Paul Hudson (L) and U.S. Rep. Hillary Scholten (R) | Campaign and Getty photos
West Michigan, a long-time conservative stronghold where Republicans represent almost every inch of Lake Michigan’s shore in the U.S. House, is again hosting a fierce battle for Michigan’s 3rd Congressional District anchored in Grand Rapids.
First-term U.S. Rep Hillary Scholten (D-Grand Rapids) is defending her seat against Republican East Grand Rapids attorney Paul Hudson in a district where both candidates told the Michigan Advance voters care more about kitchen table issues, than hyper-partisan fanfare.
“It’s a fascinating district. It really is a very purple district, probably the purplest district in one of the purplest states in the country,” Hudson told the Advance. “It is not unusual here to have neighbors that are Democrats next to Republicans.”
In 2022, Scholten, a former social worker and immigration attorney, flipped the district which encompasses Grand Rapids and other parts of Kent, Ottawa and Muskegon counties known as Michigan’s conservative “Bible Belt.” The seat was represented by by U.S. Rep. Peter Meijer (R-Grand) Rapids), an heir to the supermarket chain, but he was knocked off in the GOP primary by former President Donald Trump’s pick, John Gibbs, who went on to a controversial stint as Ottawa County administrator.
Scholten soundly won the district in 2022 with about 55% of the vote, marking the first time Grand Rapids has ever been represented by a woman in the U.S. House and the first time a Democrat has represented the city since 1977.
“I am so proud of the fact that so many people who I grew up with tell me all the time that I was their very first democratic vote,” Scholten said. “The decisions that we make in the House of Representatives has very real implications for people back home from the economy to whether women can make choices over their own bodies, and it means a lot to me that people are inspired and pleased by the unafraid and practical type of leadership that I’m able to bring home … in terms of real results.”
U.S. Rep. Hillary Scholten (D-Grand Rapids) talks about the upcoming election and introduces the other speakers for the event in Grand Rapids on June 20, 2024. | Lucy Valeski
Scholten’s chances have been boosted by the 2021 redraw of Michigan’s congressional districts — the first by the new independent redistricting commission. The Cook Political Report rates the 3rd District as “likely Democratic” in the 2024 election. But with Democrats and Republicans battling for control of the U.S. House, every seat is crucial.
The heart of the district, Kent County — the fourth most populous county in Michigan with more than 660,000 residents — isn’t beholden to either political party. Kent County has waffled between choosing Republican and Democratic presidential candidates, choosing Republican President George W. Bush by well over 50,000 votes in 2004, but has had slimmed-down margins in recent years, supporting Trump in 2016 by about 10,000 votes and then Democratic President Joe Biden in 2020 by about 22,000 votes.
People in the 3rd District vote with open eyes about what elected officials will do for the area, Scholten said, noting that housing affordability, clean water and safety in neighborhoods are big issues for the region.
Building up a better 3rd Congressional District means literally building, Scholten said touting grants and investments she’s championed in Congress to bring back to the district including a more than $20 million grant for the Muskegon Airport and a more than $16 million grant to create infrastructure in Grand Haven for a zero-emission bus fleet.
In reflecting on her 2022 victory, Scholten said many voters in the area were shocked into mobilizing after the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated Roe v. Wade. The same year that she won her first term, Michigan voters passed an amendment to enshrine the right to an abortion and reproductive health care into the state’s constitution.
“It really just thrust this issue into the front and center. I’ve had so many people say to me, ‘I never realized everything that Roe v. Wade was protecting until it was overturned,’” Scholten said. “And folks know that a nationwide abortion ban could undo that. So it is very top of mind. It’s easily in the top one or two issues that I hear about from voters.”
Grand Rapids and the rest of Kent County are big battlegrounds this election cycle, even at the highest level of government with Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaigns hosting many events there.
Paul Hudson (right) and Republican U.S. Senate Candidate for Michigan Mike Rogers (Photo source: Paul Hudson’s social media account on X)
“It is difficult for either party to win the presidency without winning Michigan,” state Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks (D-Grand Rapids) said during a Harris event in Grand Rapids in July. “And … it’s difficult to win Michigan without winning Kent County.”
Hudson is running a campaign adopting a “common-sense” Republican identity, “Paul for All,” and invoking the name of the only president from Michigan, Gerald R. Ford, who represented a version of the congressional district decades ago.
“Partisanship is not top of mind for people, and I think that’s a healthy thing,” Hudson said. “We’ve focused our campaign on winning those persuadable voters in the middle — soft Democrats; soft Republicans; independents. And my approach has been, I’ll go into any room of any political persuasion, I’ll tell the voters what I’m all about and tell them I’d be honored to earn their vote.”
In 2022, Hudson ran an unsuccessful race for a seat on the Michigan Supreme Court, after being nominated by the GOP and receiving an endorsement from Right to Life of Michigan.
Hudson’s campaign centers around growth, prosperity and security, focusing on issues like limiting overspending in government, increasing education options and improving border security.
“The foundation of equality of opportunity in our country and setting the next generation up for success is education and right now, Michigan is falling farther and farther behind. We’ve slipped to 42nd in the nation,” Hudson said. “Literally everybody agrees that we need to secure the border. … A frustrating thing to me in watching Hillary Scholten’s record is that she has an immigration background as an immigration lawyer and activist and she appears now to have had an epiphany that border security is important. Why did she vote against every single border security bill that reached the floor of the United States Congress?”
Hudson echoes the arguments Republicans have made that Democratic candidates are only recently talking about immigration, as some polling shows that the majority of Americans have fears and concerns about illegal immigration.
Scholten makes the case that Republicans like Hudson aren’t offering real solutions that will actually make U.S. residents safer, adding that Republicans in Congress have had a part in killing several immigration reform bills including ones that already had bipartisan support.
U.S. Representative-elect Hillary Scholten meets with supporters the day after winning the state’s 3rd Congressional District over GOP candidate John Gibbs in the Nov. 8, 2022 election | Allison R. Donahue
“Our immigration system is deeply broken. It is an economic crisis, humanitarian crisis and national security crisis, and we have to do something about it. But unlike my Republican counterparts in Congress, I actually have been doing something about it. I introduced a bipartisan bill that is… the only comprehensive immigration reform bipartisan bill in the United States Congress called the Dignity Act. I am a champion of getting the Senate border security bill on the House floor, but Republicans would rather have this as a scare tactic and a political talking point, than … actually do anything about it.”
Scholten also pushed against Hudson’s “common-sense” Republican claim. One of her campaign ads focused on abortion access calls Hudson an “extreme Republican” citing his endorsement from Citizens For Traditional Values which seeks to overturn the will of Michigan voters who passed the 2022 abortion rights constitutional amendment.
“‘Paul for all,’ except women,” Scholten told the Michigan Advance. “He did not have to take that endorsement, but he did, and voters deserve to know why. You don’t get endorsed by a group like that unless you make certain promises.”
Hudson pushed back at the ad last month calling it “fearmongering” telling the Michigan Advance he does not support a national abortion ban and respects voters’ decision to amend the state constitution to outline abortion rights.
“This is a constitutional right in Michigan. … I’ve said it over and over and over again in interviews throughout the race, I’m on the record strongly supporting IVF [in vitro fertilization]. So, I mean, that’s why that ad was particularly frustrating to me and I, frankly, I thought it was out of line, because it was not based on any position that I have ever taken, ever,” Hudson said. “It’s beyond the pale, because, you know, it misrepresents my record and everything that I’ve stood for in this campaign.”
Abortion and reproductive health care aren’t currently featured as issues on Hudson’s campaign website. Abortion also doesn’t appear on the campaign websites of other high-profile Michigan Republican candidates like U.S. Senate candidate former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers or congressional candidate former state Sen. Tom Barrett, who’s running in the 7th District.
In terms of what he does stand for, Hudson said he loves telling the story of his personal hero, his grandfather, Duffy Daugherty, who helped knock down the color barrier in sports as head coach of Michigan State University’s football team from 1954 to 1972, recruiting players of color, some of whom went on to play in the NFL.
“He fought for our country in the jungles of New Guinea in World War II … He said that he fought in an integrated unit … and he brought that experience back with him to Michigan State,” Hudson said. “That’s what real leadership looks like. That’s what unifying leadership looks like.”
(Photo source: Paul Hudson’s social media account on X)
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