Pete Hoekstra

Early life and education

Born Pieter Hoekstra in Groningen, Netherlands, he moved to America with his parents at the age of three. He received a B.A. in political science from Hope College in 1975 and an M.B.A. from the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business in 1977. He then joined office furniture maker Herman Miller and remained there for 15 years, eventually becoming vice president of marketing.

Elections

In 1992, Hoekstra made his first bid for public office in the 2nd District. The district, previously the 9th, had been represented for 26 years by Guy Vander Jagt, longtime chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee. Hoekstra rode his bicycle across the district, charging that Vander Jagt had served in Congress for too long. He scored a monumental upset, winning by almost six percent. This primary win was tantamount to election with the 2nd district seen as the "most Republican" district in Michigan, as Republicans have held the district for all but four years since it was created in 1873. Hoekstra later defeated Democrat John H. Miltner and Libertarian Dick Jacobs in the general election, with 63% of the vote. Hoekstra continued to ride his bicycle across the district every summer, and biked across the state for his gubernatorial campaign.

Hoekstra had promised to only serve six terms (12 years) in the House when he was first elected. However, in 2003, Hoekstra announced he would break his self-imposed term limit and run for a seventh term in 2004, citing his membership on the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. In 2006, Hoekstra's Leadership PAC (the Mileage Fund) raised nearly $160,000 in Political Action Contributions from contributors including the Teamsters, Michigan Credit Union League, and Little Planet Books.

Hoekstra faced no significant opposition in the Republican primary or in the general election (as in his previous five reelection campaigns) and went on to secure his seventh term. Shortly after the primary, he was named chairman of the Intelligence Committee, succeeding Porter Goss, who became Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.

2006

Hoekstra had no primary opponent. In November he was opposed by the Democratic candidate Kimon Kotos, who was also his 2004 opponent. Hoekstra defeated Kotos 183,518 votes to 87,361 votes.

2008

Hoekstra ran for re-election in 2008 against Fred Johnson, Associate Professor of History at Hope College. He beat Johnson by 215,471 to 119,959 votes.

Tenure

Hoekstra had a conservative voting record, consistent with the conservative nature of the 2nd congressional district. He opposed amending the Constitution to prohibit flag desecration.

Criticism of the Islamic Society of North America

Hoekstra and Sue Myrick sent an open letter to then-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales regarding the Islamic Society of North America, criticizing the Justice Department's involvement as providing legitimacy to an organization with extremist roots.

Weapons of mass destruction

On June 22, 2006, Hoekstra made headlines by announcing at a press conference in the Capitol that weapons of mass destruction had been located in Iraq in the form of 500 chemical weapons.

A number of other media outlets disputed the claims made by Hoekstra and Rick Santorum regarding the existence of weapons of mass destruction, reporting that the claims were disputed by both Pentagon officials, the Duelfer Report, and the intelligence community.

On November 3, 2006, The New York Times reported that a website created at the request of Hoekstra and Senator Pat Roberts was found to contain detailed information that could potentially be helpful to those seeking to produce nuclear weapons. The website was shut down on November 2 following questioning by The New York Times.

As of September 17, 2007, some news outlets reported that the Congressional committee Hoekstra had overseen had created "erroneous" and "misleading" reports about Iran's nuclear capabilities. "Among the committee's assertions is that Iran is producing weapons-grade uranium at its facility in the town of Natanz. The IAEA called that "incorrect", noting that weapons-grade uranium is enriched to a level of 90 percent or more. Iran has enriched uranium to 3.5 percent under IAEA monitoring."

Repatriation of Yemeni captives in Guantanamo

On December 27, 2009, Hoekstra commented on reports that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who had allegedly tried to set off a suicide bomb on Northwest Airlines Flight 253 on December 25, 2009, had subsequently confessed to being trained and equipped in Yemen. Hoekstra called for a halt to the repatriation of Yemeni captives in Guantanamo.

Tea Party Caucus

Hoekstra was a founding member of the Congressional House Tea Party Caucus in 2010.

Committee assignments

Caucus memberships

2010 gubernatorial election

In December 2008, Hoekstra said he would not seek re-election to his U.S. House seat in 2010, and instead campaign to be Michigan's governor. Hoekstra joined Mike Bouchard, the Oakland County Sheriff and former state senator, former Gateway, Inc. president Rick Snyder, State Senator Tom George and Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox as 2010 Republican gubernatorial candidates. In the primary, held on August 3, 2010, Hoekstra finished second to Snyder.

2012 U.S. Senate election

Hoekstra was suggested as a possible challenger for incumbent Debbie Stabenow in the 2012 Senate election, but he initially declined to run. Hoekstra later changed his mind and decided to challenge Stabenow in the election. On 29 August 2011, Hoekstra was endorsed by Republican Michigan Governor Rick Snyder, and on 23 September 2011, Hoekstra was endorsed by 2012 Presidential candidate Michele Bachmann.

Hoekstra faced Stabenow and four third-party candidates in the general election. On November 6, 2012, Hoekstra was defeated by Stabenow, receiving 38% of the vote.

Ad controversy

Hoekstra targeted Democratic incumbent Debbie Stabenow with a television ad which ran statewide during the 2012 Super Bowl. The 30-second ad, created by Republican advertising consultant Fred Davis III, opened with the sound of a gong and the image of a Chinese woman (played by 2012 Miss Napa Valley Lisa Chan) riding a bike alongside a rice paddy. The ad sarcastically accused Stabenow of contributing to the U.S.' spending problem, with the woman thanking "Michigan Senator Debbie Spenditnow", in broken English, implying Stabenow has earned China's gratitude for making the U.S. economy "very weak" while China's "get very good".

The commercial included a link to a Hoekstra campaign website with statistics about federal spending, decorated with images of Chinese flags and currency and using a stereotypical Chinatown font. In the HTML code on Hoekstra’s site, the woman in the ad is identified as "yellowgirl". A statement released by the Hoekstra campaign said the HTML code was mistakenly shortened from “yellowshirtgirl”.

Asian-American groups called the ad "very disturbing", and two of Hoekstra’s GOP opponents, Clark Durant and Gary Glenn, questioned whether Hoekstra was the right candidate for Republicans to support. The ad was criticized by Michael Yaki, former aide to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a member of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, and U.S. Senator Dan Inouye. James Fallows of The Atlantic called it the "most revolting ad". The NAACP denounced the ad as an "unnecessary race card."

The ad proved costly for Hoekstra; several polls reported him losing ground to Stabenow in a head-to-head match-up.

Hoekstra initially stood by the ad, claiming it hit Stabenow "smack dab between the eyes" on the economy. However, on February 10, 2012 Hoekstra shut down his controversial Chinese-themed website and phased in a new TV commercial in place of his original ad. American Values super PAC, an Asian American group, claimed credit for the scrub shortly after the group's launch of an online viral ad condemning Hoekstra.

On February 16, Chan apologized for her involvement in the ad. In a statement on her Facebook page, she said the role was "not in any way representative of who I am" and "absolutely a mistake on my part."

Despite the controversy, Hoekstra won the Republican primary. He lost to Stabenow in the general election.

Post-political career

In February 2011, Hoekstra joined the government relations group and Washington D.C. law firm Dickstein Shapiro, and was named a visiting distinguished fellow at the conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation, concentrating on education reform. Hoekstra left Dickstein Shapiro in 2014 to join one of its rivals, Greenberg Traurig.

Hoekstra joined the Investigative Project on Terrorism in 2014 as a Shillman Senior Fellow, specializing in national security, international relations, global terrorism and cyber security.

Hoekstra published his first book in October 2015, "Architects of Disaster: The Destruction of Libya" with Terri Blumenfeld. An Obama administration spokesman took issue with the book on November 11, 2015 because of Hoekstra's assertion that the removal of Libyan leader Muammar Qadaffi was a serious mistake since he had become an ally of the United States and his down fall caused Libya to become a terrorist safe haven. White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said: "a careful consideration of his long record would probably not conclude Col. Qadaffi was not a friend and ally of the United States."

In an interview with NPR's Robert Siegel on December 10, 2014, Hoekstra said he disagreed with the recently released Senate Intelligence Committee report on CIA torture. Hoekstra endorsed John Kasich for President in 2016.

On March 11, 2017, Hoekstra said that Chelsea Manning, Edward Snowden, and other leakers of government materials, having illegally released classified information, were traitors and should have taken their evidence to the intelligence committees of the U.S. Congress for proper investigations.