Re-elect Debbie Stabenow to the U.S. Senate | Opinion

Over three terms in office, U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow has never shied from the thankless and unglamorous task of making government work, patiently building relationships with her counterparts across the aisle. As a result, she has been able to do meaningful work in a polarized and hyper-partisan climate that stymies many of her colleagues. Stabenow is both principled and empathetic, and the welfare of Michigan families is the lens through which she views each decision.

For that alone, Stabenow would win the Free Press' endorsement. But over the past two years, the Michigan's 68-year-old senior senator has adapted to the changing political climate, emerging as an outspoken critic of President Donald Trump, defending the constitutional norms Trump seeks to flout, and embracing her role as a leader of an energized base of Democratic women. In a time of unprecedented upheaval, she has solidified her reputation as one of the most respected  lawmakers in a bitterly divided Senate. 

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Stabenow's Republican opponent dismisses her as a "nice lady." Besides betraying the sort of tone-deafness more typical of men twice his age, his condescending appraisal underestimates the relationship-building that is one of Stabenow's strengths as a legislator.

Consider a few of the dividends Stabenow's disciplined civility has brought her constituents: 

• $1 billion in new funding for modernization of the Soo Locks, an appropriation that passed this year after Stabenow spent more than a decade securing bipartisan support.

• $100 million for repair and replacement of Flint's lead water lines, approved by Congress in 2016 after months of work by Stabenow and Michigan's junior U.S. senator, Gary Peters.

•, Ten new community health centers have opened in Detroit since she's held office.

Stabenow's recipe for getting things done in a fractious Senate is simple: Find something you and some colleague in the opposing party both want to accomplish, and get to work. It's a formula that has made her an effective advocate for both the Great Lakes and the complex farm bill, whose reauthorization she has repeatedly shepherded as the ranking Democrat on the Senate Agriculture Committee.  

The farm bill is an unwieldy but indispensable balancing act that includes critical subsidies for Michigan farmers as well as funding for the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), a program for low-income families that feeds about 42 million Americans each year. As in previous years, Stabenow built broad bipartisan consensus for the bill currently pending before the house, which passed the Senate 86-11.

Stabenow's principal opponent, Republican John James, has some generically impressive credentials:  A veteran of the Iraq War, the 37-year-old James holds degrees from West Point, Penn State University and the University of Michigan. He is CEO of his family business, James Group International.. He's also a charismatic speaker who encourages listeners to look past labels like "Republican" or "Democrat," and elect people, not parties.

But his resume betrays no shred of the legislative or congressional experience that has been so integral to the success of Michigan's incumbent senators and their most effective predecessors. If recent election cycles have taught voters in both parties anything, it's that the outsider status so many first-time candidates advertise should be understood as a liability, not an asset. 

James, who won his party's senatorial nomination with Donald Trump's enthusiastic support, insists he won't be a rubber stamp for a president whose approval ratings have dwindled since his narrow 2016 victory in Michigan. But while James' affability contrasts favorably with Trump's bellicose demeanor, he genially echoes the incumbent president's conviction that tax cuts are the panacea for virtually every problem confronting the nation. He says tort reform and market forces will deliver affordable health care for all if Washington gets out of the way, and favors a similarly passive approach to global warming. He is either or unwilling or unable to articulate coherent positions on immigration or trade policy. But his unambiguous opposition to abortion has earned Right to Life's enthusiastic endorsement.

If elected, James would be Michigan's first African-American senator. But nearly everything about his hail-Mary campaign suggests its primary purpose is to position him for more promising political opportunities in the future. In this year's Senate race, alas, he is far outclassed by a more experienced, capable and effective incumbent.    

Sen. DEBBIE STABENOW remains the right choice for Michigan voters.