DETROIT (AP) — Freshman Rep. Hillary Scholten has held off a challenge from Republican lawyer Paul Hudson to secure her second term representing Michigan in Congress. In 2022, Scholten became the first Democrat to represent the city of Grand Rapids in the U.S. House since the 1970s. The district in western Michigan is still seen as a Republican stronghold especially in populous Kent County. The Republicans targeted the county with multiple visits as former President Donald Trump campaigned to return to the White House. Democrats also are defending two open congressional seats and incumbents easily won Michigan’s other congressional races — five of them Republican and four of them Democrats.
