Hillary Scholten, the first-term Democratic Congresswoman from Grand Rapids, survived the first primary challenge of her political career Tuesday in convincing fashion.
Preliminary results from Tuesday’s race showed Scholten beating challenger Salim Al Shatel with around 10 times his vote total.
Al-Shatel is an entrepreneur who grew up in West Michigan and said he entered the race after helping in Scholten’s campaign in 2022.
Scholten is the first woman to represent Grand Rapids in Congress, and she was the first Democrat in half a century to win the seat that includes the city.
The Republican primary for the seat was much closer. With 56% of precincts in the district reporting results early Wednesday morning, East Grand Rapids attorney Paul Hudson had a nearly 5,000 vote lead over Michael Markey Jr., and the Associated Press projected Hudson as the winner. He previously ran for Michigan Supreme Court, and he was an attorney for Miller Canfield, a law firm where Scholten herself once worked in Grand Rapids.
Hudson and Scholten will face off in the November general election.
