Hillary Scholten | 50 Most Influential Women in West Michigan 2024

U.S. Representative for Michigan’s Third Congressional District
U.S. House of Representatives

Congresswoman Hillary Scholten is the first woman and mom to represent West Michigan in Congress. She represents Michigan’s Third Congressional District, a diverse area that is anchored by the urban centers of Grand Rapids, Muskegon and Grand Haven, and includes suburbs, farmland, and miles of Lake Michigan shoreline.

In Congress, she serves on the House Small Business Committee and the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. She said service is at the heart of what drives her mission to deliver for the district every day.

This includes securing infrastructure investments and eliminating transportation barriers in isolated communities, supporting the region’s small businesses, expanding opportunities for the next generation of West Michiganders by ensuring access to affordable child care and education from pre-K to college, and fighting for individuals’ fundamental rights at the federal level.

Scholten is one of only four freshman representatives selected by her peers to serve in a senior leadership position. She has delivered more than $20 million back to West Michigan in her first year in office through grants and casework and helped more than 1,400 Michiganders work with various federal agencies. To date, she has introduced eight bipartisan bills, including measures to make sure U.S. Coast Guard personnel are paid during a shutdown and to crack down on employers who violate child labor laws.

She also formed the Child Labor Prevention Task Force in Congress and successfully urged the White House to create the Interagency Task Force on Child Labor Prevention.