Upton waiting out redistricting challenges before making re-election decision

U.S. Rep. Fred Upton (R-St. Joseph) says he’s going to wait until challenges against Michigan’s new political maps play out in court before deciding whether to run for re-election.

The Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission approved new district maps in December. Its congressional map puts Upton living in the same district as another Republican incumbent, Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-Zeeland). Huizenga has already said he will run for re-election in the new 4th Congressional District.

Listen: Rep. Fred Upton talks about his political future and his place in Donald Trump’s GOP.

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U.S. Rep. Fred Upton is Michigan’s longest-serving member of Congress. If he decides to run again where he lives, that sets up a likely primary between him and Huizenga.

“We’ll see what the judges say,” Upton tells Stephen Henderson on WDET’s Detroit Today. “There was a similar case down in Ohio, and the maps were thrown out.”

He initially tells Henderson to expect a decision about whether he will run for re-election “in the coming days,” but also says that he has plenty of time before he needs to make that announcement.

Upton also expressed frustration with the maps and overall work from the redistricting commission.

“They really messed up the lines up pretty bad particularly over over here” in West Michigan, he says.

He also addresses his vote against the Protecting Our Democracy Act, a Democratic-led slate of pro-democracy reforms. Upton voted to impeach President Donald Trump after the Jan. 6 insurrection and has spoken out against his own party’s increasingly anti-democratic rhetoric and actions.

But he says he didn’t want to vote for that particular legislation because he’s waiting for the January 6 Select Committee to finish its work.

“Let’s wait for the report to be concluded. Let’s see what lessons they learn,” Upton says.