6 Interesting People Running For Congress

(Source: MIRS.news, Published 04/28/2026) History was not made at last week’s filing deadline. Lansing’s Elyon Badger did not turn in the 1,000 signatures needed to make the August ballot in the 7th Congressional District.

The mid-Michigan district already has plenty of options in the Democratic primary, but none of them walk around in public with a black badger fur suit over their head.

In fact, no Michigan congressional candidate may be as interesting as Samuel Smeltzer (aka Elyon Badger), but that doesn’t mean there aren’t interesting stories or people running across the state.

Quite the opposite. Here are six we found while researching for our MIRS Election Guide and Almanac, which includes brief biographies on every single congressional and statewide candidate, as well as roughly 80% of the state House and Senate candidates.

1. New ground appears to have been broken in the 2nd Congressional District, where possibly the first non-binary congressional candidate filed for office. Jamie Hill, a 45-year-old physician assistant at Corewell Health, may also be the first congressional candidate to dye their hair in a rainbow swoosh. Hill is seeking the Democratic nomination and the right to face U.S. Rep. John Moolenaar (R-Caledonia) in November.

2. Back in 1986, a 23-year-old Hope College student named Philip Tanis ran and won an election to become the mayor of the city of Holland. At the time, he was the youngest mayor of a U.S. city in history. That distinction doesn’t stand anymore. An 18-year-old named Michael Sessions eclipsed that mark in 2005 when elected Hillsdale’s mayor.

Tanis is pushing 63 now and says he wants to give Republicans in West Michigan an alternative to U.S. Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-Zeeland) in the 4th District.

3. If you’ve ever seen Jar Head Salsa at a specialty market, you have Tom Smith to thank. Smith is the father of retired Gunnery Sergeant David Smith, who prepared meals for his squad of Marines back in the day. The story goes that David Smith didn’t like the salsa the military sent his way, so he invented his own.

His Marine buddies loved it. So, when David Smith retired from service, he worked with his dad to can and sell it. Apparently, it’s got a unique lemon-lime base as opposed to a traditional tomato base.

Anyway, Tom Smith is now running for Congress as a Republican in the Flint/Tri-Cities-based 8th Congressional District.

4. Anil Kumar is the only candidate to not only switch party affiliations during an election cycle, but districts, too.

The elected Democratic Wayne State University governor donated to Mike Duggan’s governorship campaign around the same time he was running as a Democrat in the competitive Macomb County 10th District.

In December, he dropped out of that race, only to get back into the 11th District race two months later as an independent. He said, “I like being a Democrat. I like the ideology. I am not so sure about the followers.”

5. Matthew DenOtter used his connections to have U.S. Rep. Jack Bergman (R-Watersmeet) host a fundraiser for his quixotic 2022 congressional run in a dark blue Southeast Michigan Congressional seat in 2022.

This year, the molecular diagnostic specialist is using a Boyne City address and is primarying Bergman in the U.P./Up North-based 1st Congressional district. DenOtter's campaign says the two didn’t have a falling out, that DenOtter simply feels that it’s time for a change in leadership.

One conspiracy theory is that Team Bergman is using DenOtter as a plant to siphon away anti-Bergman votes from a third candidate, U.S. Army veteran Justin Michal. The DenOtter people insist that is not the case.

6. This guy may conflict with the constitutional ban (Article XI, Section 8) on crooks serving in office, but if he’s free and clear to run, Taras “T.P.” Nykoriak has a heck of a resume.

About 10 years ago, he made headlines after being convicted and sentenced to 16 months in federal prison for stealing U.S. savings bonds from a church. A couple of years ago, before he decided to run for the 13th Congressional district — this perennial candidate, who claimed in 2014 that he fought with Ukraine against Russia — ran for . . . sheriff, of course.