Two Perspectives, One Challenge: US House Leaders on Making Michigan a Place to Stay and Grow

• U.S. Rep. John James (R-MI 11) framed Michigan’s challenges through leadership, affordability, and a business climate focused first on retaining and growing the state’s existing talent and employers. 
• U.S. Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-MI 13) emphasized economic opportunity, education, housing, and public safety as the core conditions Michigan must improve to keep and attract residents. 
• Though they were interviewed separately, both lawmakers argued Michigan must make progress on multiple fronts at once, even as they offered different prescriptions for how to do it. 

In separate interviews with WJR 760 AM’s Chris Renwick at the Detroit Regional Chamber’s 2026 Mackinac Policy Conference, U.S. Reps. John James (R-MI 11) and Shri Thanedar (D-MI 13) offered different views on how Michigan can improve affordability, strengthen education, and reverse population loss. While their approaches differed, both returned to the same underlying question: what will make Michigan a place where families and businesses choose to stay? 

James tied Michigan’s lagging “House on Fire” rankings in income, job attraction, and educational outcomes to what he described as a leadership problem. Referencing the Chamber’s latest Voter Poll on competitiveness, he argued the state needs a more pragmatic, business-focused approach that lowers barriers to growth and puts execution ahead of partisanship. 

“We need leadership that is focused on the right things,” James said. “In my entire life, the only thing I’ve ever seen that can change environment, change culture, change philosophy is leadership.” 

He pointed to the recent funding momentum around Selfridge Air National Guard Base as evidence that bipartisan cooperation can still produce results.  “We can win when we work together,” he said, noting that the project proves leaders do not have to settle for “mediocre” outcomes.  

James added that the same approach should extend to economic development, education reform, and population growth — arguing that Michigan has spent too much time trying to recruit new people and businesses to the state without first taking care of those already here.  

“We’re going to start by focusing on retention first, then reclamation, and then recruitment,” he said, presenting that sequence as a more sustainable path to growth. He sharpened the point later in the conversation, asking, “Why don’t we take care of the business that we have first?”

Thanedar focused on the practical reasons residents leave Michigan and what the state must do to reverse that trend. He pointed to education, housing, public safety, and economic opportunity as the conditions families weigh when deciding whether to stay, and that economic well-being is a big opportunity for common ground.

“One area that we can agree on is economic well-being,” Thanedar said, citing “opportunities, skill sets, training, workforce development,” and improving the education system as shared priorities. In his view, those conditions are essential if Michigan wants more residents to build careers and remain in the state. 

Thanedar also argued that bipartisan progress is possible when the focus stays on outcomes rather than polarization. Pointing to Selfridge as an example, he said it was “a shining example of what bipartisanship could bring,” but added that “the two parties need to have a common agenda, common ground” focused on “making people’s lives better.”  

He tied that idea to entrepreneurship, innovation, and immigration policy, warning that “our broken immigration system is a huge problem” for employers trying to find the talent they need. 

When Renwick asked each lawmaker whether Michigan must prioritize jobs or education first — or whether government has to “walk and chew gum at the same time” — both rejected the idea that the state can afford a single-track strategy.  

James answered the question directly, saying, “Yes, we have to walk and chew gum at the same time,” and argued Michigan must tackle affordability, education, and quality of life at once. He added, “We deserve a government that can do the same thing.” 

Thanedar approached the same question by saying it “has to start with economic opportunity,” which he tied to workforce development, skill sets, and a stronger education system that helps more residents build a future in Michigan. 

While they offered different strategies to increase Michigan’s success, both representatives made the case that growth will require progress across multiple fronts at once and encouraged the audience to find common ground to make Michigan an even better place to live and work. 

This session was sponsored by Dow.