The new congressman from the 2nd District of Michigan is Bill Huizenga, a Republican who succeeded his friend and former boss, Rep. Pete Hoekstra. Huizenga (Hi-ZEN-guh) grew up in Zeeland, Mich., and minus a few short absences, he has lived there all of his life. His grandparents were farmers who started a gravel business by selling the leftover sand and stone that was lying around the farm. Huizenga’s father did combat duty during World War II and, after the war, went to college on the GI Bill. He started his own ready-mix concrete business during the postwar building boom years. In high school, Huizenga was an inattentive student who ultimately transferred to vocational school. But his instructors told him he had academic potential and advised him to finish his studies and go on to college. Huizenga took the advice, studying political science at Calvin College. Between his freshman and sophomore years, he made his first real estate investment. With money he had saved from working in his father’s gravel pit, he became the junior stakeholder with his father and two other investors in a 19-unit housing development. Also while attending Calvin, he met his future wife. As a young adult, Huizenga also indulged his love of travel, taking trips around the world. Once, during anti-government unrest just before the fall of the Berlin Wall, he was chased by riot police and dogs at a pro-democracy rally in Prague. Read More

The new congressman from the 2nd District of Michigan is Bill Huizenga, a Republican who succeeded his friend and former boss, Rep. Pete Hoekstra. Huizenga (Hi-ZEN-guh) grew up in Zeeland, Mich., and minus a few short absences, he has lived there all of his life. His grandparents were farmers who started a gravel business by selling the leftover sand and stone that was lying around the farm. Huizenga’s father did combat duty during World War II and, after the war, went to college on the GI Bill. He started his own ready-mix concrete business during the postwar building boom years. In high school, Huizenga was an inattentive student who ultimately transferred to vocational school. But his instructors told him he had academic potential and advised him to finish his studies and go on to college. Huizenga took the advice, studying political science at Calvin College. Between his freshman and sophomore years, he made his first real estate investment. With money he had saved from working in his father’s gravel pit, he became the junior stakeholder with his father and two other investors in a 19-unit housing development. Also while attending Calvin, he met his future wife. As a young adult, Huizenga also indulged his love of travel, taking trips around the world. Once, during anti-government unrest just before the fall of the Berlin Wall, he was chased by riot police and dogs at a pro-democracy rally in Prague.

After college, Huizenga worked for a local real estate firm and took over as co-owner in the family business, Huizenga Gravel. Hoekstra offered him a job in his district office, and he became Hoekstra’s director of public policy. After six years, he decided to run for public office himself, winning a seat in the Michigan House in 2002. He was re-elected twice, and served a term as chairman of the Commerce Committee. He was forced to retire in 2008 because of term limits.

When Hoekstra decided to run for Michigan governor in 2010, the real contest for his House seat in this Republican-leaning district was the GOP primary. In the seven-way race, former pro-football tight end Jay Riemersma, also of Zeeland, began as the front-runner. Riemersma raised $850,000 to Huizenga’s $553,000. Huizenga touted his conservative credentials, saying he supported conservative proposals for a “flat tax,” which would replace the income tax with a 23% sales tax on goods and services, and to create private Social Security accounts. He opposed abortion rights and is a longtime member of Michigan Right to Life. Riemersma, the former regional director for the Family Research Council, also ran as an anti-abortion and fiscal conservative. He tried to weaken Huizenga’s claims by attacking him for voting for the Michigan Business Tax in 2007.

Still, Huizenga managed to eke out a victory with a better political organization, built largely on the many contacts he had made among local political and business leaders during his six years on Hoekstra’s staff. He prevailed by just 663 votes out of about 106,000 cast.

In the general election, he faced nominal Democratic opposition from history professor Fred Johnson. The seat has been in Republican hands since 1967, and the district has voted for every Republican presidential candidate since Richard Nixon in 1968.