Candidate Hillary Scholten talks faith’s call to action
In a sparse office next to a cheese shop on Fuller Avenue, a former attorney for the Department of Justice is running to become the first female representative of Michigan’s 3rd Congressional District. The old Volunteers of America sign still stands atop the building, but a small yard sign sits in the window: Hillary Scholten for Congress. I met with Scholten earlier this week to discuss her campaign and the issues that are important to college students.
Scholten, who worked as an immigration lawyer under the Obama administration, returned to her native west Michigan in 2017 following the election of President Trump. In Grand Rapids, she was an attorney at the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center. “I’m someone who throughout my life has been advocating for people on the margins,” said Scholten, who has worked at the Justice Department, Mel Trotter Ministries and other organizations that aid underprivileged individuals.
Scholten spoke to the importance of her Christian faith in motivating this advocacy: “My faith has always motivated me to action. The example of Christ was not just to read and internalize. It was an act of service… As Christians we’re called to the same kind of action.” In a follow-up email, Scholten elaborated, saying, “Our faith teaches that every person and every other living thing has inherent worth and dignity. It also teaches that we are called to uphold that dignity and protect it through the work of our hands.”
This inspiration to act didn’t come from just anywhere. Scholten cited the example her mom, a public school teacher in a high-poverty school district, set while growing up. “She opened our home to [her students] and went above and beyond for these families,” she said. It was this type of commitment that Scholten says caused her to continually ask, “What more can I do for my community?”
Students and education at all levels are important issues for Scholten. When asked about college students in particular, she spoke to how they have been crucial to her campaign. “College students are our future leaders,” she said. “We are connected with a lot of students who have interned on this campaign in our outreach that we have done.” In particular, Scholten said that they have found students tend to focus on issues that will affect them and future generations, such as living wages, and especially the effects of global climate change.
Scholten noted the concerns of female students specifically in a time where, she said, “there has been a real backlash against women’s rights, and women in particular are excited about this campaign.” Advocating for women and girls is an important aspect of Scholten’s campaign. Scholten noted that the entirety of West Michigan has only ever been represented by one woman, Republican Ruth Thompson. Thompson served as the representative for Michigan’s 9th District when it covered a portion of West Michigan from 1950 to 1957.
In terms of encouraging and educating West Michigan’s students, whom, preschool through graduate school, make up 25% of her district, Scholten stressed the need for more funding in public schools. “The schools are disastrously underfunded,” she said, adding, “we need to pay [teachers] what they’re worth.”
Investing in schools also includes “common sense” gun reform for Scholten. “We’re building schools here in West Michigan to make them responsive to an active shooter, to give students places to hide,” she stated. She noted that her children, ages nine and seven, who were off in a side room watching cartoons during the interview, have to participate in active shooter drills regularly. She spoke with disdain that “that’s something we’re willing to put on young children, as opposed to solving this problem ourselves.”
“To sort of put a fine point on it,” Scholten said when discussing the issues that affect the people of the 3rd District, “I really saw a lack of representation at our congressional level… for people who really needed it… and felt that West Michigan was ready for the first woman to represent them.”
Students that are interested in volunteering for Scholten’s campaign can find information at hillaryscholten.com.
Note: Hillary Scholten is married to Chimes advisor Jesse Holcomb. Holcomb had no role in writing, editing, or reviewing this piece.
Jake K. • Oct 16, 2020 at 10:57 am
Thank you, Russell Hogan, for your broad brush depiction of Christians who BELIEVE and FOLLOW Biblical TRUTH. Our world would not be the same without people like you.
Sanctity of life is a litmus test for many voters. Hillary fails. Biden fails…whether or not he carries a rosary in his pocket. How do people claim to be of strong faith when they act contrary to a basic foundation of life? How does a father, a mother, and grandparent explain to a child that they support the extermination of life?
Unfortunately, Mel Trotter endorses Hillary, so my contributions to an otherwise valued ministry will cease.
Mark Inman • Oct 14, 2020 at 3:16 pm
Sorry Hillary but you will not be getting my vote either. As a Christian, I agree with God that murder is wrong as Exodus 20:13 shares in the 10 commandments. If God says that killing is wrong how do you justify your religious beliefs with the practice of murdering babies? It takes more than good deeds and social justice to get into Heaven. It takes a relationship with Jesus in order to make it to Heaven. It takes repentance, it takes loving God and loving His Precepts. John 14:23 says that if we love Jesus we will keep His Words. I cannot go against God’s Word to vote for you, even if you claim to be a Christian. In Fact, I will not vote for anyone who believes that woman have the right to muder their babies.
Russell Hogan • Oct 7, 2020 at 1:31 pm
Thank you, Hillary, for running in this race & for your pro-choice stance. Those who criticize you for that are not truly “pro-life” because they consistently support candidates who continue archaic & harmful ideas about such things as women’s rights, racial & gender equality, healthcare, education, etc. Most of these candidates are Republicans who use their “pro-life” stance to gain votes while simultaneously violating the public good in all the above categories. The vast majority of them are corporatists who shamelessly worsen the inhumane inequity in our system. I commend your courage. You have my vote.
Ron Uzarski • Sep 20, 2020 at 1:36 pm
Ms Scholton…I never heard of your name until the last 3 weeks. What you had to say bout your qualifications really impressed me. I thought your willingness to want to help the poor and woman is remarkable. I thought to myself well this is someone I can vote for because of my position of helping the poor and unfortunate. So i said to myself …she had to be pro life . I was shocked to learn that that …no…you are pro choice ! How can you want to help and defend the poor and unfortunate…yet rebuke the most innocent of all…the unborn babies ??? When I consider my vote for an individual for public office, the first criteria is their stance on abortion ! You are rebuking everything you say you are . Im sorry ms Hillary but you broke my bubble !!! I cannot and will not vote for you !.
Deb Parrish • Sep 11, 2020 at 4:47 pm
I find it extremely sad that Ms. Scholten is citing her faith in her politcal ads, as well as protecting the rights of others. Yet, her faith apparently does not compel her to protect the rights of innocent, defenseless human beings while they’re in the protective environment that God provided them to reside for the first nine months of their life.
Faith isn’t dressing children in their Sunday best, it’s protecting their lives. Jesus didn’t condemn the unborn to death as a remedy to an inconvenient situation.
Sue Kleinhuizen • Sep 8, 2020 at 5:47 pm
Hillary,
Is this really a quote from you? If so, please think about what you said & what you were taught through your faith and teachings as a Christian.
In a follow-up email, Scholten elaborated, saying, “Our faith teaches that every person and every other living thing has inherent worth and dignity. It also teaches that we are called to uphold that dignity and protect it through the work of our hands.”
When you were pregnant, did you not believe that you had a human life, a “living thing” growing in you? Weren’t you excited to feel your baby kick? Those were little baby legs kicking. Didn’t your baby have “inherent worth and dignity”?
Our current laws give animals more dignity than our unborn babies. Women make choices. Just because they’ve made a bad choice to have unprotected sex, does not mean they don’t have to be responsible for their choices & of the outcome of their choice which is a new life & “to uphold that dignity” of their baby “& protect it”. In such a case, they’ve had their choice & now they want to take away their baby’s choice to live. It is not ok to murder their baby because they’re not happy with the result of their choice.
We don’t allow mothers to murder their month old child because they’re “inconvenient”. But we do allow late term or partial birth abortion!???? Makes no sense! Should a person be allowed to murder their spouse if they decide they made the wrong choice? Many may want to, but “no”, they get a divorce. A mother with an unwanted pregnancy has other options than murder….like adoption. There are many organizations out there to offer help such as Grand Rapids Right to Life or Right to Life of Michigan and many churches.
Pro-lifers aren’t against having choices. Just be responsible for the choices made. Don’t make a second “bad” choice!
The most important issue for a Christian, when casting their vote, is whether they want to vote for a candidate who is pro-abortion or pro-life. Nothing is more important! A vote for you will be a vote for killing innocent babies. Your supporters need to accept responsibility for those murders.
Please pray about it.
Maureen Tatu • Aug 5, 2020 at 12:03 pm
Congratulations, Hillary Sholten,on working with Immigrants to help them to legally obtain US Citizenship.
However, your desire to kill infants in-utero and even after their birth, does not square with your Christian Faith. If you truly want to win, and help citizens of Western Michigan, you will follow your Christian Faith, and reconsider your pro- Abortion stance. Please stop taking money from Planned Parenthood, Emily’s List, and NARAL. If you keep seeking their blood money, you will lose badly to Peter Meijer. That’s basic, in Western Michigan.