MI-4 · Allegan & Van Buren Counties, and parts of Berrien, Calhoun, Kalamazoo & Ottawa

The numbers on Southwest Michigan, sourced and cited.

This site tracks Michigan's 4th Congressional District against primary-source data, from the Congressional Record and House Clerk roll calls to CBO estimates, Census figures, and USAFacts. Every claim here links back to where it came from, and where the data runs thin, I'll say so rather than dress up a weaker source to look like more than it is.

Michigan, at a glance

Statewide context

10.1M

Residents statewide (2025), the 10th-most populous state, about 3% of the U.S. population.

Source: USAFacts, state population data

5.0%

Statewide unemployment rate (April 2026), running above the national average.

Source: USAFacts / BLS Local Area Unemployment Statistics

~$71,100

Median household income statewide, still trailing the national figure by several thousand dollars.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey

13.1%

Statewide poverty rate, slightly above the national average.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey

MI-4, at a glance

The district Bill Huizenga represents

785,367

District population (2024 estimate), roughly two-thirds rural and one-third urban.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau estimate, via district profile

$73,702

Median household income in the district, modestly ahead of the statewide figure.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau estimate, via district profile

R+3

Cook Partisan Voting Index, down from R+5 two cycles ago as Ottawa County trends less red.

Source: Cook Political Report, MI-4

55.1%

Huizenga's 2024 general-election win margin, first elected to this seat in 2010 (previously MI-2).

Source: Cook Political Report, MI-4

Why this matters: Trump's margin here has narrowed every cycle since 2016 — 9 points, then 4, then 6 — while Ottawa County, once reliably conservative, moved toward Democrats between 2020 and 2024. A district that sat at R+5 two cycles ago is R+3 now. Nobody should write this district off before the votes are counted. But a challenger isn't going to win it on vibes either, and the numbers above are where that argument has to start, not where it ends.

Coming up

Full article index →

Articles will work through Huizenga's voting record against the Congressional Record and House Clerk roll calls, his committee assignments and how they connect to the district's manufacturing and agriculture base, and what specific votes actually mean for MI-4, with advocacy-group estimates clearly labeled as such and kept separate from primary government data. Where the agriculture record holds up, I'll say that too — a source that only reports the bad news isn't one worth trusting, and that cuts both directions.