 |
| Photo Credit: AP. |
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — While preparing to march in a Saturday morning parade through this fast-growing city’s westside, Democratic congressional candidate Hillary Scholten warned her staff that the area was traditionally very conservative and they should brace for possible booing.
But the
crowd lining Fulton Street to mark the region’s Polish pride was friendly. Only
one man bellowed what sounded to the candidate like “Go to hell, Hillary!” as
she passed. But he also grinned and flashed a thumbs-up later.
He’d
actually cried, “Give ’em hell, Hillary!”
It’s been 32
years since a Democrat won the House seat where Scholten is competing against
Republican John Gibbs. But, its largest city, Grand Rapids, has turned steadily
bluer lately, and redrawn congressional maps have converted it from a district
that backed Donald Trump for president in 2020 to one that Joe Biden would have
carried instead.
It’s one of
14 U.S. House seats nationwide that are held by Republicans but that Biden
would have won under new maps.
As Democrats
brace for midterm defeats that could erase their narrow, five-seat control of
the House, a chance to limit the damage may lie in flipping Republican-held
seats that voted for Biden to stanch the effect of losses elsewhere around the
country.
Scholten, a
former Justice Department attorney and Christian Reform Church deacon, lost the
seat to Republican Rep. Peter Meijer in 2020. But Meijer was defeated in his
Michigan GOP primary this year by Trump-backed challenger Gibbs, a former
software engineer who falsely purports that the 2020 presidential election was
stolen.
Scholten is
trying to become the first Democratic woman elected to the House from western
Michigan and isn’t counting on more favorable boundaries to get her there,
noting that it’s “hard for people to believe in what they’ve never seen before,
and we feel that every day.”
But even
Gibbs concedes the new maps have Democrats excited.
“In a year
where they’re expected to have a very difficult time in the midterms,” he said,
“for them, a pickup is something that they’re salivating over.”
The list of
GOP-held Biden districts feature three Los Angeles-area seats and one in
California’s Central Valley. Others are the territories of Republican Reps. Don
Bacon in Omaha, Nebraska, and Steve Chabot in Cincinnati. Pennsylvania
Republican Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, who represents the moderate swing
battleground of Bucks County, north of Philadelphia, faces a similar test. On
the other side are a dozen districts that voted for Trump but are held by
Democrats. Retirements and redistricting mean many no longer have incumbents
running.
Still,
Democrats see high stakes in their efforts to flip seats won by Biden. When
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer recently predicted that his party would hold
the chamber, he mentioned such territory in California and Illinois, as well as
Bacon’s and Chabot’s districts, and the Grand Rapids race.
Not every
incumbent is sweating toss-up races. Chabot says that, during his 26 years
running for reelection in southwestern Ohio, he’s “had more challenging races,
for sure, than anyone in the House.” But, as he competes for potential
crossover voters, Chabot is not emphasizing Trump.
“I agree
with most of his policies, but I’m running on my own record,” Chabot said.
“People can make up their own minds.”
Gibbs says
that, despite Trump’s endorsement, he’s building appeal among independents and
swing voters. He recalled one man approaching him in the lakefront city of
Muskegon, northwest of Grand Rapids, and saying: “I voted for you. I’m a
Democrat. Is that OK?”
“This race
is not so much about Democrat vs. Republican. It’s more crazy vs. normal,” said
Gibbs, pointing to high gas and food prices and ”what they’re trying to do to
kids in school,” with modern curriculums and inappropriate material in campus
libraries being especially outlandish.
But, echoing
Trump, Gibbs left open the possibility that he may object to the results of his
own election next month.
“If it’s
fair and everything’s on the up and up, I’ll accept whatever the result is,” he
said. But asked if he could define fair, Gibbs replied, “Not at this point.”
“We’ll just
have to kind of see how it goes,” he said.
A Scholten
win would cement this area’s political transformation from red to blue. Booms
in health, university and technology jobs are attracting scores of
college-educated workers — with new residents often importing Democratic voting
preferences. Grand Rapids and its suburbs have also turned more diverse,
including notable increases in Hispanic voters.
Such a
change was long unthinkable in the home city of Gerald Ford and former Trump
administration Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, which once epitomized
pro-business, country club conservativism.
“I love to
play golf. We play at public courses,” Scholten said, laughing. “I think that’s
a pretty good analogy, actually.”
Despite
Democrat-friendly lines, national Republicans see the district as a “checks and
balances” area where voters might have shunned Trump but want to control
Washington’s spending and potential federal overreach.
Meijer was
one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump, prompting the former
president to endorse Gibbs. The Democratic House campaign committee even
financed a GOP primary ad proclaiming that Gibbs was “hand-picked by Trump to
run for Congress,” believing he’d be beatable in November.
Trump once
nominated Gibbs to head the Office of Personnel Management, but he wasn’t
confirmed amid questions about past tweets, including one from 2016 in which
Gibbs wrote, “Today’s Dem party: Islam, gender-bending, anti-police, ‘u
racist!’”
Gibbs says
Democrats have posted far more incendiary things. “I don’t apologize. I never
have and will not,” he said.
Democrats
hope that a question on Michigan’s ballot asking voters to put the right to an
abortion in the state constitution energizes their base.
“The issue
of choice is front and center in a way that it wasn’t before,” Scholten said.
“It’s changed a lot of minds.”
Gibbs
counters that his steadfast opposition to abortion is a winner. He’d only allow
exceptions if a pregnant woman’s life is endangered. In instances of rape or
incest, Gibbs said: “That baby, born in that case, is innocent. So I don’t see
why an innocent person should have to perish.”
Raised in
the Pentecostal church, Gibbs spent seven years as a missionary in Japan. But
he converted to Catholicism in 2021 and now tries to go to Mass multiple times
per week.
He has that
in common with Biden, who is also a devout Catholic, though Gibbs isn’t seeking
bipartisanship there. He retorted of the president’s frequent Mass attendance,
“Yeah, I just wish he would accept the teachings.”
“If I ever
saw him at Mass, I’d have a nice, frank conversation,” Gibbs said. “Give him a
copy of the Catechism of the Catholic Church: ‘You oughta learn this.’”
Associated
Press writer Joey Cappelletti contributed to this report.