Adam Stockford is Hillsdale’s mayor. Courtesy | Facebook
Adam Stockford, mayor of Hillsdale and candidate for state representative, will hold a campaign kickoff fundraiser at Hillsdale Brewing Company on April 11.
Stockford will speak alongside a few guest speakers, but he said he hopes the event will serve primarily as an opportunity for his supporters to spend time with one another.
“We’re going to try to keep the speaking to a very minimal part of it,” Stockford said. “We’ve got a great college up on the hill that has plenty of opportunities to listen to world-renowned speakers. The rest of it’s just going to be about camaraderie — spending time with your friends and neighbors.”
Stockford is campaigning on a platform of localism. He said he hopes to return power to townships and local forms of government rather than concentrating power in the Lansing bureaucracy. Achieving grid stability and energy independence are among his policy aims.
“Democrats have passed these disastrous green energy mandates that have already been tried in states like California, and they’ve failed miserably,” Stockford said. “Instead of sitting down and looking at real policy that would help Michigan residents, they would rather virtue signal and destroy the state in the process.”
He said the state’s frequent overreach violates the principles of self-government that serve Michiganders best.
“This is not something that’s conducive with self-government,” Stockford said. “This is the ‘experts know best,’ cookie-cutter policy out of Lansing that wants to treat every municipality, city, and township in the state of Michigan the same. We’re not the same. We want different things.”
Freshman Drew Bennett said he sees Stockford’s emphasis on local empowerment as a clear positive.
“While I am not fully familiar with the mayor, his emphasis on returning power to local government is important, especially given the potential ballot initiative in Michigan that would restore local control over utility-scale solar installations on agriculturally-zoned land,” Bennett said. “Again, not being fully aware of his popularity in Hillsdale, I’m not sure how he will fare in the district, though I will say I live in Michigan, and driving back to campus I have seen a couple of campaign signs in the area supporting him.”
Stockford said his views on government were greatly influenced by what he learned as a student at Hillsdale College nearly a decade ago.
“My notion of what self-government is all about was really cemented during my time at Hillsdale College,” Stockford said. “When you’ve got a school that teaches people to take ownership of their community, of course those people are going to want to get involved in local government. They understand that not only do we have a duty to do that, but you want to have a voice in your community.”
Stockford said Hillsdale has had an undeniable impact on local government. He said this is a good thing, and he plans on maintaining that legacy at the local level.
“If I win this election, which I certainly plan to, we’re looking at the last three state representatives for this area being Hillsdale College graduates,” Stockford said. “That’s the effect of an education that teaches you that it’s a duty to serve the public.”