Trina Borenstein

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Trina Borenstein
Image of Trina Borenstein

Democratic Party

Elections and appointments
Last election

November 5, 2024

Education

High school

Waterloo Collegiate Institute

Associate

Washtenaw Community College, 2003

Other

Conestoga College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning, 1977

Personal
Birthplace
Miami, Fla.
Religion
Jewish
Profession
Homemaker
Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Personal Facebook

Personal LinkedIn

Trina Borenstein (Democratic Party) ran for election to the Michigan House of Representatives to represent District 106. She lost in the general election on November 5, 2024.

Borenstein completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Trina Borenstein was born in Miami, Florida. She earned a high school diploma from the Waterloo Collegiate Institute, an associate degree from Washtenaw Community College in 2003, and a degree from the Conestoga College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning in 1977. Her career experience includes working as a homemaker. As of 2024, Borenstein was affiliated with Alcona County Dems, the League of Womens Voters of Northeast Michigan, and the Alcona County Conservation District.[1]

Elections

2024

See also: Michigan House of Representatives elections, 2024

General election

General election for Michigan House of Representatives District 106

Incumbent Cameron Cavitt defeated Trina Borenstein in the general election for Michigan House of Representatives District 106 on November 5, 2024.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Cameron Cavitt
Cameron Cavitt (R)
 
69.6
 
39,397
Image of Trina Borenstein
Trina Borenstein (D) Candidate Connection
 
30.4
 
17,221

Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 56,618
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Michigan House of Representatives District 106

Trina Borenstein defeated Mary Hamilton in the Democratic primary for Michigan House of Representatives District 106 on August 6, 2024.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Trina Borenstein
Trina Borenstein Candidate Connection
 
59.1
 
3,924
Silhouette Placeholder Image.png
Submit photo
Mary Hamilton
 
40.9
 
2,710

There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 6,634
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

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Republican primary election

Republican primary for Michigan House of Representatives District 106

Incumbent Cameron Cavitt defeated Todd Smalenberg in the Republican primary for Michigan House of Representatives District 106 on August 6, 2024.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Cameron Cavitt
Cameron Cavitt
 
59.0
 
10,892
Image of Todd Smalenberg
Todd Smalenberg Candidate Connection
 
41.0
 
7,568

Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 18,460
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Campaign finance

Endorsements

Campaign themes

2024

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Candidate Connection

Trina Borenstein completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Borenstein's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

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In the early 1900s, my great grandfather came to work a quarry in Greenbush. My husband and I still live on part of that property today. One of my greatest joys is watching my grandchildren splash in the pond their great, great, great grandfather excavated. I intend to secure the health of these woods and ponds so my grandchildren’s grandchildren can experience the same joy.

I am deeply committed to the ideals of democracy. As an active member of the League of Women Voters since 1989, I have advocated for many issues such as fair elections and voter education. The longer I live here, the more ways I see to address persistent problems in our community, such as affordable housing, reliable broadband, and threats to our clean water.

I volunteered in the last four elections for Legislative Representative for the Michigan House District 106. The hours and hours I spent knocking on doors and speaking to my neighbors in the 106th taught me who my fellow citizens are, and what concerns them. Most important is freedom. Not freedom to “do,” but freedom “from.” Freedom from having to choose between clean water and food on the table. Freedom from the crippling healthcare debt that 1.3 million Michigan adults carry. Freedom from the loss of dignity caused by poverty, especially in old age. And freedom from fear that we will lose the rights and freedoms so many have sacrificed so much to gain.
  • Affordable housing - Our district, like nearly every district in the state, has an apparent housing shortage. There are honest, hard working people hiding in storage units, because they are unable to make enough money to afford lodging. The very few temporary shelters that exist have months-long waiting lists. People coming into our area to work may have the means, but finding a place can take weeks or months. In the 106th, we have space and empty buildings to spare, and it is wrong that they are unavailable to be utilized. This is not unfixable, there simply hasn't been the public will to do something about it. I intend to spearhead that will, and to make sure no one who lives in our area has to sleep in the cold.
  • In spite of state and federal efforts, the Internet availability of District 106 is unacceptably poor. Even people who can afford the inflated prices of Internet service providers find the service they pay for to be spotty and unreliable. We should not have to drive miles to a library to do a job search, research a school project, or conduct business. Fewer and fewer people spend the extra money on a land line, now that we depend so much on our cell phones for so many things. No matter what carrier you use, the coverage in the 106 is also spotty and unreliable. With government action, rural areas got electricity and telephone service thanks to the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 and Communications Act of 1934. We can do that now.
  • very Michigan resident understands the importance of

    clean water. PFAS issues just south of us have brought this home to us resoundingly. Line 5 is a pipeline on the bottom of the Mackinac Straits, a turbulent area with direct flow into the three largest of the Great Lakes. Line 5 is decades past its expiration date, and lakebed erosion has barely been addressed. Any lost crude will be churned and spread among the lakes, probably before the spill is even detected. It would be another decade before work could begin on the proposed tunnel, during which Enbridge wants to keep the ancient pipeline in service. We cannot accept this risk to save a Canadian oil company a few tax dollars. Line 5 must be

    decommissioned as soon as possible.
Better Funding for Police and Teachers - It is difficult to attract law enforcement officers, teachers and emergency workers to our area. Once found, many of them move away again after a short time. This is because they are not paid enough to support a family. Our critical workers are indispensable to our communities for the safety and education of our citizens. Underpaying these professionals shows a lack of care and respect. The jobs they do deserve a livable wage, and we cannot expect them to stay if they cannot make ends meet. Higher wages will not only allow them to stay in our district, but will attract more qualified applicants.
The people I look up to the most are my parents. We unfortunately lost my mother in 2015, but up to her sudden death she was the calmest, most compassionate, and rational person I knew. Those are all qualities I strive to exhibit myself. My father, now 90 years old, was an athlete most of his life, and is still very active today. He is also among the most accomplished people I have known. He is a man of many great talents - literary, musical, and scientific - and very patient with even the most difficult people. Alas, I am unable to follow in all of his footsteps, but his curiosity about the world and his contentment in it constantly inspires me.
The book "Why Mommy is a Democrat," by Jeremy Zilber
Honesty, kindness, and common sense.
I am calm and patient and seldom rude. I am also a very quick learner. I believe that problems are often not what they appear to be, and work to see below the surface to the underlying issues that may be causing or masking the problem. I also care deeply, and feel compassion towards all living things - particularly people.
To work to make their district a better place to live, work, and play, and to see beyond the obvious and the present moment - to see what will be needed in the future. Change is inevitable, and our communities must be prepared and robust enough to weather the changes as they happen.
One of the most important values to my parents was to leave every place better than we found it. I want to leave Michigan House District 106 a place where families starting out can find jobs that will support their families and homes they can afford. I don't want anyone to have to hide in storage units or cars all winter in order to stay in the place they know and love. I want our natural resources to be as available and enjoyable to future families as they are to me. I want citizens to trust that their leaders want to improve life for them and their descendants.
Like most people my age, I remember the Kennedy assassination. I was seven years old and ill at home with chicken pox. I was watching a Woody Woodpecker cartoon, when a voice overrode the cartoon saying the President had been shot. I ran up the stairs and told my mother, who assumed it was a poor joke by a local ham radio prankster. When the news finally broke onto the TV screen, she was crying and shaking. She called my father to please come home. I don't remember anything else about the event except watching the funeral, and thinking that the children were even younger than I was and how awful that must be.
My first job in the "real world" was maintaining and digging graves in a pet cemetery. I also taught Sunday school and ran a synagogue youth group. Following that, I had a series of office jobs. When my husband went to graduate school, I took a job at Carnegie-Mellon University in the Chemistry Department where I worked for nine years. Since then, I continued to have secretarial, editing, and typesetting jobs off and on, but mostly stayed home to care for our family.
Virginia Lee Burton's "Life Story" - When I was five years old, I received this book as a gift from my grandmother. It had wonderful illustrations and it was one of the first books I was able to read to myself. "Life Story" showed me a perspective that most very young people don't get, from far away in space. It allowed me to understand that the world is old, that life is old, and that everything is constantly changing. This sparked my curiosity about everything natural, about animals, about people, about plant life, and about rocks. My parents were also in love with rocks, and as my siblings and I grew up, collecting rocks. Studying the geological history of the many places we went was a beloved family tradition. I am still a rockhound. I did not complete my undergraduate studies, but I was on my way to an earth science major. My fascination with the stories rocks tell, I believe, goes back to that book.
After wracking my brain for some time, I have realized there is no one's life I'd even grudgingly exchange for my own, fictional or not. However, if I were to become a different animal, I would want to be an otter. Otters are lithe and graceful and they always look like they are having the time of their lives.
The Water Is Wide
My oldest daughter, who we tragically lost at the beginning of the pandemic, suffered from mental illness all her life. As she reached adolescence, things got bad. We spent years trying to get help for her, and she was in and out of hospitals and jails until her late 20s. The mental health system would not distinguish between mental health issues and drug issues, and doctor after doctor told us we were bad parents, and that if we were different, she would be different. Fortunately for us, we had two other daughters who had no such problems, which bolstered our confidence. Not one doctor or hospital stay resulted in either a consistent diagnosis or helpful advice, but a few told us that in cases like hers, some of the more troubling aspects of her illness often improved at full maturity, around age 30. We clung to that hope, tried to make sure she always knew how much we loved her and that she could not alienate us, and that our arms would always welcome her. At around 28, she started to feel better. By the time she was 30, she was largely recovered, working, and living on her own. The flush of success she felt in herself was palpable, and it was an effort to hold back tears when we spent time together. She was still mentally ill, but she could cope. She was happier than we'd seen her since she was a very young child. At 37, we lost her suddenly at the start of the pandemic. I frequently wonder why I'm not bitter about the short time we had with the "real" her. But that last decade, watching her manifest the woman we knew was in there, and getting to know her as a mature person, was such a joy, and as a parent, so gratifying, that I cannot begrudge what we did have.
According to Google, "governors interact with their legislatures to help ensure that their priorities, goals, and accomplishments are accurately presented and positively received during oversight hearings and other legislative activities that address and evaluate executive branch implementation of legislatively mandated programs and services." That seems ideal to me. Civility and respect goes both ways, and there is never a good excuse for breakdowns in good will or communication. Doing the business of the people is the single most important function of government.
Like the rest of the country, addressing the dangers and solutions to climate change is paramount. Fortunately, those efforts can be made alongside other priorities.

Protecting our state's water resources is critical. Line 5 endangers the livelihood and health of the people in northern Michigan. Although it provides propane to roughly 12,000 homes in the UP, about 40 MILLION people depend on the Great Lakes for drinking water. There are other sources of propane available and in use today, but where will 40 million people find an alternate source of water?

The Great Lakes famously store over 20% of the world's fresh water. Michigan enjoys unique access to that water, but we must also shoulder the responsibility to keep those sources healthy for our country and the world.

Unfortunately, the state's next greatest challenge will be to restore the public's trust in their leaders. This trust has been eroded by years of misinformation and disinformation, often spread using dark money in campaigns and targeted media. It is past time to restore campaign finance laws and regulations like the "Fairness Doctrine" that prevented the misuse of broadcast licenses to set a biased public agenda. This would be a good start.
Previous experience in government or politics is definitely beneficial, but not necessary. Most people who run for office are politically minded and watch what goes on in their government with great interest. They are not entirely naive when entering the race. Many candidates come from backgrounds in other organizations or businesses that have taught them the skills they will use in government positions. Organization, caution, civility, concern - these are all traits that serve a leader well in whatever capacity they are in.
Collaboration is necessary in any group endeavor, and a legislature is the epitome of a group endeavor. It is probably impossible to accomplish anything legislatively without an aptitude for building relationships and learning from the group.
There are many legislators I have admired over my lifetime. I have been very impressed with the relationship between Gov. Whitmer and her staff. They work together with congeniality and effectiveness, and those traits go hand in hand. If a leader is surrounded by colleagues who mistrust or dislike them, they will not gain the loyalty or enthusiasm that is needed to be effective.

Another legislator I have admired is Tip O'Neil. He had the ability to make everyone he spoke with feel seen, heard, and remembered. He genuinely liked people, and it showed in every interaction.

I have admired Elizabeth Warren for her passion and dedication to fairness, and fighting for the benefit of citizens who have little power. I would like to be a champion to the disenfranchised, to my neighbors who don't have the time or resources that I have to dedicate to making sure they are not lost in the system. No one should be a second-class citizen in this country.

Lynn Rivers, a Michigan Representative to Congress from 1995 to 2003, earned a great deal of my respect. She was once one of those disenfranchised citizens, but she saw a path to better the lives of the people she loved. It was a tough row to hoe, but she persisted and became one of the best and most effective legislators I have ever seen.
No.
For the last few years, an older man who I will call Job, Job has done odd jobs for us and other households in the community. In the spring of 2023, Job found himself homeless. He used every resource he had to find a place he could afford to live in. Finally, he begged us to let him borrow and pitch a tent on our property. We put him in a spare room, and joined the shelter search with what resources *we* had. He stayed with us as long as he could, but we live in the middle of nowhere, and without a vehicle, Job was basically trapped. If he couldn’t get a ride to and from a job, he couldn’t work. For nine months, my husband and I called every church and agency in several counties, and took Job to every rental unit we could find, and failed to help him find anything.

There were many agencies and programs with mechanisms in place to help someone like Job, but none of them had the necessary resources.

I was raised to help people with less than I have, and to try to leave everyplace better than I found it. The Job situation stymied me.

We have plenty of unoccupied housing in northeastern lower Michigan, but there is no political will to make any of it suitable for people in Job’s circumstances. I know he is just one among many, and I am determined to help.
This is really a tough question, because I really like jokes and riddles. So, I'll give you my top three.

Two hunters were out in the woods, and one of them collapsed, apparently dead. The other took out his cell phone and called 9-1-1. He said, "I don't know what to do, my friend appears to be dead! " The dispatcher said, "well, the first thing is to make sure that he really is dead." The hunter put down the phone, and a short time later, the dispatcher heard a rifle shot. The hunter returned and said, "Okay, now what?"

Q. Where does the general keep his armies?
A. In his sleevies!

Q. What did the snail say while riding on a turtle's back?

A. Wheee!
Not in the moment. Emergency power is just that - the power to make urgent decisions that are time critical. Legislative oversight, that is, accountability of the decision maker to the legislature, is important, but can be analyzed soon after the fact.
To supply money to counties to repurpose empty houses and resorts for use as subsidized housing.
AFSCME
Elections

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Regulatory Reform
Government is responsible for creating and enforcing the rules of a society, and protecting the citizens of that society. A unit of of government, be it township, state, or federal, is ultimately accountable for everything that goes on during its watch. If it allows a problem to fester, or an issue or person falls between the cracks, that governing unit has to some extent failed in its responsibilities.

The extent to which a government provides clear, accurate, and accessible information about its financial performance, operations, and financial position, is an indicator of that body's integrity. In order to be responsible themselves, a citizenry must be able to trust the intentions and actions of it's leaders.
I would oppose changes to the current state ballot initiative process. In my experience the process works very well.

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Campaign finance summary

Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.

Trina Borenstein campaign contribution history
YearOfficeStatusContributionsExpenditures
2024* Michigan House of Representatives District 106Lost general$30,102 $0
Grand total$30,102 $0
Sources: OpenSecrets,  Federal Elections Commission ***This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
* Data from this year may not be complete

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External links

Candidate

Michigan House of Representatives District 106
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    Footnotes

    1. ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on June 13, 2024


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