The 104th state House District represents just over 91,000 people.
It encompasses an area of about 1,700 square miles spanning parts of six counties across northwestern lower Michigan. It includes the city of Frankfort and villages like Kalkaska, Buckley and Honor.
Since the 2020 election, the district has been represented by incumbent state Rep. John Roth, R-Interlochen. Roth won the district with more than 60% of the vote in the last two elections. He is seeking his third term in office — Michigan law limits state legislators to 12 years in office, regardless of chamber.
Roth faces Democrat Mitch Distin, a biologist and ecologist who has spent the last year organizing against data center proposals, gravel mines and large-scale utility projects around Michigan, and Libertarian Party candidate Alexander Jarvis, a lifelong Manton resident who told IPR in a recent interview he’s running to give voters a third option and also said he doesn’t have time to campaign.
Voters head to the polls Nov. 3.
The biggest issues facing residents
For Roth, the biggest issues facing residents are the demand and quality of infrastructure like water and sewer.
“Everybody needs it,” he said. “And, unfortunately, that has not been a priority for the Legislature since I’ve been here.”
Roth says dealing with sewage is a real problem in some places.
“Right now, you can’t take your sledge from your septic tank and put it in another county,” he said. “So you have a couple of choices: You either let it go on the farm fields, or you build a wastewater treatment plant.”
Distin said cost of living is the biggest issue.
“I think the biggest issues in the 104th District are the same as the rest of rural America: economic,” he said. “Everything is becoming too expensive. Corporate America is taking advantage of rural America. That’s why I’m running. We want to talk about local politics. We want to make it better for the people on the ground.”
Addressing the housing crisis
Distin and Roth both see a problem in the lack of affordable housing across the region, but solutions are difficult.
“There’s no silver bullet to fix housing,” Roth said. “It’s going to take zoning … There’s also going to need to be more support in the community to say, ‘OK, subdivide that lot into two.’”
He wants to promote more programs like Habitat for Humanity that build homes for qualified low-income residents.
Distin’s approach would be to focus “on the community, on building from the ground up, rather than govern from the top-down.”
He said in practice, that looks like directing more state purchasing toward Michigan businesses, expanding access to capital for small businesses and beginning farmers, reducing unnecessary regulatory burdens on small operators, and strengthening local food and agricultural infrastructure.
Local connections to the area
Roth grew up in Claire County, but he’s spent most of his life in northern Michigan. He and his wife moved to Traverse City in 1987.
He said he wants to “keep northern Michigan northern Michigan” by protecting public lands and opportunities to “hunt, fish, hike, canoe, you name it. That’s why we’re up here.”
Distin moved to the area in 2024 after spending the last 10 years living abroad, drawn by the nature that northern Michigan is known for. He grew up in Grand Rapids.
Because of his “connection to natural landscapes in the area,” Distin said he’ll “do anything to protect it and keep it pristine for future generations.”
How candidates would stay connected to their district
Roth said he puts almost 50,000 miles on his car every year driving back and forth to Lansing and attending community meetings in his district.
“My last car blew up after four years,” he said. “A brand new car — 160,000 miles on it after four years and it’s dead.”
Distin plans to hold community meetings over Zoom and at local coffee shops to get in touch with his constituents.
“To me, good representation starts with open lines of communication,” Distin said. “I want every constituent to have a direct line to me through my personal email or cell phone if something goes wrong.”
A third option
Jarvis, the Libertarian, like the other candidates, said cost of living is the biggest problem facing constituents. “Government interference” and two major political parties contribute to the issue, he said.
“The biggest issues come down to the insane regulations they have on the free market,” he said. “My plans would be to release those chains to allow more competition and allow people without as much money to get involved in the market.”
This reporting is made possible by the Northern Michigan Journalism Collaborative, led by Bridge Michigan and Interlochen Public Radio, and funded by Press Forward Northern Michigan.
