Also running is Libertarian Michael Gorbe.

That district — which covers all of Leelanau County and parts of Grand Traverse County and Benzie County — was viewed as reliably Republican until 2022, when Coffia defeated the then-incumbent by fewer than 800 votes and became the first Democrat in over a century to represent the Traverse City area in the state House.

Edwin Dean is a Northport Village trustee and sits on the village’s Finance Committee. He also owns and runs a home health agency.

Recently, Coffia and Dean addressed a slew of issues affecting northern Michigan at the 2026 Cherry Pie Debates in Glen Arbor. Their answers showed a similar concern for those issues, but different solutions.

Gorbe was not present at the debate.

Relaxing regulations versus taxing short term rentals

A combination of increased housing prices and a long-term slowdown of new home builds since the 2000s has made housing affordability one of the most important election issues for Michigan residents.

At the debate, Dean pointed to expensive building costs and arduous regulations as an impediment toward affordable housing.

“Essentially, it costs about $100,000 (in regulation costs) and it takes about a year and a half to get to the approval process,” Dean said. “If you're running a business, that takes way too much time (and) way too much cost. It's not feasible.”

Dean argues that Michigan needs a ministerial “by-right” approval process that would allow projects that meet established zoning and building requirements to be approved without discretionary review or public hearings.

“If you purchase the home, all that you (would) have to do is apply to the local administrator, and his only job is to make sure that your building permit is allowed and is following the regulation that the village council or the local municipality has,” Dean said.

Coffia’s proposed solution to affordable housing takes on a more local approach and would seek to tax the increasing number of short-term rentals in northwest Michigan.

Coffia said she has been pushing for a proposal to do just that.

“The realtors killed (the proposal) last term, but I'm hoping we can move it soon,” Coffia said. “That would actually allow us to tax the beds on short-term rentals and allow local communities to use that funding to build attainable housing (and) to build infrastructure. Tourism has a huge impact on our infrastructure.”

Coffia also noted that she had worked with state Sen. John Damoose, R-Harbor Springs, to bring $5 million in state grant funding to build 72 affordable housing units for educators.

“But let's face it, that's a Band-Aid,” Coffia said.

Coffia would also like to see money from the state’s Pure Michigan tourism campaign diverted back to the local communities to build housing and infrastructure.

Universal healthcare and rural residencies

Rural health care has also become an important election issue after Congress signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act into law last year. That bill resulted in looming cuts to Medicare and Medicaid.

Munson Healthcare — northern Michigan’s largest nonprofit healthcare system — estimates it will lose $50 million a year by 2032.

Coffia introduced MiCare (House Bill 4407), which would create a statewide universal healthcare system and reform the current payment system for healthcare coverage. That bill has yet to go up for a House vote.

“We need healthcare for all as a right,” said Coffia. “This I put right up there with shelter and food. Who are we as a village if we let any single one of our neighbors go without these necessities? They're not luxuries.”

For his part, Dean proposes expanding an existing state program called MIDOCS which pays participants to complete their residencies in underserved areas of Michigan. Through that program, participants are then able to receive up to $150,000 in repayment of qualifying loans.

“By being able to incentivize them working in rural areas, especially where it's currently underfunded — this is how we do it,” said Dean.

On the Line 5 tunnel

Perhaps the topic on which the two candidates have the most differing opinions is Enbridge Energy’s Line 5 oil and gas pipeline in the Straits of Mackinac.

That pipeline has been in operation since 1953 and carries almost 23 million gallons of oil per day. A plan to replace a section of that tunnel that lies on the lakebottom and encase the new pipeline in an underground concrete tunnel was announced in 2018 by then-Gov. Rick Snyder.

That plan has since been stalled by lawsuits and permitting battles.

Coffia signaled her opposition to the pipeline remaining in the water and said allowing it in Great Lakes waters was a mistake from the beginning.

“It is risking everything we love for a foreign oil company to keep making a profit,” Coffia said. She also pointed to a recent August Line 5 spill of more than 1.3 million gallons of natural gas liquid in Wisconsin.

Dean rebutted Coffia in the debate and said that, if the goal was to get Line 5 out of the water, the current plan to move the pipeline into a tunnel does just that.

“It makes (the pipeline) 100 feet below the lakebed surface, encased in cement and drilled through bedrock,” he said. “I mean, that makes the most amount of sense.”

Dean also cited a statistic from the 2021 Consumer Energy Alliance study which said that, if the pipeline were lost, more than 33,000 jobs would go away.

“I don't know why we're wasting time on this,” Dean said. “We need to get this new pipeline. It's safer, it's cheaper, and necessary for Michigan.”

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.