nuclear fusion energy, for a 1000 years on Earth. Environment: Everyone start by pulling all their weeds by hand. No gas or electric trimmers and no chemicals. I do it, every day spring through fall. Recycling has not really proven to be economically viable. Start by re-using every plastic bag that comes in to your house. Composting, do it.

IMMIGRATION: What is your position on due process, First Amendment, and Fourth Amendment rights for all Michigan residents, including noncitizens, and what changes, if any, would you support?

I simply LOVE the wording of this question. NON-citizen residents only have limited protections under federal law. The large issue is to improve legal immigration process by cutting the time down for citizenships, as specified on my website. 4th Amendment only fully applies to U.S. Citizens. Let me be clear, illegal immigrants have broken our laws. Period. I have a 5-year proposal to increase legal immigration numbers by 25%. NON-citizens again, the due process afforded to them is incredibly expansive, and no one should complain. They get more due process than most citizens do under the law. I’ve seen a lot in my days.

Simone R. Coleman, Working Class Party

Occupation / Current Position: Retired from road construction, currently home health care

Education: GED

Qualifications and Experience: 30 years of construction experience

HEALTH CARE: What specific steps will you take in Congress to address healthcare affordability, access, and quality for the people you represent?

Everyone in America deserves universal health care. Taker away the profits of the insurance companies, hospital corporations and drug companies, and put money toward health care, and everyone in the country will have good health care.

ECONOMY: What policy initiatives do you support for residents to earn a living wage and address the overall question of affordability across Michigan?

A living wage should be the starting wage of all jobs. A job worth doing should be worth the pay. A living wage is calculated by the total cost of a worker’s basic needs, such as food, housing, childcare, health care, transportation, based on local conditions and family composition, then dividing that annual cost by full-time work. Workers’ right to a living wage should come before corporation’s right to a profit.

ENVIRONMENT & ENERGY: How would you approach ensuring energy reliability, consumer affordability, and environmental protection in Michigan?

Energy prices are rising, while energy corporations are increasing their profits. Energy prices should be regulated to what working people can afford. Rates should be reduced, while money that is taken in should be used to increase reliability.

IMMIGRATION: What is your position on due process, First Amendment, and Fourth Amendment rights for all Michigan residents, including noncitizens, and what changes, if any, would you support?

Everyone living here, including immigrants, should have the right to due process. People should have the right to freedom of speech (no harm to others) and peaceful assembly. People should be secure in knowing their person, houses, papers and personal effects would not be violated with an illegal search and seizure. We were all immigrants at one time. Those attacks on immigrants today will be turned against the rest of the people tomorrow.

Raelyn Light, Green Party

Light did not submit responses to the VOTE411 questionnaire.