US Rep. Lisa McClain represents a beautiful part of Michigan–the thumb. McClain continues thumbing her nose at Michigan people by doing things that are hypocritical. Her actions and words make her a controversial figure with serious criticism.
Downplaying the Pandemic
Republican Rep. Lisa McClain once represented Michigan’s most Covid-positive region, and residents were calling her out for downplaying the pandemic. The coronavirus was ravaging Michigan’s 10th district which Rep. Lisa McClain represented during some time in 2021, but she wasn’t addressing its fate. McClain toured the 10th district in late March 2021, speaking to her own supporters of Michigan’s Thumb. During her tour, she removed her mask, encouraging the crowd to join in the risky behavior violating pandemic safety practices.
Michigan became the newest Covid-19 epicenter in April, 2021. Most of those positive cases were found in the thumb, the area McClain serves. McClain pushed to see Covid-related restrictions lifted, leaving more of her constituents at risk. She compared the number of people who die of the coronavirus to those who die from drowning. In 2008, drowning was determined to be a leading cause of death for Michigan children, with an average of 810 deaths per year. “But we don’t ban swimming pools,” McClain told her constituents. She just focused on reopening as much as possible as quickly as possible, and with little to no plan for doing so safely. She couldn’t be more off base.
Racial Discrimination
Black rural Michiganders struggle to be heard by Rep. Lisa McClain. Marysville isn’t a diverse place. More than 95% of its 10,000 or so residents are white, according to 2010 census data. So when Lisa McClain visited Marysville in late March, 2021 on a constituent service tour, rual Michiganders of color took notice. During that tour, she didn’t speak with more of her constituents of color but focused on largely white audiences. A political organizer in McClain’s district, Alphonso Amos, revealed the McClain didn’t take him up on any of his invitations to speak to Michiganders of color, either as a candidate or since her election.
Amos said he doesn’t feel heard by the people serving him in the US House of Representatives–that includes McClain and her predecessors. “There is a fair amount of denial about racism in our community; however, many within the Black community know that racism is alive because we have experienced bias and hate on so many levels. There is a huge threat to being Black in rural communities.” Amos said. Amos believes that representation is the key to making change. And he doesn’t expect McClain to be a part of that change.“Unfortunately, I have no hope that she will do better,”He said.“We know her showing up and hosting events in the predominantly white cities throughout the district lets us know she has no intentions of reaching Black and brown folks.”
Double Standards on Proxy Voting
When a member of a legislative body can’t be physically present for voters, many places including Congress, allow someone else to vote on their behalf or remotely cast their vote. This is called proxy voting. As state Senator Mallory McMorrow said, it’s an extremely useful practice that means that inability to be present for some reason doesn’t mean their constituents go unrepresented.
McClain views proxy voting as a fundamental flaw in American democracy. She cited the urgent need to be in Washington as the reason she didn’t take any town halls with constituents of color as representing the people took precedence over talking to constituents.
She even tweeted in May, 2021 that proxy voting was undemocratic. “Proxy voting must end, and lawmakers should return and do their jobs. We are here to represent the people, voting by proxy takes away that representation.”
Proxy voting is actually a normal and beneficial practice in government. But when McClain went back on her word to herself vote by proxy, it was to appear with Trump at the US-Mexican border for a press event.
This is a similar situation that prompted her outcry against proxy voting, blasting Democrats for using the practice to attend an event in Dearborn with President Joe Biden.
