NEW: “Bill Huizenga took campaign donations after company pursued deal with his businesses”

The report details how Huizenga Gravel Co. and Huizenga Development Land LLC agreed to lease property to a business for a “proposed gravel mining and processing operation.” Then, after the township approved the project, the business and two of its founders and executives contributed to Huizenga’s campaign.

This isn’t the first time Huizenga has come under fire for potentially shady dealing between his campaign and his businesses. Huizenga faced scrutiny for paying his brother hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign cash while his brother worked as a real estate agent for Huizenga’s luxury condo business. Huizenga also increased his wealth by as much as fivefold while in office, gave himself and his business tax breaks, and used his campaign to fund lavish travel that came under the scrutiny of an ethics investigation.

DCCC Spokesperson Katie Smith:
“Bill Huizenga’s business struck an agreement – then his campaign got a payday. Huizenga owes Michiganders answers about this latest report revealing that he’s working to help himself, not Michigan.”

Detroit Metro Times: Bill Huizenga took campaign donations after company pursued deal with his businesses

• U.S. Rep. Bill Huizenga accepted campaign donations from a West Michigan gravel company and its executives after the company reached an agreement in principle with businesses he co-owned for a proposed gravel mining and processing operation, according to records reviewed by Metro Times.
• Huizenga Gravel Co. and Huizenga Development Land LLC agreed in principle in February 2022 to lease property in Georgetown Township to Top Grade Aggregates for a major sand and gravel operation. After the township approved the project the following year, Top Grade and two of its founders and executives contributed a combined $3,400 to Huizenga’s campaign, according to federal campaign finance records.
• Huizenga is seeking reelection in Michigan’s 4th Congressional District against Democratic state Sen. Sean McCann. National Democrats have targeted the seat as a potential pickup, and the race is expected to be among Michigan’s more competitive congressional contests.
• Top Grade Aggregates LLC contributed $2,400 to Huizenga for Congress on June 30, 2023. In February 2024, company founder Thomas Brink and owner Ross Veltema each contributed $500, bringing the total to $3,400. Federal Election Commission records reviewed through July 22 show Huizenga’s campaign appeared to be the only federal campaign to receive money from Top Grade, Brink, or Veltema.

• … the timing raises questions about Huizenga accepting campaign contributions from a company that had pursued a business relationship with companies he co-owned.
• Huizenga held a 50% stake in Huizenga Gravel and a 25% stake in Huizenga Development Land, according to his financial disclosures. In 2024, he reported between $100,001 and $1 million in income from his stake in Huizenga Gravel Inc., plus between $15,001 and $50,000 from Huizenga Gravel LLC. His 25% interest in Huizenga Development Land was valued between $100,001 and $250,000.
• The proposed arrangement with Top Grade began taking shape in 2022. Township minutes from the following month said a legal document was “ready to be executed” once Top Grade secured a mining permit. 
• Township records show Top Grade sought approval to mine on property that included one parcel owned by Huizenga Gravel and two owned by Huizenga Development Land. Top Grade proposed establishing a processing operation on the Huizenga property as part of a much larger mining project involving land owned by the Ottawa County Road Commission.
• The Georgetown Township Mineral Mining Board unanimously approved Top Grade’s mining license in February 2023, which contemplated a processing plant on land owned by Huizenga’s businesses.
• That same year, Huizenga reported that the value of his 50% stake in Huizenga Gravel LLC had moved into a substantially higher disclosure range. In 2022, he valued the interest between $250,001 and $500,000. His 2023 disclosure placed it between $500,001 and $1 million.
• The disclosure described the business as ownership of “land with gravel resources for mining” from which Huizenga received royalties.
• The $2,400 contribution from Top Grade came about four months after the township board approved the mining license. Brink and Veltema made their contributions about a year after the approval.
• The contributions are the latest instance in which Huizenga’s campaign fundraising has intersected with people or companies connected to his private business interests.
• A July Metro Times investigation found that Huizenga’s campaign paid more than $400,000 from 2013 through 2025 to JB America LLC, a company owned by his half-brother, James “Jim” Barry, for campaign management, consulting, strategy work, and reimbursements. During that same period, Barry worked as a realtor and helped market and sell luxury condos owned by a company co-founded by Huizenga and his wife, Natalie. Huizenga reported receiving at least $94,000 in management and consulting fees from that company between 2018 and 2023.
• Huizenga’s campaign spending also became the subject of a congressional ethics inquiry involving trips to Walt Disney World, Mackinac Island, and a Utah ski resort that included campaign staffers and family members. 
• Meanwhile, Huizenga’s personal finances have grown considerably during his time in Congress. Financial disclosure records show his assets roughly tripled and his estimated net worth increased as much as fivefold since he entered Congress in 2011, though the disclosures report assets in broad ranges that make his precise wealth impossible to determine.

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