Lansing, MI — Yesterday morning, Curtis Hertel officially launched his 2024 campaign for Michigan’s
7th Congressional District. Curtis was joined by members of the Mid-Michigan community, including
local elected officials and union leaders from across the district.
Curtis Hertel is a relentless advocate for Mid-Michigan and has dedicated his life to public service, most
recently as Director of Legislative Affairs for Governor Gretchen Whitmer, where he helped cut taxes for
seniors, reverse the state abortion ban, and bring supply chains home to Michigan through advanced
manufacturing plants.
During his remarks, Curtis spoke about his dedication to working across the aisle and prioritizing getting
things done over recognition and partisan politics.
“I work with a lot of Republicans and Republicans in order to do big things like bringing jobs
here to Lansing,” he said. “I think people have a choice in this race. If they want somebody who
could work with both sides of the aisle to get things done for Michigan families, we have a strong
record of doing that in the past.”
“That’s Michigan,” he said. “Not boastful, rolling up your sleeves and getting the job done.
Washington, D.C. could learn a lot from little old Michigan.”
Curtis went on to discuss his recent work on bringing manufacturing jobs back to Michigan.
“The Michigan we grew up in led the world in auto manufacturing, but decades of outsourcing
and globalization changed the game, and Michigan suffered. We needed to change too in order to
compete for the facilities and the jobs that are the future of auto production – battery plants and
next-gen cars. We pulled Democrats and Republicans together to get that done, and it is a
generational win for Mid-Michigan”
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Meet Curtis Hertel
Curtis Hertel believes that the only way to accomplish our shared goals is to take the time to listen and
work with others to find solutions that help everyone.
Governor Gretchen Whitmer tapped him as Director of Legislative Affairs, Hertel has been the state
leader in passing bipartisan legislation that cut taxes for seniors and working families, expanded workers’
rights, and won additional new investments in advanced manufacturing that will bring good-paying jobs
to Mid-Michigan and across the state. He was also instrumental in passing legislation that repealed the
archaic 1931 law that banned abortion in Michigan, even in cases of rape and incest.
Curtis’s son is a student at MSU and was on campus the night of the unthinkable mass shooting that killed
three students, injured five more, and terrified all Michiganders. In the wake of that tragedy, Curtis led
the team that passed common sense gun safety legislation, including red flag and safe storage laws and
extreme risk protection orders.
As a State Legislator, Curtis led the fight to preserve Michigan’s status as the world leader in auto
manufacturing and bring thousands of next-generation electric vehicle jobs to Mid-Michigan by working
with Democrats and Republicans to help pass the legislation that won GM’s $6.5 billion investment in the
Delta and Orion Township battery cell and electric vehicle plants.
Hertel has been a passionate supporter of Michigan’s first responders, including passing landmark
bipartisan legislation to provide ongoing medical assistance to firefighters who get cancer as a result of
exposure to toxic chemicals while on the job.
Curtis also served on the Ingham County Commission, where he worked to expand access to affordable
health care, lower the cost of prescription drugs for seniors, and preserve Michigan farmland. Later as
Register of Deeds, Curtis helped to uncover one of the largest cases of foreclosure fraud in Michigan
history, taking some of the biggest banks in the country to court to preserve the homes of people who had
been cheated.
Curtis Hertel knows that cutting taxes for retirees and working people, restoring vital manufacturing jobs,
and protecting our rights and safety are all critical to Mid-Michigan, and none of them would have been
accomplished without working with Democrats and Republicans to get it done.
Curtis and his wife Elizabeth have four children and live in East Lansing.
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