WXMI — After a week-long fight to elect a new Speaker of the House, Representative Bill Huizenga said the "tough process" could be telling for the road ahead.
Congressman Huizenga, who represents Michigan's 4th Congressional District, talked to FOX17 on Monday and suggested that the drawn-out election of Kevin McCarthy as House Speaker might have been unifying.
"It was a vital first step," said Huizenga. "The tough process, again, really allowed us to have various folks who had either stopped talking to each other or maybe had never thought that they could be talking to each other, actually get forced into a room and work some things out."
Huizenga said the factions within the Republican Party were certainly highlighted over the last week. These splits aren't new, he said. What's new is the lessened majority that Republicans hold in the house.
This time around, Huizenga explains, Republicans needed to depend on party unity more than ever. But he's hopeful about where the party is headed.
"So I believe, though the process that we went through this past week actually allowed the factions within the family, within the political family to have discussions that they haven't had in quite a while, and frankly, explore the commonality rather than the differences that we have," he told FOX 17.
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He's also keeping an eye on local politics back in Ottawa County, where a shake-up at the county commission resulted in the sudden appointment of John Gibbs, a former congressional candidate, as the county administrator.
As a Holland resident, Huizenga says he's aware of the changes. He plans on engaging in local politics, but not as a Congressman.
"I'll be doing that quietly, as a citizen, not as someone who's coming from Washington D.C. to tell Ottawa County what they need to be doing," he explained.
He does have some advice for leaders in Ottawa County- and really, anyone who's working as a government leader.
"I don't care whether you're at the federal level, the state level, or the local level, you better be listening to your constituents. You better also be listening to dissenting voices, voices that you don't necessarily agree with."
Reaching across the aisle, Huizenga also says he's looking forward to talking with freshman Congresswoman Hilary Scholten, who was recently elected to a newly redrawn district that includes Grand Rapids. Huizenga and Scholten both represent parts of Ottawa County.
