2016 Candidate Interview 
State Representative Joe Graves 51st District
(Crystal A. Proxmire, Sept. 4, 2016)
Holly, MI – State Representative for the 51st District Joseph (Joe) Graves is hoping to be the longest-serving member of the legislature since term limits were instituted. He began serving in March 2012 with partial term that will give him ten months more seniority than others in their last term if he is reelected. Graves, a Republican who lives in Linden, is facing two opponents in the Nov. 8 election: Democrat Ryan Blazik (who is currently the Village of Holly President) and Libertarian Mark Sanborn of Gaines.
The 51st district encompasses parts of Genesee County and Oakland County, including Argentine, Atlas, Fenton, Flushing, Gaines townships and the cities of Linden and Fenton. Within Oakland County it includes the townships of Groveland, Holly and Rose.
When asked why he is running again, Graves said “I’m running because I think it’s important. I’ve gout four kids and 12 grand-kids. All of them live in the district. I think its important to control the momentum that Michigan has seen for jobs and public safety. We’ve turned around from the crime capital of the country and we’ve brought more jobs into the area. We need to continue that.”
Prior to being elected State Representative Graves served as Clerk for the Village of Holly and County Commissioner. He’s also served in the military, owned rental properties and worked for 32 years for General Motors.
In his interview with oc115, Representative Graves talked about being Chair of Commerce and Trade Committee, and working on Veteran’s issues including introducing a bill that gives hiring preference in veterans’ facilities to people who are veterans.
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All candidates are invited to do an interview and we are doing our best to connect. If you are a candidate that needs information, please email us at editor@oc115.com.
This post will be updated with the links to the interviews of other candidates as they become available.
The oc115 is a nonpartisan news source and interviews are done to help voters get to meet their candidates. We do not endorse any candidates, and statements made in candidate interviews are not fact-checked, though if we know of any errors we will include them in our story.
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Learn more about this candidate’s campaign at: http://www.voteforgraves.com/.
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