“If I want to do this … I just took a step down and agreed to work for the people.”

That’s what Sara Cambensy said she was told by her father when she first decided to run for office. The former Michigan State Representative for the 109th District, a Democrat, not only reached across the aisle to get things done, but she worked hard to represent the people who live and work in her district.

Just this past year, two bipartisan bills backed by Cambensy were signed into law. House bills 5890-5892 will give rural communities greater access to the $1 billion in state revolving drinking water fund loans for the replacements of water and wastewater infrastructure, in part, because the legislation streamlines the application process.

Issues with a letter that Cambensy sent to Attorney General Dana Nessel requesting an inquiry into a plan to develop the former UP Health Systems hospital property in Marquette seems to have overshadowed much of the good work that Cambensy tried to accomplish while in office.

We applaud her many initiatives to help the district, including a mental health listening tour earlier this year. She introduced a bill that would make insulin more affordable for the people who need it. And she’s been a major proponent of mining in the area, something that has driven the U.P. economy for centuries. And lets not forget her efforts to make sure people who needed unemployment benefits the pandemic got the help they needed.

That letter to Attorney General Nessel, and all the pushback it garnered, does not eclipse the good work that Cambensy did while she was in office. She carried forward state Rep. John Kivela’s legacy of reaching across the aisle and working with her Republican counterparts to get things done for the communities in her district. She truly put people before party, and was as transparent a politician as we’ve seen.

We hope as we enter a new era in the Michigan Legislature, where Democrats have control for the first time in a long time, that we see more positive momentum.

And we’ve already seen new 109th Rep. Jenn Hill getting her feet wet, quite literally, by visiting Alger County to see the areas affected by the Au Train River floods. New energy and a new era — we hope — will inspire cooperation in our state legislative process.