Jack Hoogendyk

Early life, education, and business career

Hoogendyk was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan. He is of Dutch ancestry. He worked as a manager with a Fortune 500 company. He joined Alternatives of Kalamazoo, Pregnancy Care Center as executive director in April 1996. In 2000, Hoogendyk was elected to the Kalamazoo County Board of Commissioners. Prior to that, he was on the Portage Zoning Board of Appeals and the Kalamazoo County Public Health Advisory Board.

Elections

After redistricting, Jack ran for Michigan's 61st House District in 2002 and defeated Democrat James Houston 57%-43%. In 2004, he won re-election to a second term with 55% of the vote. In 2006, he won re-election to a third term with just 51% of the vote.

Tenure

Hoogendyk was first elected to the Michigan House of Representatives in 2002 representing the 61st district, which includes the cities of Portage and Parchment, and the townships of Alamo, Kalamazoo, Oshtemo, Prairie Ronde and Texas.

Hoogendyk is well known for his conservative views on taxes, government spending, family issues, abortion, and affirmative action. Hoogendyk has proposed making English the official language of the State of Michigan. He was twice rated the most conservative member of the Michigan House of Representatives.

In 2006 Hoogendyk was one of a small group of conservatives to lead the fight against legislation to mandate that the state Department of Education administer to all sixth grade girls the vaccine Gardasil as a potential prevention against the risk of Human papillomavirus. Following the defeat of this legislation, no other state has implemented similar legislation.

2006 gubernatorial election

In 2004 he announced his intent to seek the Republican nomination for Governor of Michigan but eventually dropped out of the race to endorse Republican rival Dick DeVos.

2008 U.S. Senate election

In 2008, the term-limited Hoogendyk announced that he was running in the Republican primary to contest Carl Levin's seat in the U.S. Senate. He was the only Republican on the August 5 primary ballot. Levin won re-election, defeating Hoogendyk 63%-34%.

2010 congressional election

In March 2010, Hoogendyk announced on his website that he would enter the Republican primary in Michigan's 6th congressional district against incumbent Republican U.S. Congressman Fred Upton. Upton defeated him 57%-43%, winning every county in the district.

2012 congressional election

In 2011, Hoogendyk met with the Club for Growth, a fiscally conservative 501(c)4 organization, about running against Upton in 2012. Upton has received criticism for not being conservative enough from Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, FreedomWorks, Right to Life of Michigan, and the Southwest Michigan Tea Party Patriots. He announced his candidacy on January 17, 2012. He was not able to unseat Upton and ultimately lost the primary with 33% of the vote. The election was held on August 7, 2012. Had Hoogendyk won the Republican primary, he would have faced Democrat Mike O'Brien in the general election. Upton was ultimately re-elected.

Personal life

He has been married to Erin since April 4, 1976, has five children and as of June 2012 had eleven grandchildren. He moved to Wausau, Wisconsin in June 2013 to become the Executive Director of Hope Life Center, www.hopewi.org.