Former Kent County Commissioner Ivan Diaz is planning a 2028 campaign for Congress, which would put him on a collision course with incumbent Rep. Hillary Scholten, he told The Grand Rapids Herald.
Diaz this year was a candidate for Michigan’s 29th Senate district. He and Phil Skaggs lost in the Democratic primary to Abbie Groff-Blazak, who went on to defeat Republican challenger Brady Middleton and win the seat.
In the wake of the midterms, Diaz says he is now planning to challenge Rep. Scholten for the Democratic nomination for Michigan’s third congressional district in 2028.
In an exclusive sit-down with The Herald, Diaz explained that a congressional run would be one part of his goal to advance what he views as several key legislative priorities. These include expanding Medicare and increasing the minimum wage.
“There’s currently no other Democratic state politicians that I trust to continue that fight,” Diaz said.
Diaz was among several local Democratic leaders who signed a letter criticising her in August after Scholten refused to outright condemn Immigration and Customs Enforcement while backing Rep. Haley Stevens for Michigan’s U.S. Senate seat.
Though he met with Scholten after signing the letter, Diaz said the congresswoman was dismissive of his concerns and has not been in touch with him since.
“For me personally, I left that meeting feeling extremely disappointed and frustrated,” he said. “She spent the entire meeting being very defensive, essentially telling us that she knows best and that we need to trust her.”
As part of the planning process for a congressional run, Diaz has formed an exploratory committee to test the waters. Doing so allows him to expense travel and conduct polling on whether there is sufficient support for his candidacy before officially filing as a candidate, according to FEC rules.
Since the committee launched, Diaz reports having secured his first endorsement and $2,000 in campaign donations. Even in the early stages of that process, Diaz said he feels confident he has the support necessary to run a successful campaign against Scholten.
“The person with the best chance of winning against Scholten, with all the money that she is going to get… they have to have a firm base of support in Grand Rapids and Kent County,” he said. “The people who I have been organizing with for years have already established a firm base of support if we chose to go in that direction,” he added.
Diaz said he views Scholten as unpopular due to the way she has become disconnected from West Michigan. He claimed Scholten’s continued success in elections is due to the lack of a suitable Democratic alternative, a gap he hopes to fill.
“A lot of people who voted for Scholten, they don’t like her,” he said. “They just didn’t want a Republican representing us. Hillary Scholten’s own decisions have made her vulnerable to a primary challenge.”
“You have to remain rooted in why you ran for office,” he added.
Diaz said that as a member of Congress, he would be willing to work with anyone to enact his priorities, including Republicans and independents.
A representative of Scholten’s office did not respond to a request for comment from The Herald when reached via phone Tuesday.
In his mission to advance his policies, Diaz said he is helping to line up challengers to take on incumbent lawmakers at all levels, including Grand Rapids Mayor David LaGrand. That election, also slated for 2028, could see candidates spend as much as $200,000 each on their campaigns.
“I actually just had somebody, a well-known activist in our community, message me this morning and told me they’re considering primarying David LaGrand,” Diaz said. “I’ve heard that David LaGrand was holding fundraisers and that attendance at those fundraisers was scarce.”
Write to jackson@grherald.com