Before her election to Congress, Hillary Scholten served as a deacon in her local church. That fact alone isn’t that remarkable — she counts more than one fully ordained minister as a colleague, after all. But as her fellow millennials and Democrats increasingly skip church, it stood out when she quoted scripture on the House floor — especially because it was in defense of abortion.
The issue helped Scholten win her West Michigan district centered in Grand Rapids, where Republicans have dominated since well before beloved native son Gerald Ford first ran for office.
It took her two tries to make it to Congress, with a loss to Peter Meijer in 2020. But under fresh district lines, and facing a more extreme opponent endorsed by Donald Trump, Scholten cruised to victory, offering “a new political home” for many of the mild-mannered, middle-class, college-educated descendants of Dutch immigrants in her part of the state.
