Who owns Representatives Amash and Huizenga?

The mid-term elections are over a year away, but politicians never wait around to raise money to keep their seats in Congress.

The Center for Responsive Politics now has the most recent FEC filings for the 2018 election, since the end of June. It’s always instructive to see who is funding candidates. In fact, one could say that those who currently contribute the most to political candidates essentially own them.

Campaign funds are not just to get politicians into office, they are a means to have access and to get politicians to decide on policy that is in the best interest of those making the contributions.

We looked at the current political contributions in the 2nd and 3rd Congressional races and here is what we found.

Representative Bill Huizenga, the incumbent, is running against Rob Davidson. According to the most recent data, Davidson has raised only $8,923, compared to Huizenga, who has raised $548,232. This is a seat that the Republicans have controlled for a long time and the 2018 election will not likely alter that reality.

Huizenga sits on the Capital Markets, Securities, and Investment Subcommittee and the Monetary Policy and Trade Subcommittee. Therefore, it is not surprising that the primary contributors to his current election campaign are entities from the banking and financial sectors. 

Representative Justin Amash, in the 3rd Congressional District, is being challenged by Jeff Thomas. However, it isn’t much of a challenge, since Thomas has only raised $3,541, compared to the $140,160 that Amash has raised.

Unlike Rep. Huizenga, Rep. Amash receives a significant amount of contributions from more ideologically driven entities. One of the largest contributors is the DeVos-owned entity known as the WindQuest Group. Other groups on the list are Young Americans for Liberty, the Cato Institute and the DKT Liberty Project.

It seems clear that since there is no parity in fundraising between Thomas and Amash, that Amash is assured to maintain his seat for the 3rd Congressional District. As they say in the political world, campaign contributions are the mother’s milk of electoral politics.