Politics

Democrat Christina Hines launches a congressional bid in Detroit suburbs

Published

1 year ago

April 7, 2025

Democrat Christina Hines kicked off a bid for Congress, landing Democrats a competitive recruit in a purple district in the Detroit suburbs.

“We need people in Washington that we can trust, and I spent my whole life trying to fight for others and to fight for my community, and I’m hoping that I can be a trustworthy person in Congress,” said Hines, a former special victims prosecutor.

She’d been inspired to run after seeing the news that President Donald Trump issued an executive order to wind down the Department of Education.

“My husband and I looked at each other like, ‘yeah, this is not a time to wait. This is not a time to be comfortable,’“ she recalled. “We need a fighter in Congress. And I’ve spent my whole career fighting for people, and I need to step up. We need a fighter here in Michigan’s tent.”

The district, which includes parts of the northern Detroit suburbs in Oakland and Macomb counties, has trended toward Republicans in recent years. Still, Democrats believe this district could be flippable with incumbent Rep. John James (R-Mich.) potentially vacating it for a gubernatorial bid next year to replace term-limited Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. James won the seat in 2022 by half a percentage point and by a handier margin in 2024.

Notably, she’s running with the endorsement of former judge and attorney Carl Marlinga, who’s run against James the past two cycles. He’d originally made moves toward a bid this cycle, sparking private concerns among some Democrats that his past baggage could tank their chances in the district.

But he’s not running this time and gave his backing to her campaign in a statement: “Christina is the new generational leader we need in Washington to give our country a fresh start. She is a fighter who knows every corner of Macomb and the people who live here.”

Hines could claim a centrist lane and said, “I’m not particularly far on either side of the spectrum.” She she’d been in touch with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee about running and was “not expecting a very contested primary.”

Still, she’s not the only Democrat running. Army veteran Alex Hawkins has already launched a campaign, and former Rep. Andy Levin (D-Mich.), who’d represented parts of the district before redistricting, has flirted with a comeback bid for the seat or other elected offices in Michigan.

Politics

The accidental American

Published

20 minutes ago

June 19, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

In 2001, airline employees stopped a seven-months pregnant Florence Balogun from traveling home to London, deeming her too pregnant to fly. She stayed in New York, where she was visiting, eventually giving birth to a son, Folarin, before returning to London.

Twenty-five years later, Folarin Balogun has attracted global notice as a rising soccer star. Despite training in Arsenal’s youth academy and spending much of his career playing for England’s youth teams, Balogun — legally an American citizen, thanks to his Brooklyn birth — has emerged as a key contributor to the U.S. team’s attack at this year’s World Cup. The striker scored two goals in America’s opener against Paraguay last Friday, hoisting his team to a record-breaking 4-1 victory, the most goals the U.S. men’s team has ever scored in a World Cup game.

While Balogun’s performance has fueled fresh hopes about America’s World Cup prospects, he’s also found himself in the middle of America’s ongoing birthright citizenship debate.

On his first day in office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order overturning the country’s long-standing birthright citizenship practice. The American Civil Liberties Union then sued to block the move, taking their legal battle to the Supreme Court. The court is expected to issue a final ruling soon — though it seems“broadly skeptical” of Trump’s effort.

“The executive order itself doesn’t claim to strip away [Balogun’s] citizenship or or the citizenship of other people born before [Feb. 19, 2025],” Cody Wofsy, the lead lawyer in the ACLU’s case, told Blue Light News. “But the constitutional theory that the government is asking the Supreme Court to adopt casts a shadow over the citizenship of millions and millions of people who were born in this country and have lived their entire lives as citizens.”

Examples of high-profile birthright citizens — like Balogun, but also politicians such as Kamala Harris and Marco Rubio — help illustrate the reality of banning birthright citizenship, Wofsy said.

“We don’t know what the justices are thinking,” he said, “but I would hope that they understand just how grave an action the government’s asking them for.”

Politics

The Americans who want to see Australia do well

Published

50 minutes ago

June 19, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

SEATTLE — Some American fans walking toward Lumen Field on Friday morning were playfully jeering their Australian peers whenever they spotted a telltale yellow jersey. But a major driver of the local economy offered a kinder greeting to the visiting team.

Cranes in view of the stadium gates have been outfitted with the Australian flag and a WELCOME message from the Northwest Seaport Alliance, which manages the ports of Seattle and Tacoma, along with dockworkers’ union ILWU Local 19.

The seaport alliance and the labor union representing its workforce are mounting a similar display throughout the World Cup, rotating flags out to reflect the pair of teams that will face off next in Seattle. But keeping the Australians happy is a more urgent cause for Seattle harbor interests than, say, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Qatar.

Australia is one of the ports’ top trading partners, with the 14th largest source of container volume at the Port of Seattle, but ranks much higher when it comes to the dollar value of goods that come from there. (New Zealand, for example, sends more volume to Seattle than Australia but it’s worth only half as much.)

Meat, including beef and lamb, and minerals comprise the biggest categories of goods that Australia ships to the United States, although some of the most valuable exports — gold and pharmaceuticals — are more likely to land at Sea-Tac airport than via the harbor.

The U.S. and Australia have had a free-trade pact since 2005, although President Donald Trump’s tariff regime threatens to disrupt some trade flows. Australia is currently pushing back on its inclusion on an American list of countries alleged to use forced labor in its supply chains, which the U.S. Trade Representative is using as the basis to impose a 12.5 percent tariff.