Huizenga v. McCann: What’s at stake in Michigan’s 4th Congressional District

At Heartland Signal, we want to be sure voters are informed heading into the midterm elections. Accordingly, we’re creating a series where we offer voters in those districts a look at the two candidates and their stances on issues that matter most to voters right now.

Michigan’s 4th Congressional District 

Incumbent: Bill Huizenga (Republican)

District geography: Battle Creek, Kalamazoo and Western Michigan

Last election (2024):

Candidate	Party	Votes	Percent
Bill Huizenga (incumbent)	Republican	234,489	55.1
Jessica Swartz	Democrat	184,641	43.4

At a glance:

Congressman Bill Huizenga’s conservative record — against providing more health care coverage and in favor of tariffs and the war in Iran — is being criticized by Democratic state Sen. Sean McCann. The Democrat wants to end the culture of corruption in Washington, D.C. and is running on his record of sponsoring bills in the state legislature that addressed pocketbook concerns. 

Candidate information

Q: Who is running to represent Michigan’s 4th Congressional District?

A: Republican incumbent Bill Huizenga is running against Democratic state Sen. Sean McCann for this seat.

Q: What’s Bill Huizenga’s background?

A: Bill Huizenga grew up outside Grand Rapids and after college went to work as a political aide to his local congressman. From there, he started his career in electoral politics, first winning election to the Michigan House of Representatives in 2002 then the U.S. House of Representatives in 2010, where he has served ever since.

Q: What’s Sean McCann’s background?

A: Sean McCann was born and raised in Michigan. But as a citizen of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, his roots in the state go back centuries. After going to college at Western Michigan University, he was elected to the Kalamazoo City Commission, then the Michigan state House and state Senate.

Issues: Health care

Q: Does Bill Huizenga want to make health care better?

A: Bill Huizenga has spent the last 15 years trying to eliminate, defund and cut health care programs. After he was first elected to Congress, he voted to eliminate the Affordable Care Act. He voted to do so again in 2016, as well as to defund Planned Parenthood. He did so again in 2017, even though he admitted it would make his constituents angry. Then last year, he voted for $500 billion in Medicare cuts. He’s also repeatedly voted to privatize Medicare, even though advocacy groups warn that would send the program into a death spiral.

Q: Does Sean McCann want to make health care better?

A: Sean McCann has sponsored a number of bills in Michigan that would have given more people health care, including ones that would increase coverage for children suffering from rare diseases and make it easier to get prescriptions renewed. He’s also sponsored bills that would keep women’s reproductive health care records private, prevent women from being criminally charged for having abortions, ban conversion therapy and distribute medicine that can fight fentanyl overdoses. He also says he wants to reverse the health care cuts that Bill Huizenga voted for.

Issues: Costs and tariffs

Q: Is Bill Huizenga trying to make things cheaper?

A: Bill Huizenga has been broadly supportive of policies that have led to increased prices. Before Trump announced his tariffs, Huizenga said they would “absolutely” be the right thing to do, even though those tariffs ended up leading to a clock factory closing in his district. And he has regularly voted against ending the war in Iran, saying that doing so is not “fact-based.” The war in Iran has led to a significant increase in inflation and the cost of living.

Q: Is Sean McCann trying to make things cheaper?

A: Sean McCann has opposed policies that have led to increased prices. He criticized his opponent for supporting tariffs and wants to end the war in Iran. And in the state legislature, McCann backed the state’s “Lowering MI Costs” plan, which raised the working families tax credit and ended the tax on Social Security.

Issues: Data centers and energy bills

Q: Will Bill Huizenga lower utility bills?

A: Bill Huizenga supported keeping a coal power plant in the district open even though it actually lost the utility that managed it more than $1 million per day, leading to an increase in utility bills. He also intervened to stop a solar project in his district that would generate enough energy to power 34,000 homes.

Q: Will Sean McCann lower utility bills?

A: Sean McCann has focused on increasing the amount of economically viable electricity supply in order to lower utility bills, which is why he supported funding the Palisades nuclear plant and making it easier to build energy sources.

Issues: Ethics and accountability

Q: Will Bill Huizenga fight corruption?

A: Bill Huizenga has faced questions around spending $400,000 in campaign funds with his half-brother’s company for “campaign management, consulting, strategy work and reimbursements” while his half-brother also worked for him selling luxury condos. Huizenga also recently spoke at an event sponsored by the crypto industry, which has spent around $200 million on the 2026 midterms alone. And two years ago, he was investigated by the House Ethics Committee for spending campaign funds on snowmobile rentals, cigars and five-star luxury restaurants. He was just one of 13 Republicans to vote against a ban on insider trading.

Q: Will Sean McCann fight corruption?

A: Sean McCann has sponsored bills in the state legislature that would limit big corporations’ ability to try to buy influence. He has also said that as a congressman, he would sponsor a bill that would ban House members from trading stocks, working as lobbyists or using taxpayer funds on luxury travel. A Republican who served in the Michigan state legislature endorsed McCann because he thought he’d do a better job than Huizenga to “end the culture of corruption” in Washington, D.C.