The race for Michigan's 7th Congressional District has attracted national attention as Republicans try to tie their Democratic opponent to controversial deals with companies backed by the Chinese Communist Party.
The Michigan Republican Party is calling on former Democratic state senator Curtis Hertel, who is now running to represent Michigan's 7th Congressional District, to break his silence about a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) he signed to obtain details about a controversial plan to use taxpayer funds to build an electric vehicle battery factory in West Michigan owned by a company with ties to the Chinese Communist Party.
The plant, announced by Michigan's Democratic governor, Gretchen Whitmer, in October 2022, was promised to bring more than 2,000 jobs to the area, receiving millions of dollars in incentives as part of an agreement with Michigan lawmakers and Green Charter Township.
But the project quickly drew the ire of local voters, mainly because the company behind the factory, Gochon, was a subsidiary of Gochon Hi-Tech, a company with strong ties to the Chinese Communist Party.
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Two former Michigan state senators, Republican Tom Barrett (left) and Democrat Curtis Hertel Jr. (right), are running to represent Michigan's 7th Congressional District. (AP Photo/File)
Last fall, local voters removed five of the town's seven commissioners from their positions for supporting the project, and the remaining two resigned.
The controversy has now spilled over into Michigan's 7th Congressional District, one of the state's few truly close House races, because Hertel was one of the lawmakers from both parties who signed a non-disclosure agreement with the Michigan Economic Development Corporation that allowed them to learn about and negotiate details of the proposed nuclear plant.
Rep. Elissa Slotkin, a Democrat running for U.S. Senate in Michigan's 7th Congressional District seat, recently spoke out against the Gotion deal, further intensifying calls for Hertel to do the same.
“I would not be comfortable with the idea of moving forward with any projects or selling farmland to Chinese companies until a national security review has been done,” Slotkin told reporters at a campaign event earlier this month. “I think we have to think not just about the economics, but about the national security implications of Chinese companies.”
Rep. Elissa Slotkin. (Getty Images)
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“Mr. Hertel must answer whether he agrees with his comrade Elissa Slotkin and whether he regrets signing a secret agreement to sell out Michigan taxpayers to the Chinese Communist Party,” said Mike Marinella, spokesman for the Republican National Congressional Committee.
The controversy over the factory has also become a focus of the presidential election, with former President Donald Trump telling Truth Social last month that he was “100 percent opposed” to the plant, adding that “Guozhan will put the people of Michigan under the control of the Chinese Communist Party in Beijing.”
Meanwhile, Trump's running mate, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, highlighted the controversy while campaigning in Michigan last week.
“I think the most important thing is to stop paying Chinese manufacturers to make our products, whether they're here or abroad,” Vance told reporters after a speech in Michigan. “We want to build American manufacturing and the American middle class. If we want to pursue these policies, let's do it for American people and American companies.”
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Republican vice presidential nominee Senator J.D. Vance of Ohio speaks at NMC-Wollard Inc./Wollard International in Eau Claire, Wisconsin on August 7, 2024. (Adam Boettcher/Getty Images)
But questions about Hertel's involvement in the project remain a focus for Michigan Republicans, especially after it was reported last year that she was one of several Michigan Democrats who received funding from a political action committee with ties to Warner, Norcross & Judd, the foreign law firm that represented Gothion.
Fox News reported last September that the company's PAC donated $2,400 to the state campaign of Hertel, who represented Michigan's 23rd State Senate District from 2015 until January of this year.
One lawmaker who didn't sign a non-disclosure agreement related to the project is former Republican state senator Tom Barrett, who was Hertel's opponent in Michigan's 7th Congressional District. Barrett has also used the controversy to argue that Hertel owes the public an explanation for his involvement in the project.
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“After 22 years in politics, Curtis Hertel owes the people of Mid-Michigan an explanation for why he signed secret covert agreements and paid $175 million in taxpayer money to companies backed by the Chinese Communist Party,” Barrett told Fox News Digital. “The fact that he accepted money from foreign agents on behalf of Gochon should disqualify him from serving in Congress.”
Reached by Fox News Digital for comment, Sam Kwaito Spitzer, communications director for Hertel's campaign, denied the Republican allegations as a “false attack.”
“Curtis did not sign a non-disclosure agreement with Gochon and Tom Barrett is trying to hide his record of voting against 5,000 good paying manufacturing jobs here in Mid-Michigan and trying to cede the future of the auto industry to China,” he said.
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