House district 105
Same ballot.
Two very different records.
Here's where Ken Borton and Rachel Teeter stand — side by side.
Ken Borton
In Lansing since 2021 · House majority caucus chair
•Most of his bills focus on hunting, land, and the DNR
•Voted to slow the minimum-wage increase and paid sick time
•Accepts utility company PAC money
Rachel L. Teeter
We are the 105.
✓Lower the cost of food, housing, and healthcare
✓Better jobs and fair wages, built on skilled trades
✓Real help now — not someday after an election
Why they're running
Ken Borton — in his own words
Borton traces his start in politics to a 2010 run-in with the DNR. Conservation officers ticketed him over his "Snowman Cam" — a birdfeeder livestream he ran with his wife — which the DNR alleged was an illegal deer-baiting pile. He fought it in court and the charges were dismissed. He says the experience convinced him the law itself should change. He served as an Otsego County commissioner, then won the open 105th seat in 2020. He casts himself as a check on government overreach, especially the DNR. "I had never, not ever, considered running for a political office."
Sources: Michigan Country Lines · Bridge Michigan
Rachel L. Teeter — in her own words
I'm a single mom and a small business owner, and I've been the mom who couldn't pay the daycare bill at times — and I always believed it would get easier for the next generation, but it hasn't. I've watched more and more neighbors slip into survival mode, working two and three jobs and still falling behind. I'm a project manager by nature, so I asked myself, what do we all need to survive, and let's start there: food, housing, healthcare, and jobs — the four things that hit every family, no matter how they vote. This isn't Republican versus Democrat anymore; it's working people versus the billionaires pulling further ahead while the rest of us do more with less. I'm running to bring real help to everyone in the 105 — not someday after an election, but now.
How Ken Borton has voted
Issue
Where Rachel stands
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Borton — his recordBorton's campaign lists no plan to expand healthcare access or lower costs — his stated goals are taxes, regulation, and natural resources. His health-related bills this term have been narrow and technical, like an ambulance-licensing update and a change to what practical nurses are allowed to do. Most of his health-policy energy has gone to opposing expanded abortion access, including a bill to add new licensing rules for abortion clinics. There is nothing on record aimed at lower premiums, broader coverage, or the rural provider shortages families here feel most.
Healthcare
✓
Rachel — where we standI spent years in healthcare administration, much of it at Munson, and I saw firsthand how much of people's time, money, and health gets lost inside a broken system — patients skipping care they can't afford, and staff buried in paperwork instead of caring for people. Moving to a single-payer system would make things simpler and fairer for patients and providers alike, and it would take the cost of coverage off the backs of small businesses and employers, who shouldn't have to be in the insurance business to hire good people. Care should depend on what you need, not what you earn.
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Borton — his recordHousing affordability isn't part of Borton's platform. His campaign goals center on taxes, regulation, and "encourage managed growth" — language about the pace of development, not the cost of a home. The housing bills he has actually worked on deal with foreclosure and property-redemption paperwork, not supply or affordability, and he hasn't made the short-term-rental and seasonal-buyer pressure driving up local prices part of his agenda. For a district where working families and young people are being priced out, there's no plan on record to help them stay.
Source: kenborton.com · his bills (LegiScan)
Housing
✓
Rachel — where we standI've known the worry of making rent, and I'm watching neighbors get squeezed out of the towns they grew up in. More and more homes here are being bought up as vacation properties and short-term rentals, while wages stay flat and our young people can't picture a future here. Tourism is part of what makes the 105 special, and it supports a lot of families — but when the homes people need become short-term rentals, the folks who work here have nowhere to live. I'll work for balance: more year-round, affordable housing, so families can stay and the next generation doesn't have to leave the 105 to afford a home.
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Borton — his recordOn agriculture, Borton has a real record — this is home turf. He chairs the Agriculture & Rural Development budget subcommittee, sponsored a bipartisan farm-export law, and is backed by the Farm Bureau's AgriPAC. But farming and food access aren't the same thing. He has no plan on record to help families afford groceries, and a food-assistance bill he backed this term would add new documentation requirements — more paperwork standing between struggling families and the help they need.
Food & ag
✓
Rachel — where we standAs a single mom, I've known the nights you lie awake doing the math, wondering if there's enough to get your kids through the week — nobody should carry that, and no child should have to prove they deserve a meal. Right here in the 105, too many kids go to school hungry, even as our farmers grow good food all around us. I didn't wait for an election to help — our campaign built a free guide to every food pantry and resource across all seven counties. Food isn't a reward, it's how we survive — and I'll back our farmers and make sure what they grow can reach the families who need it, right here at home.
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Borton — his recordBorton's site promises jobs that pay a "living wage," but he hasn't brought forward legislation to raise pay or strengthen protections for workers. His endorsements come from business and Farm Bureau interests, not from labor. When voters approved a higher minimum wage, he backed the 2025 deal that slowed it down. In Lansing, his energy has gone to deregulation, not paychecks.
Jobs & wages
✓
Rachel — where we standI'm a small business owner, so I know good jobs and fair pay aren't at odds — they're how a business and a community both get stronger. I've watched too many of our young people leave with a diploma and a pile of debt, taking whatever pays the bills because there's no clear path to a good career here. I'll work for wages that keep up with the cost of living, and for real investment in skilled trades, so people can build a good life without leaving the 105. Unions like AFSCME and IBEW are with us, because working people deserve a fair shot and a seat at the table.
✕
Borton — his recordEndorsed by Right to Life of Michigan, Borton states that life begins at conception and that Planned Parenthood should not receive public funds. He publicly opposed the Reproductive Health Act, which expanded reproductive protections. This term, he backed a bill to add new licensing requirements for clinics that provide abortion. His record is consistent opposition to reproductive freedom.
Reproductive rights
✓
Rachel — where we standAs a woman and a mom, I believe decisions about our bodies and our families belong to us — not to politicians. Michigan voters already settled this: in 2022, we voted to protect reproductive freedom in our state constitution. I'll defend that choice, so every person can make their own healthcare decisions with their doctor and their conscience. Planned Parenthood Advocates of Michigan endorsed our campaign because they trust me to keep that promise.
✓
Borton — his recordDelivered for the district — $2.5M for Au Sable / Manistee fish habitat and $2.6M for conservation and a Kirtland forestry program. That's a real strength, and it's locally popular. But his overall environmental voting record is just 24% (Michigan LCV), and as chair of the DNR's budget subcommittee he has pushed to cut the department's funding and challenge its enforcement.
Source: MI House GOP · Michigan LCV
Natural resources
✓
Rachel — where we standI moved back to Northern Michigan to raise my son around the same lakes and woods I grew up loving — it's why so many of us are here, and why visitors keep coming back. Our rivers, forests, and public lands aren't just beautiful; they're our economy and our way of life. Real protection takes more than funding one project at a time — it means looking out for our water, land, and wildlife in every decision, for our kids and grandkids. I'll be a representative who protects what makes the 105 home.
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Borton — his recordBacks the House GOP roads plan (HB 4180–4187), branded "fix roads without raising taxes." It's largely a swap — it removes the sales tax on fuel and replaces it with an equivalent fuel tax that goes entirely to roads, and it sends schools other money to make up what they'd otherwise lose. The trade-off is a hole of hundreds of millions of dollars in the state's main budget that lawmakers still have to sort out, which could squeeze other services. The plan passed with bipartisan support.
Roads & taxes
✓
Rachel — where we standEverybody in the 105 wants better roads — we're the ones driving them to work, to school, and to the doctor, and watching them crumble every spring. I'll always be straight about the trade-offs, instead of selling a "no new taxes" slogan for a plan that quietly moves money around and leaves a hole somewhere else. But fixing our roads should never come at the expense of the programs families count on — we shouldn't have to choose between good roads and taking care of people. Roads that last through Northern Michigan winters, dollars that reach our rural counties, and a plan that's honest about who pays.
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Borton — his recordVoted yes on the 2024 tax break (SB 237) that exempts giant data centers from sales and use taxes through 2050 — a giveaway to some of the wealthiest tech companies in the world. Lawmakers who opposed it warned it carried no real protections for our water or for everyday customers' utility bills. These centers use enormous amounts of power and water, and utilities stand to profit from the new demand — the same utilities whose PACs fund his campaign. A bipartisan group of legislators is now trying to repeal these tax breaks over exactly these concerns.
Data centers
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Rachel — where we standI'm all for good jobs and new investment — but not by handing billion-dollar tech companies a free pass while working families pick up the tab in higher electric bills. Here's my rule: our communities decide. If a town doesn't want a data center, it doesn't come — and if a community does want one, the developer should be legally on the hook, with the money set aside up front, to return the land and water to the condition they found it. These centers guzzle power and water, and nobody knows if they'll even exist in five years. I won't let the people of the 105 get stuck with the poisoned water, the ruined land, and the cleanup bill after the corporations move on.
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Borton — his recordTakes utility company PAC money — $9,000 from the political action committees of DTE Energy and Consumers Energy (CMS) since he took office, according to Michigan LCV. He's also accepted money from other corporate interests, including $1,100 from the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan PAC. DTE and Consumers are regulated monopolies whose rates and projects the Legislature helps oversee — the same kind of companies that stand to profit from the data centers he voted to subsidize. He continues to accept their money.
Source: MI LCV · TransparencyUSA
Who funds it
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Rachel — where we standI refuse to take a dime from the utility corporations — no DTE, no Consumers Energy. I'm proud to have working people and their unions in my corner, but I won't be bought by the monopolies that set your electric bills. The majority of our contributions come from people just like you and me — neighbors chipping in what they can. When a lawmaker's campaign is funded by the utilities, it's fair to ask who he really answers to. I answer to the neighbors and working families of the 105 — no one else.