politics

Just over two months since the midterm primary, election season is already heating up for 2020, as Monday, Grand Rapids Mayor Rosalynn Bliss launched her campaign for re-election.

It’s been over three years since Bliss took the oath of office, becoming the first female mayor in the city’s 167 year history.

Mayor Bliss issued this statement quote:

President Donald Trump says it would be "very surprising" for him not to declare a national emergency if he can't make a deal with Democrats to pay for his promised U.S.-Mexico border wall.

WGVU spoke with a West Michigan Republican congressman about that option.

“I get the sense that the President is getting ready to declare an emergency and that will give him the cover that he believes he needs to support legislation that doesn’t provide him the funding that he’s asking for.”

That’s U.S. Representative Justin Amash.

Presidential historian John Meacham, author of the recently released book “The Soul of America” visited Grand Valley State University in partnership with the Hauenstein Center for Presidential Studies and the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation and Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum. Meacham explains the political rancor permeating American society is nothing new offering a way forward. 

The Newaygo County Republican Party believes it is the first county GOP organization in the state to issue a resolution supporting President Donald Trump’s pledge to construct a southern border wall.

The Newaygo County Republican Party is led by a 17 member committee. During its executive committee meeting held January 3rd, it unanimously voted to support President Donald Trump and the construction of a $5.7 billion wall along the U.S./Mexico border and did so with the drafting of a resolution.

Holland-based EBW Electronics employs 230 workers making automotive lighting circuit boards. The parts come from China and are assembled here. In a Sunday New York Times story the chairman of EBW had this to say about tariffs on Chinese made components, “It’s killing us.” In the Times story it was also stated the tariffs incentivize a company to move to either Canada or Mexico. 

Chairman Pat LaBlanc is a Republican and supporter of President Donald Trump. He spoke with WGVU about the media attention and realities facing his company.

A newly-sworn in congresswoman from Michigan is continuing her call for President Donald Trump’s impeachment.

U.S. Representative Rashida Tlaib wrote in an Op-Ed published by the Detroit Free Press that the president is a “direct and serious threat to our country.”

Tlaib then used an expletive to describe Trump in a meeting with supporters during her first official day in Congress.

Tlaib vowed to oust the President in her campaign for Michigan’s 13th Congressional District.

Governor Gretchen Whitmer says the state needs to do more work with small and geographically-disadvantaged businesses.

She signed an executive directive Friday. It requires the state Department of Technology, Management, and Budget to work with state agencies and small business organizations to come up with policies to increase purchases and contracts from those types of businesses.