Hillsdale alumnus and local business owner, Eric Leutheuser, won a crowded Republican primary last month against six other candidates.
If he wins the general election in November, Leutheuser will serve as the state representative of Michigan’s 58th district, which encompasses all of Hillsdale and Branch counties.
According to the Michigan secretary of state and electionmagic.com, Leutheuser received 2,373 votes, almost 50 percent of the Republican votes, in an Aug. 5 primary election, where only 16.7 percent of registered voters cast their ballots. Brad Benzing of Hillsdale received the second-highest number of votes — 1,087. Each of the next five Republican candidates won less than 500 votes.
Leutheuser believes that he will win the general election on Nov. 5, but despite his comfortable margin of victory in the primary election, Leutheuser isn’t taking any votes for granted.
“I am going to still keep campaigning.” Leutheuser said, “It’s important for the people who did not vote for me in the primary to see that I’m not taking their vote for granted. There are a lot of people in this district who had other first choices and by continuing to campaign I’m showing them I’m working to earn their support.”
Leutheuser’s opponent in the general election, Democrat Amy Thomas of Coldwater, could not be reached for comment.
Even before the primary election, Leutheuser was very active campaigning, going to local government meetings and parades, knocking on doors, and holding phone banks. Leutheuser received help from his wife and daughter, as well as a number of volunteers, some of whom are staff at the college.
“Until you run for office, you don’t know everything that’s going on around us,” Leutheuser said, “I wanted to get involved with those [things].”
Leutheuser’s connections with Hillsdale played an important role in his campaign. Hillsdale alumnus John McNamara served as his campaign manager, and Leutheuser’s Hillsdale degree built bridges with voters who hadn’t heard of him before the election.
“Quite a few people noticed that [I went to Hillsdale] and mentioned that that was a good thing,” Leutheuser said.
But his connections to the county were also beneficial to his campaign.
“Eric is not just a Hillsdale College guy, but a Hillsdale County guy,” Thomas Conner, a friend of Leutheuser and a history and politics professor at Hillsdale, said.
Leutheuser is a member of the Hillsdale Community Foundation, Economic Commission, Planning Commission, and Rotary Club. Leutheuser’s campaign was endorsed by the Hillsdale Chamber of Commerce and Michigan Farm Bureau’s AgriPac.
If elected in November, Leutheuser said that his legislative focuses will be reforming automobile insurance regulations and guarding against the Michigan state government’s overreach into local government.
“Currently we have really excellent coverage, but it’s also very expensive. I’d like to see that reformed in some way,” Leutheuser said.
Leutheuser also mentioned some other issues that he believes are important to the 58th district, including the protection of traditional values, the quality of education available to residents, and the economy.
“When I was running, I was always campaigning on more than just the traditional values, as important as they are, are really not on the top of the mind for people really just struggling because our area is still mired in recession,” said Leutheuser.
Leutheuser plans to serve the maximum three terms if the people re-elect him.