Don Hicks Courtesy | Don Hicks

Don Hicks decries a growing national debt, laments the spread of overbearing federal regulation, and calls himself “a firm believer in the free market.”

But the former public school teacher is running to represent the 35th State House of Representatives district as a Democrat. 

“When I look at things nationally, I tend to take more of a social progressive view, and that is more aligned with the Democrats,” Hicks said. 

Hicks is unlikely to win in the district, which current Michigan Rep. Andrew Fink, a Republican, won with 72% of the vote in 2022. Hicks’ opponent, Jennifer Wortz, won the Republican nomination with 52% of the vote after Fink announced his run for state Supreme Court.

Hicks said he understands he will likely lose Tuesday, but he is running anyway.

“When this opportunity came across my plate earlier this year, I had really enjoyed retirement, and I will continue to do so once the campaign is over, but I saw this as an opportunity for public service in a different way,” Hicks said. “I think there’s a sizable portion of red folks that will be voting for me.”

In the past two elections, the Democratic contender garnered 27% and 28% of the vote in Fink’s district.

“I think I’m going to do better than that,” Hicks said.

Hicks graduated from Michigan State University with a quadruple major in anthropology, psychology, philosophy, and history. 

Teaching is his family business, he said, as both his parents were teachers in Amherst, Ohio, where he grew up. 

“I had to bring home a paycheck, and the family business seemed to be teaching,” Hicks said. 

He said he fell in love with teaching as a public school teacher in Bronson, Michigan, where he worked for 34 years. 

“I gave it a try and found that I really enjoyed it,” Hicks said. “I enjoyed being a public servant and impacting kids.”

While in Bronson he taught classes on government, history, psychology, and anthropology, but said he especially loved teaching economics.

His economic policy has put him at odds with state-level Democrats, who he said have given no funding and little volunteer support to his campaign.

“I think the free market imposes regulation by the invisible hand, as Adam Smith would say,” Hicks said.

Hicks also sees federal regulation and political control as a subversion of the federalism our country was founded on.

“It shouldn’t be one size fits all,” Hicks said. “It should be more grassroots up where you have municipalities deciding what’s best for their geographic area.”

Hillsdale Mayor Adam Stockford said he thinks Hicks is a good candidate who appeals to a lot of voters.

“If he had run as a Republican, he very well might have won,” Stockford said.

Stockford considers Hicks closer to the right than people might think. 

“The guy is a lot more conservative than a lot of our ‘Republican’ officials in Hillsdale County,” Stockford said. 

Fiscally he is, but as a self-proclaimed social progressive, Hicks said Democrat’s social stances keep him within their party.

“I consider myself a social progressive,” Hicks said. “It’s more of a matter of principle in terms of what government should and shouldn’t be doing and I guess I take more of a libertarian view on that.”

If elected, Hicks wants to propose legislation that would align representatives’ interests with their constituents.

“One proposal is that a legislator’s pay either in the state House, Senate, or as governor, should be commensurate with the people that they represent,” Hicks said. “I think it’s rude and honestly kind of disrespectful to the taxpayer to say, ‘You’re making $55,000 and paying my wage, and I want to make at least 20 grand more than you.’”

Hicks believes policies like this, as well as efforts to deregulate farming and education, can help bring bipartisanship back to Michigan. 

“I see good legislation that dies on the vine, because it’s a zero sum game,” Hicks said. “If the Republicans have sponsored it, the Democrats are gonna vote against it, because there’s no common ground anymore and vice versa.”

Despite this, Hicks said he holds out hope that local politics can return to solving issues rather than national agendas. 

“I think there’s still room for bipartisanship, and I think you must put the interests of the people over the interests of the party,” Hicks said.

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