In The News

Over the years, Fred Upton has become a familiar face to people in Southwest Michigan. He served as a U.S. Representative for 35 years before retiring at the conclusion of 2022. But, there’s a new Congressman representing the region and he’s wasting no time in getting to know the area.

Bill Huizenga, R-Zeeland, won election in November of 2022 to become U.S. Representative for Michigan’s new 4th Congressional District, has been spending a good deal of time talking to community and business leaders in various towns throughout the district.

“We’ve probably visited about two dozen communities since January,” said Huizenga, who spent the day, Feb. 24, in South Haven, where he toured two manufacturing plants, Sherman Dairy, The Blueberry Store, and talked with city officials, community leaders, and people involved with agriculture and tourism.

The new 4th District, which resulted from redistricting in 2022, stretches from the Lake Michigan shoreline to Battle Creek and includes all of Allegan and Van Buren counties, as well as portions of Berrien, Calhoun, Kalamazoo and Ottawa counties.

“About 75 percent of the district is new to me, but not unfamiliar, so we’ve been committed about getting out and around the district,” said Huizenga, who represented Michigan’s 2nd District from 2011 through 2022 before deciding to seek office for the new 4th District.

“I want to get to know the details of every community – what the issues are and what people are facing,” he said. “This is an important part of what I do. I want to apply issues of importance in the 4th District to my job. It’s important to be connected to local communities.”

South Haven Mayor Scott Smith and other city officials helped to coordinate and organize Huizenga’s visit.

His visit with city officials proved to be productive, according to City Manager Kate Hosier. “We talked about housing needs, expanding the community’s infrastructure needs, water and sewer system improvements, road improvements and business expansion efforts,” she said.

When he’s not squeezing in time to visit communities throughout the 4th District, Huizenga is in Washington D.C. where he serves as co-chair of the Great Lakes Task Force, a role he has had since 2017. He also is a founding members of the bipartisan PFAS Task Force.

This year he will serve on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, serve as chair of the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee for the House Financial Services Committee and is a member of the House Subcommittee on Investor Protection, Entrepreneurship and Capital Markets.

This article originally appeared in the South Haven Tribune on March 5, 2023.