Nearly half of Michigan GOP candidate Terri DeBoer’s early funding comes from DeVos family

Terri DeBoer, the leading Republican candidate in Michigan’s 3rd Congressional District race, has received nearly half of her total campaign contributions from members of the billionaire DeVos family. 

DeBoer is a former meteorologist and the Republican frontrunner in Michigan’s 3rd Congressional District primary. During an interview with Fox News last March, DeBoer said she was a political outsider seeking to restore “fiscal sanity” to Washington. 

According to DeBoer’s FEC filings, 43% ($105,000) of her total campaign contributions have come from DeVos family members and their associates, including RDV Corporation executive Robert Schierbeek and his wife Mary Jo. 

The DeVoses are one of the wealthiest families in the country, with substantial investments including the Orlando Magic NBA team, the Amway beauty products company and RDV, a class private equity firm. 

The family’s donations came days after DeBoer announced her campaign on March 5. In a statement to Heartland Signal, DeBoer said she is still in the early stages of her campaign and that broader support is coming. 

“With the 1st quarter filing coming less than four-weeks after the launch of my campaign on March 5, 2026, I’m in the very early stages of my campaign and will continue to gather support over the next several weeks,” DeBoer said. 

DeBoer did not respond to questions about how her legislative priorities align with the DeVos family or her early lack of grassroots support. Of the $242,681.68 DeBoer has raised so far, $495.70 (0.2%) of it has come from small-dollar donations less than $200 each. 

DeVoses political influence

One of DeBoer’s backers is Betsy DeVos, who served as President Donald Trump’s secretary of Education during his first term. Betsy DeVos is a longtime advocate of school choice policies, which she championed during her time in Trump’s cabinet. School choice policies prioritize private education options over public schools, which have been implemented in several Republican-controlled states like Tennessee and Indiana. Betsy resigned from the administration on Jan. 8, 2021 over the administration’s unsympathetic response to the Capitol riots two days prior.

DeBoer’s campaign website includes a “Parents-First” section, which says she will ensure “funding follows the student to the school of their choice.”

DeBoer is seeking the congressional seat that has been held by U.S. Rep. Hillary Scholten (D-MI) since 2023. Scholten’s office did not respond to a request to comment for this story, nor did the DeVos family. 

The DeVos family, whose operations are centralized in the Grand Rapids area, have previously supported Republicans in the 3rd Congressional District. Their most recent candidate was former U.S. Rep. Peter Meijer (R-MI), who held the position for one term before losing the 2022 primary to John Gibbs. Gibbs was a former Trump administration official who lost to Scholten in the general election.