John James: Michigan congressional candidate says military should focus on service members, not renaming bases
Published: 10-10-2022 14:01
At a town hall meeting in Shelbyville, Michigan, on Tuesday, congressional candidate John James warned that the military should be more focused on the well-being of service members instead of renaming military bases.
"I think it's a mistake to get bogged down in the symbolism and the optics of what we're doing," James said. "We have to make sure that our number one priority is taking care of our service members."
James, a veteran of the Iraq War, is running for the Republican nomination in Michigan's 8th Congressional District. He faces off against incumbent Democrat Elissa Slotkin in November.
While James did not explicitly say whether he thought military bases named after Confederate generals should be renamed, he did say that the focus should be on "taking care of the men and women who are serving."
"We've got to make sure that we're providing for them and their families the best way possible," James said. "And I don't know that changing the name of a base is going to do that."