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Coffia to face Crandall in 104th district primary

Betsy Coffia

The race for Grand Traverse County’s seat in the state House has a new – but familiar – candidate. Betsy Coffia filed paperwork to run for the 104th House district before yesterday’s deadline.

Coffia ran for the seat in 2012 and 2014. She says she has hundreds of volunteers from past races who are ready to help again.

“In each of the past runs, I’ve just been so amazed and humbled by the people that have been willing to put in energy with me,” she says. “I hadn’t thought that I would run again, but in the end, I was convinced by those good people who worked in the trenches with me that this race was too important to sit out.”

A central plank in Coffia’s campaigns is opposition to campaign money from political action committees and out-of-state donors. She says her campaign will not accept money from PACs – or the Democratic party.

“This is a unique cycle,” says Coffia. “I think there’s something in the air. People are resonating with this idea that we need a political process that actually works for us, and not simply those who can afford to write a large check and go to a fancy fundraiser.”

Coffia says improving infrastructure, increasing funding for public education and protecting the Great lakes are also important issues in her campaign.

Coffia will face Megan Crandall in the Democratic primary in August. On the Republican side, incumbent Larry Inman is running against Jason Gillman.

Coffia lost to Inman - 46 percent to 54 percent - in the 2014 general election.