As voters task Dems with delivering affordability, Hines keeps her family close to heart

After Election Day delivered major gains for Democrats across the country, party leadership and their newly-elected members are pledging to deliver on the mandate that Republicans promised voters in 2024: lowering costs and delivering economic relief. 

Among those candidates is U.S. Rep.-elect Christina Hines (D-Warren), who flipped Michigan’s 10th Congressional District, currently held by U.S. Rep. John James (R-Shelby Township), who opted against seeking reelection to run for governor, which was unsuccessful, as he lost to Democrat Jocelyn Benson. 

Made up of Rochester and Rochester Hills in eastern Oakland County, and the southern portion of Macomb County, which has long been defined by the blue-collar workers who call it their home, Michigan’s 10th District was a major target for Democrats and Republicans.

While Hines and her Republican opponent, Michael Bouchard Jr., each campaigned on lowering costs, voters elected Hines, a former prosecutor, to succeed James in Congress.

Speaking with Michigan Advance Wednesday, Hines said her district’s residents were concerned about how expensive life can be while heading into the polls.

“Whether it’s healthcare, gas, groceries, whatever it is, people need some relief and they need some change,” Hines said. “And so I think that that’s what they were voting for certainly here in our district.”

As Democrats pledge to deliver the relief Americans are seeking, Hines said her perspective as a working mother of three is more in line with the residents of her district than members of Congress.

“I talk about how there’s more millionaires in Congress than there are moms, and that is so different, right?” Hines said. “Like many people in Congress don’t have to think about, ‘Oh my gosh, it just took me $90 to fill up my minivan, and how is that going to impact my grocery budget?’”

For that reason, Hines said she will always be focused on lowering costs, noting that if more members of Congress had the experience of an ordinary working life, it would be a very different place.

When asked if there was one central issue she would address in her first term if given the opportunity to deliver a solution, Hines pointed to healthcare.

“I’m hearing just heartbreaking stories from people all over this district that cannot afford the care that they need,” Hines said, noting that her mother was chronically ill when she was growing up, and that she had been on Medicaid before.

“Every single American should have access to quality, affordable healthcare and I will genuinely work with anyone and create any type of plan and review any type of plan to make that happen,” Hines said. 

In addition to the key issues around affordability, Hines said she would also like to take a look at regulations around big tech and AI. In addition to her perspective as a parent, she also pointed to her experience as a former child abuse prosecutor, where she’d seen the ways social media can harm children’s mental health.

“So far we’ve had a Congress that has really failed to put any guardrails up to keep our community safe,” Hines said, noting her excitement to begin working putting those regulations in place.

“We’ve got a lot of younger people, a lot of parents that are coming in,” Hines said in reference to her fellow newly-elected members of Congress. “I bet that we can find some really great bipartisan approaches here to protect families.”