Superior Woman--Spring 2021

BIG PICTURE
approach
BY PATTI SAMAR
Last September during a meeting of the Michigan House
Committee on Commerce and Tourism in Lansing, 109th District
State Representative Sara Cambensy (D-Marquette), asked an
important question.
When addressing one of her colleagues from, as they say, “across the
aisle,” she inquired: “Shouldn’t the legislature be looking for a longterm
solution (to a problem) instead of solving just one problem?”
Cambensy’s ability to understand the importance of addressing
the “big picture” while paying attention to important details is what
makes her a good government representative.
Cambensy has taken that big picture approach to a number of key
issues that are of significant importance to both her constituents in the
Upper Peninsula and to all citizens in the state of Michigan.
Though in just her fourth year as a state representative, Cambensy
has more than a decade of public service under her belt, having served
first as a member of the City of Marquette Charter Commission for
several years, and later as a Marquette City Commissioner from 2012
to 2017.
Cambensy first ran for state representative in 2017 to fill the seat of
former 109th State Rep. John Kivela, who died in May of that year.
To fill the remainder of Kivela’s term, which ended in 2018, then-
Gov. Rick Snyder scheduled a special election for November 2017.
And when she threw her hat in the ring, many influential people
and entities didn’t think she would be elected.
“The Detroit Free Press had me coming in third,” she said with a
chuckle of that first race, in which she had to first win a party primary
before facing a Republican challenger in November. “You have to take
these moments and realize I do deserve to be there. I did my time. I
had 10 years in local government.”
Moving through the election cycle that year, Cambensy just kept
her focus on moving forward, one step at a time.
“I thought, ‘Are you going to let someone tell you that you can’t, or
continue on your path and show them you can?’”
She noted that having a tight group of female friends who were
supportive and encouraging was also a big help.
“Having those women in your close circle who believe in you, who
will encourage you and say, ‘You really need to do this,’ is amazing,”
she said. “It’s all about women helping women build themselves up.
“I’m hopeful that the next generation coming up will have even
more confidence and not doubt themselves,” she said.
Interestingly, Cambensy’s seat had never before been held by a
woman.
“As progressive as Marquette can be, we were the only district in the
U.P. that had not had a woman representative before,” she said.
“Two of my opponents had been in politics a lot longer than I had,”
she said. “And I didn’t have the time to knock on doors or do those
traditional things. But people knew what they would get; I had a track
record. Certainly, the votes I had taken while on city commission,
SPRING 2021 SUPERIORWOMAN.NET 9