Congressional candidate Callie Barr, District 1 maverick

By Berry Kendall

Sun contributor

It’s safe to say every American of a certain age remembers what they were doing when terrorist extremists struck on Sept. 11, 2001. For some, it drastically changed the trajectory of their lives.

Callie Barr is the Democratic candidate for Michigan’s 1st Congressional District, but her road to politics was neither anticipated nor aspirational. A fifth-generation Traverse City and Cheboygan resident, Barr and her then-boyfriend Matt were high school students on that fateful day. Mere hours after the Twin Towers were hit, leaving Americans reeling in shock, Matt enlisted in the Marine Corps. He left for boot camp the day after he graduated from Cheboygan Area High School and later was deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. The couple married in-between tours when Barr was 18 and Matt was 19, and went on to move five times over 15 years.

While Matt was in his second deployment, Barr graduated as valedictorian of her class at Cheboygan. She earned her secondary education degree from Central Michigan University and settled into the comfortable role of a high school English teacher. Their lives were upended when Matt returned from his tour with an undiagnosed traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Even so, he knew he was one of the lucky ones.

“Some of our friends, barely 18 years old, gave their lives for this country, not out of hate for any enemy, but rather out of their absolute love and devotion for one another,” Barr recounts. “A devotion that inspires me to this day.”

In addition to raising their infant and toddler daughters and teaching her students, Barr became her husband’s caregiver. When the couple realized Matt couldn’t get the outside care and professional treatment he needed she pivoted, dedicating herself to advocating for active military, veterans and military families like her own. She worked with Blue Star Families as well as the Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregivers, but still longed to be more effective.

Barr says she found cutting through the red tape of federal bureaucracy defeating and realized she had to take a different tack. “I became very passionate about [veterans rights]. I felt we [military families] needed a better voice and that I needed more tools in my toolbox so I decided to go to law school. My girls were 5 and 2 which was at times a challenge.” She laughs, “I have a very clear memory of opening my carefully written law lecture notes and them being entirely covered in unicorn stickers.” Despite juggling multiple roles, Barr ultimately graduated from the University of Michigan Law School with honors. Recruited to a law firm in Traverse City, she worked for several years as a litigation attorney and was able to offer free legal services to veterans.

After the 2016 election the increasing divisiveness in American politics, combined with her disappointment in the 1st District’s current representation, compelled Barr to consider her next steps. “I felt like the incumbent, Jack Bergman, was not really showing up for our people here and was really busy playing to extremes. He didn’t want to investigate January 6th or certify our votes and I just feel like we need someone showing up for us. We’re a rural district, we’re one of the largest districts in the United States.” Barr says being a native who was born and raised in the district naturally imbues her with a belief in its people. “I care tremendously about our families here. Our district has a high veteran population; we are a patriotic place [with] a lot of generational families who’ve served. And to me, I just felt so strongly that we weren’t having a voice in the policies that were impacting our lives.” An edge creeps into her voice as she adds, “I think when you’re too busy playing political games at the national level you’re not taking care of your people here at home.”

Barr says her eyes were opened early on as to the obstacles she faces as a first-time grassroots candidate. “Our [political] system today really favors folks who come from wealth being able to have a voice in our government and I think that is a problem.” She expresses the opinion that it’s imperative to remove the typical barriers of class and deep pockets in order to provide accurate, authentic representation in state and national elections.

“In thinking about Congress and what it was originally intended for, the terms are two years because the vision of our Founding Fathers was that folks would come from everyday society and they would have a voice in the government and then they would come back to their communities as farmers or teachers,” Barr elaborates. “They would have that opportunity to take their lived experience and use it to have a voice in the government, that it was a real representative government. And what we see today is how hard it is for ‘normal’ folks to even give it a try.”

When asked about the most pressing issues on her platform, Barr cites affordable housing, healthcare, childcare, women’s rights, protecting Social Security and Medicare, securing rural broadband internet, safeguarding our Great Lakes and bringing down the cost of groceries in Michigan’s 1st District. She implores voters to see each other as Americans first, instead of as allegiants to rigid political parties.

“We’re living in extraordinary times,” she says. “Our democracy is under assault. Women’s rights are under attack. We’re at the greatest period of income inequality since the 1920s.”  In speaking of her opponent she decries, “We have the incumbent, Jack Bergman, someone who is not from here, who supports extremist agendas out of touch with our district. He works hard to divide us, denying election results, co-sponsoring dangerous federal legislation without any exceptions for abortion, not even to save a woman’s life. He voted against SNAP benefits for our most vulnerable families while giving himself a $44,000 bonus with tax-payer money, making him the highest spender of a congressional reimbursement program that doesn’t require receipts.”

Barr urges voters to support a more cohesive, collaborative approach in which politicians are amenable to crossing party lines. She says, “The thing is, in our rural areas we know that no matter the ways we may disagree with one another we know that we are in this together – we are neighbors and Americans first before we are any political party or extremist agenda.”  She says she believes the same comeradery she found within her network of military families exists between residents in the 1st District as well.

“I have been to every corner of this district, and I’ve been inspired by our grit, resiliency, innovation, industry and creativity. The truth is, extraordinary times also make extraordinary people.” She challenges, “It’s time the folks in Washington, D.C. learned a little something from the people here. I’d like to show them.”

If elected, Barr would be the first woman to win the First Congressional District in Michigan’s 187-year-old statehood.