Stockford speaks at American Legion Flag Day 2024. Courtesy | Adam Stockford

When Adam Stockford was diagnosed with Lyme disease at the age of 23, he was forced to abandon his lifelong dream of professional boxing, but it eventually landed him the title of Hillsdale’s mayor.

Stockford, who resigned as Hillsdale mayor in the fall of 2024, held the position for a term and a half. Five years after the Covid-19 lockdowns, Stockford said he was the first mayor to oppose Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s executive order lockdowns, and said he is proud of his efforts in keeping Hillsdale open and improving its financial stability.  

“We’re not going to force our restaurants to close down. We’re not going to force our local businesses to,” Stockford said. “It comes back to personal responsibility, the fact that you believe that your constituents are smart and they’re adults and they can make their own decisions.”

Stockford resigned in December after he said he and his wife had found their “dream house.” But the property was outside of the city limits, and moving out of the town would force Stockford to step down in the middle of his second term.

“I had to make a tough decision,” Stockford said. “We came across a property — a big, beautiful house on a private lake — that not only would fit our family‘s needs, but it happened to be right on this property where my grandad had once owned a restaurant.”

Stockford said he chose family over politics. 

“My wife and I have an 18 month old and we’ve got three teenage boys living at home still,” Stockford said. “You don’t get those years back with the little ones. That’s something I didn’t understand completely when I was young and had babies, but now that I’m older, I prioritize family first.”

Stockford said the most challenging part was working with the public’s mistaken expectation of what a mayor can do.

“The hardest part of being mayor was that you don’t have as much authority as what the general public believes you might have, but you get held accountable for all the decisions that are made in that,” Stockford said.

But before he was mayor, Stockford was a boxer. He held an undefeated record in house shows, tournaments, and exhibitions during his four years fighting for Irish Hills Boxing Club with the Knights of Columbus. He competed at the Eastern Michigan Golden Gloves tournament and even caught the attention of USA Boxing — the national sanctioning committee that oversees amateurs who may become future Olympic boxers. 

Before his Lyme disease diagnosis, Stockford said he had severe symptoms including intermittent fevers, joint pain, cloudy vision, and neurological issues. After doctors diagnosed him with late-stage Lyme disease, Stockford quit boxing in 2003.  

“It took my prime boxing years away from me, and I had to figure out something else to do with my life,” he said. “So, I ended up going back to school.”

Stockford attended Jackson College and graduated in 2012, at the age of 32, with his associate’s degree in law enforcement, thinking he would become a police officer. 

“Public service was really starting to interest me,” Stockford said. “I wanted to serve the community in some form or fashion.”

In his early 30s, he enrolled at Hillsdale College and graduated with a degree in politics in 2015, at the age of 35.

Immediately following his graduation, Stockford ran for city council because of his frustration with the poor legislation for street repair. He said he opposed the proposed city income tax that would additionally tax residents to fix the roads. Although the proposed bill made it to the ballot, the people of Hillsdale voted against the tax. 

After four years as a Ward 1 councilman, Stockford ran for mayor in 2017 against incumbent Scott Sessions.

“I didn’t like the way that he ran the meetings,” Stockford said. “I didn’t like the way he constantly looked to the administration to give him all the answers. I felt like he was a rubber stamp.” 

Stockford won every ward and said his main priority was to return local decisions to the people of Hillsdale. 

“It was more about the organization of government, to me, than actual policy,” Stockford said. “It was more trying to put authority back into the hands of the people of Hillsdale.”

One of Stockford’s Hillsdale professors, Associate Vice President of External Affairs and Lecturer in Politics Timothy Caspar, said he appreciated Stockford’s approach to the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns.

“He did an excellent job as mayor, and I was especially grateful that he held that position during the Covid-19 era,” Caspar said. “He kept a calm and steady hand on the tiller when so many others in positions of authority were so eager to sacrifice our freedoms.”

Caspar said he was glad to see Stockford involved in local politics.

“The biggest change was addressing him as ‘Mr. Mayor,’ and I hope he won’t mind if I continue to do so,” Caspar said.

Stockford credited his theory of government to his education at Hillsdale and many of his professors, including former professor of politics and current Ward 2 Councilman William Morrisey. 

“Maybe my time at Hillsdale College played into this, but I really subscribe to a bottom-up sort of government where most decisions should be made locally,” Stockford said. “The people are the ultimate authority, and when you’re an elected official, you’re an employee of the people. So you answer to the people, and most of the decisions should be made at a local level.”

Morrisey said Stockford, who took several courses with him, was a stellar student.

“Older than the other students, he seemed to appreciate being at Hillsdale College even more than most of his peers,” Morrisey said. “He had one of the qualities most valuable in a college student: He didn’t think he ‘knew it all.’ He was ready to learn. As a result of his maturity and energy, he was always a solid student, very consistent in his performance.”

Stockford ran for reelection and began his second term as mayor in 2022. He said he is most proud of Hillsdale’s financial situation after his seven years in office.

“Hillsdale is in the best financial shape that it has ever been right now,” Stockford said. 

When he was first elected in 2017, the city was struggling to pay the bills week to week. Stockford feared then-Gov. Rick Snyder would appoint an emergency city-mayor in Hillsdale, as he had in other towns. That emergency mayor would be Snyder’s puppet and rob Hillsdale of its autonomy, Stockford said. Stockford, however, managed to keep this from happening and, today, Hillsdale has a multi-million dollar budget surplus. 

Despite his defense of small government, Stockford said passing laws by committee can be challenging and slow.

“Doing work by committee is slow and methodical and inefficient, and there’s a reason for that,” Stockford said. “Our founders set up a form of government where nobody would have too much power. Nobody would be able to just snap their finger and make decisions. But at the same time, it’s very frustrating to have to work in the confines of consensus with not only multiple other elected officials, but then a very strong and robust administrative arm like municipalities have.”

Morrisey said Stockford was a hard-working man and dedicated himself to serving as mayor. 

“After he was elected mayor, he asked me to be mayor pro tem,” Morrisey said. “That turned out to be the easiest job I ever had because the mayor pro tem’s only duty is to run the meetings when the mayor is absent, and mayor Stockford was absent exactly once during his six years as mayor. This was characteristic of his work ethic.”

Morrisey said he is glad Stockford is settling into his new home with his family.

“If his little daughter has as much energy as he has, I’m sure she’ll keep him active for years to come,” Morrisey said.

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