WEST SIDE QUESTION
It’s Politics 101 that many state-wide races are heavily influenced, if not outright determined, by voters in the southeast metro area but that doesn’t mean candidates from the north and west side of Michigan can’t have a fighting chance in a race like the U.S. Senate contest in 2026. So we are still hearing the name of Grand Rapids area Democrat Congresswoman Hillary Scholten who is now in her second term from a district that has its urban concerns. An attorney who spent time in the DOJ, Scholten was raised in the Christian Reformed Church but is a strong supporter of a woman’s right to choose when it comes to health care. She has been on committees dealing with environmental and small business issues, food safety and is a member of the Black Maternal Health Caucus, plus others. She has gotten her share of national press starting with Newsweek in late January right after it Senator Gary Peters announced this would be his last term. In February she appeared on the MSNBC “Way Too Early Show,” so she is no stranger to working the media. Scholten and her family recently marched in the 60th anniversary of the Bloody Sunday event at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma and has re-introduced the John Lewis Voting Rights Act. Observers are not counting her out on the U.S. Senate contest.
