Biography & Campaign Analysis
Background
Bill Huizenga was born on January 31, 1969, to a family of Dutch Americans. He is co-owner and operator of Huizenga Gravel Company, a family business in Jenison, Michigan. In the early 1990s he worked in real estate, which he left in 1996 to become an aide to U.S. representative Pete Hoekstra. He and his wife have five children and live in Holland.
Career
Bill Huizenga's elected career began in 2002, when he won the 90th district seat in the Michigan House of Representatives, covering part of Ottawa County including Holland and Zeeland. He was reelected in 2004 and 2006 and was then term limited.
When Hoekstra retired from the U.S. House in 2010 to seek the Republican nomination for governor, Huizenga won the August 3, 2010, Republican primary for the 2nd district over a field that included Jay Riemersma and State Senator Wayne Kuipers, and he defeated Democrat Fred Johnson 64% to 32% in the general election.
He was reelected five times in the 2nd district.
Redistricting after the 2020 census merged his home in Holland with the Kalamazoo-based 6th district to form a new 4th district. Huizenga ran there in 2022 and, after 18-term incumbent Fred Upton retired, won a seventh term over Democrat Joseph Alfonso. He was reelected in 2024 against Democrat Jessica Swartz. He serves on the Committee on Financial Services, where he chairs the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations.
2026 race
The 4th district is based in southwestern Michigan and includes the cities of Kalamazoo and Holland. Bill Huizenga, who was re-elected with 55.1% of the vote in 2024, won the 2026 Republican primary with 85.13% against Phil Tanis, a former mayor of Holland. In the general election on November 3, 2026, he faces Democrat Sean McCann, a state senator from the 19th district who won his primary with 65.67%, and Green Party candidate Shafina Che Barnett.