The Winner

If you live in Michigan's 3rd U.S. House District, you will continue to be represented in Congress by Hillary Scholten (D-MI), who was declared the winner of the 2026 congressional race, according to the Associated Press. Scholten took roughly 57.1% of the vote to roughly 41.4% for her Republican opponent, Terri DeBoer, a margin of about 16 points, according to official results as of Nov. 11. ​

Scholten won about 211,061 votes to about 152,988 for DeBoer, a gap of about 58,073 votes. The winner rests on the Associated Press call, and these vote figures are preliminary and may change until the state certifies the results. The seat stays in Democratic hands.

The Race

DeBoer reached the general election ballot by winning the Republican primary on Aug. 4, where she received about 53,864 votes. Cook Political Report rated the seat Solid Democratic heading into Election Day. Green Party candidate Joe Jock also appeared on the ballot and took roughly 1.4% of the vote, or about 5,339 votes.

Michigan's 3rd District has about 779,500 residents, according to Geographies data for the district. The median household income is about $78,200, and the median age is about 36. It covers portions of Kent, Muskegon, and Ottawa counties, including the cities of Grand Rapids, Muskegon, Grand Haven, Wyoming, and Kentwood, according to Michigan Advance.

About 38.6% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher. The district is about 72.4% white, 11.0% Black, 10.8% Hispanic and 2.9% Asian, with an unemployment rate of about 4.5% and about 11.7% of residents living below the poverty line.

What's Next

Scholten is set to take office on Jan. 3, 2027. She said restoring enhanced Affordable Care Act tax credits would be one of her first priorities, and she named West Michigan water infrastructure and government ethics as other priorities for her next term, according to MLive, which reported her comments to reporter Brian McVicar on Nov. 4.

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