Republican field crowded in many Holland-area races

Editor's note: This article has been updated to reflect that U.S. Rep. Bill Huizenga lives in Holland Township.

HOLLAND — With some of the dustups of Michigan's new state and Congressional maps settled and the partisan candidate filing deadline for August passed, the race is on to determine who will serve as the Holland area's voices in Lansing and D.C.

Senior U.S. Rep. Fred Upton's retirement announcement cleared the way for Rep. Bill Huizenga to automatically inherit the Republican nomination in the new 4th Congressional District. Huizenga and Upton were drawn into the same district, which stretches from southern Ottawa County down to Berrien County.

The Holland Township Republican's old district, District 2, had covered all of Ottawa County and stretched north along the lakeshore to Lake County. Northern Ottawa County is now part of the 3rd Congressional District represented by Rep. Peter Meijer.

In November, Huizenga will face a Democratic challenger, Joseph Alfonso of Holland, who filed his petition signatures to enter the race April 19.

More: Michigan's redistricting commission adopts final congressional map

More: Rep. Fred Upton announces retirement from Congress, has been in US House since 1987

Huizenga's new congressional district is considered a Republican stronghold, though to a lesser extent than his previous district. According to political analysis website FiveThirtyEight, Huizenga's new district leans Republican by 9 points, compared to the former 2nd District which favored Republicans by 17 points.

Republicans in state House and Senate face August challengers

The area's Republican state senators are fending off several primary challengers at the ballot box in August.

Holland is represented by District 31, which includes Laketown and Fillmore townships to the south and extends north to Grand Haven.

Sen. Roger Victory of Hudsonville faces a primary challenge from Brian VanDussen of Zeeland. A third man, Steven Thomas, has also filed as a Republican in the 31st District though that may be in error. Thomas lives outside the district in Lapeer County and his online campaign literature indicates that he is running for a different state house district.

Hamilton, Saugatuck, Fennville, and most of Allegan County are represented by District 20, represented by Sen. Aric Nesbitt of Lawton.

Byron Center resident Kaleb Hudson and Allegan man Austin Kreutz have each filed as Republicans to unseat Nesbitt in the primary. In November, Kim Jorgensen Gane of Benton Harbor will be on the Democratic ticket in that race.

More: Nesbitt files for re-election in new 20th Senate District

More: Former Holland Mayor Nancy DeBoer files to run for new state House district

The Republican fields for state house are no less crowded.

Former Holland mayor Nancy DeBoer is in a three-way race to represent Holland in the new 86th District with fellow Republicans Orlando Estrada and Seth Getz. Rep. Jim Lilly would have inherited the 86th District, which includes Park Township, Holland Township and Laketown Township, but he is term-limited.

Four Republicans are seeking their party's nomination in District 43, which, locally, includes the townships of Fillmore, Overisel, Salem, the communities of Hamilton and Fennville in Allegan County: Nevin Cooper-Keel of Allegan, Phillip Joseph of Delton, Lindsay Kronemeyer of Dorr and Rachelle Smit of Shelbyville.

And in the skinny 43rd District, which stretches from Saugatuck all the way to the Indiana-Michigan border, three Republicans, George Steven Lucas, Troy Rolling and Kevin Whiteford, will vie for the Republican nod in August. The Democratic Party also has a competitive August primary in the 43rd, with Joey Andrews of St. Joseph and Annie Brown of South Haven running.

Rep. Bradley Slagh of Zeeland has the Republican ticket to himself in the 85th District but will face a Democratic candidate, Todd Avery of Jenison, in November.

County commissioners' seats contested

Eight of 10 Republican county commissioners in Ottawa County are being challenged in the Republican primary, with many challengers being supported by the group Ottawa Impact.

Commissioner Frank Garcia, of District 1 (Park Township), faces a primary challenge from Gretchen Cosby, Lucy Ebel has filed in the 2nd District to run against Commissioner Joe Baumann (Holland Township), Jacob Bonnema has filed in the 4th District represented by Commissioner Al Dannenberg (Zeeland) and Ottawa Impact founder Joe Moss is running in the primary versus 5th District Commissioner Randy Meppelink.

There are also competitive Republican primaries in the north of the county in the 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th districts.

The Democratic Party has fielded candidates in the 1st District (Danielle Smith), 2nd District (Joe Spaulding), 3rd District (incumbent commissioner Doug Zylstra) and 10th District (Douglas VanBennekom).

More: Allegan County will go forward with revised five-district map for county commissioners

Allegan County, in its redistricting process, drew new maps that reduced the number of county commissioners from seven to five.

Two county commissioners, Dean Kapenga and Tom Jessup, are now in the same district, District 3, and are pitted against each other in the Republican primary.

Board of Commissioners Chair Jim Storey of District 1 (Holland) faces a primary challenger, Ron Walters of Hamilton.

In District 4, there is a three-way Republican primary race between Stephen Young, Scott Beltman and Commissioner Max Thiele.

The Democratic Party is running two county commission candidates, Don Doggendorf of Fennville in District 3 and Austin Marsman of Martin in District 5.

Two candidates vie for new judgeship

The filing deadline for several local judgeships also passed in April, revealing that Ottawa County voters will have two choices for the new 20th Circuit Court judgeship authorized this year.

Paul Kraus, a senior prosecutor with the Ottawa County Prosecutor's Office, filed 1,525 petition signatures to put himself on the ballot.

Mercedes Watts, a public defender with the Ottawa County Public Defender's Office, turned in 1,108 signatures.

The incumbent judges in Ottawa and Allegan counties appear to have smooth paths to reelection. Judges Karen Miedema and Kent Engle of the 20th Circuit Court and Margaret Bakker of the 48th Circuit Court are seeking reelection unchallenged this year. Judges are elected to six-year terms.

— Contact reporter Carolyn Muyskens at cmuyskens@hollandsentinel.com and follow her on Twitter at @cjmuyskens.

This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Races for Congress, statehouse take shape