With Congressman Fred Upton announcing his retirement on Tuesday, WSJM News wondered what factored into his decision. He told us.
“The new redistricting map didn’t do us any favors,” Upton said. “Now there are more St. Joe voters that are associated with the district of Tim Walberg and Lake Erie than there are here in west Michigan. The district changed quite a bit. We had to grow by about 25,000 voters or so, and at the end of the day, we have about 350,000 different faces than we had before. So, quite a bit different.”
The recent redistricting drastically redrew Upton’s district, now stretching it north all the way to Holland. That would have put him into a primary with Congressman Bill Huizenga. Upton says the divisive atmosphere in politics was a small factor in his decision, but lawmakers need to learn to work together.
“It was a small factor, but it comes with the territory. Sadly, we’ve seen politics get real rough and tumble, not only at the congressional level, but we look at what they may have tried to do with the governor in terms of kidnapping her, and you look at threats on school board members and others. You see that type of stuff, and it’s not what our country really needs to be known for.”
He tells us it’s been a busy 35 years in Washington. What has driven him?
“Jobs and the economy have been my big focus always, but trying to make this a better place than when I found it and get through some of a partisan crap that you sometimes see on the news. My role on the Problem Solvers Caucus has been really instrumental to get things done.”
Upton has made no decision on what he’ll do next, but he says St. Joseph will always be his home. He notes there’s still the rest of the year to serve out, and he intends to work on Cures 2.0, spending, and helping Ukraine.
