Michigan: Sixth District

Rep. Fred Upton (R)

Fred Upton (R) Elected 1986, 11th term up
Born:	04-23-1953, St. Joseph
Home:	St. Joseph
Education:	U. of MI, B.A. 1975
Religion:	Protestant
Marital Status:	married (Amey)
Professional Career:	Project coord., U.S. Rep. David Stockman, 1975–80; Legis. Affairs, O.M.B., 1981–83, Dir., 1984–85.
DC Office	2183 RHOB, 20515 202-225-3761 Fax: 202-225-4986 Website: www.house.gov/upton
State Offices	Kalamazoo:269-385-0039; St. Joseph:269-982-1986;
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The southwest corner of Michigan is at the western end of the overland trail from Detroit, over which the state’s two southern tiers of counties were settled by New England Yankees and Upstate New Yorkers in the 1830s and 1840s. They built small towns with schools and churches and colleges, supported temperance and opposed capital punishment, and in 1854 started the Republican party. There are towns in southwest Michigan that still recall proudly their past as termini of the Underground Railroad, and black families with ancestors who made their way north out of slavery to freedom. Later, big industries transformed some of the small towns into significant cities. Kalamazoo, started by Dutch-Americans who introduced celery to this country, became the home of Upjohn pharmaceuticals, which went through several corporate changes and is now part of Pfizer. Predominantly black and struggling Benton Harbor and predominantly white and prosperous St. Joseph, twin towns on Lake Michigan originally known for cherry and peach orchards, remain the home of Whirlpool appliances. Many other local companies and other famous industrial names have moved out, along with their thousands of jobs. This southwest corner is where the influence of Michigan recedes: People here watch Chicago television and root for the Cubs or White Sox rather than the Tigers.

The 6th Congressional District of Michigan occupies this southwest corner of the state, with Kalamazoo and Benton Harbor-St. Joseph its two major urban areas, and three smaller counties and parts of two others besides. It was for many years arch-Republican territory, represented by a succession of congressmen who deplored federal spending and welfare state measures: New Deal opponent Clare Hoffman (1935–63), Nixon defender Edward Hutchinson (1963–77), and pork barrel critic and later Reagan Office of Management and Budget Director David Stockman (1977–81). In the 1990s, Kalamazoo trended toward the Democrats, and the 6th (with slightly different boundaries) cast small pluralities for Bill Clinton. George W. Bush carried the district twice but lost Kalamazoo County in 2000 and 2004, thanks in part to the influence of the Western Michigan University community and its 25,000 students; Democrat Governor Jennifer Granholm won Kalamazoo County by a 59%-39% margin over western Michigan Republican Dick DeVos in 2006.

The congressman from the 6th District is Fred Upton, a Republican first elected in 1986. The grandson of one of the founders of Whirlpool, Upton grew up in St. Joseph, attended the University of Michigan and worked for David Stockman, first on his House staff, then from 1981–85 at OMB. He returned home and ran in the 1986 Republican primary against Congressman Mark Siljander, a conservative and evangelical Christian, and won 55%-45%. Upton is less like the congressional David Stockman, a scourge of federal spending, and more like the OMB Stockman, who rued the Reagan tax cuts.

Upton has a moderate voting record and he has often flaunted his independence in the Republican House. He has sought, with limited success, to use his leverage to reduce the size of tax cuts during the Bush presidency. He has backed more transparency to spending earmarks, an increase in the minimum wage and increased funding for Amtrak. He voted for the constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage, but he supports embryonic stem cell research.

Upton is the 4th most senior Republican on the Energy and Commerce Committee. As chairman of the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, he investigated the Salt Lake City Olympics scandal and defects in Firestone-Bridgestone tires; he worked to pass a package of safety reforms in 2000. As chairman of the Telecommunications Subcommittee for the next six years, he endorsed the Tauzin-Dingell bill to allow regional telephone companies to provide broadband service more easily. He criticized the recording industry for its inadequate parental advisory labels on music that contains sex, violence or strong language, but he took the view that the First Amendment bars Congress from such regulation. Bush signed his bill to create a “safe playground for kids” on the Internet—a “kids” space free of pornography and other inappropriate materials. After the Janet Jackson “wardrobe malfunction” in a Super Bowl halftime show in 2004, he helped to secure stiff increases in fines for broadcast indecency, from $32,500 to $325,000, though the legislation kept the existing standards. He won House approval of the Junk Fax Prevention Act, which gave an opt-out notice to recipients. Overall, he has backed deregulation of the broadcast industry, including the lifting of cross-ownership media bans in the same market. Upton could be in line for the committee chairmanship, presuming Republicans regain their majority. In the minority, he continued as top Republican on the Telecommunications subcommittee.

Upton has been reelected by wide margins. But his 61% in the 2006 general against theater owner and former television producer Kim Clark was his lowest since 1990, and was reflective of his gradually declining winning percentages in Berrien and Kalamazoo Counties.

Committees

• Energy & Commerce (3d of 26 R)
  Energy & Air Quality (RMM); Telecommunications & the Internet.

Presidential Vote

District Demographics (More Info)

• Cook Partisan Voting Index: R + 2
• Area size: 3,420 square miles
• Urban Population: 58.3%
• Rural Population: 41.7%
• Population 2000: 662,563
• Population 2005 (est): 673,966
• Median Income: $40,943
• Poverty Status: 11.4%
• Military Veterans: 12.8%
• Race/Ethnic Origin: 84.3% White; 8.8% Black; 1.1% Asian; 0.5% Native Am.; 0.0% Hawaiian; 1.6% Two+ races; 0.1% Other; 3.6% Hispanic Origin;
• Ancestry: 17.2% German%; 8.3% English%; 8.3% Irish%;
• Occupation: Blue collar 31.3%; White collar 53.0%; Gray collar 15.7%;