KALAMAZOO, MI -- The state representative from Kalamazoo today confirmed plans for a 2020 campaign for the seat held by longtime U.S. Rep. Fred Upton, R-St. Joseph.

State Rep. Jon Hoadley, D-Kalamazoo, said he plans to challenge Upton, who has represented Southwest Michigan in the U.S. House of Representatives since 1986.

Hoadley will officially announce his candidacy for the 6th District seat at 5:45 p.m. Monday, April 8, at the Portage District Library.

“This is about the fact that we need to put people and community back at the center of our decisions. That’s why I’m getting in the race," Hoadley said. "We’ve got some really big issues we need to tackle and values we need to be lifting up.”

Hoadley said he filed the necessary paperwork with Federal Election Commission Monday morning. He said he is excited to run a campaign focused on listening to the residents of Southwest Michigan.

“For me, it’s this idea that if we all come together, we can get a lot done and we’re going to need to if we want to be able to make sure that we have the freedom to be able to provide healthcare for our families, the freedom to know that the water we drink is safe, the freedom to be able to take care of our families when they are sick,” he said.

Due to term limits, Hoadley is serving his third and final two-year term representing Michigan’s 60th House District, which encompasses the city of Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo Township and part of Portage.

Details of a “listening tour,” that will visit other communities in the region will be released after Monday night’s campaign announcement in Portage, Hoadley said.

The state lawmaker called issues surrounding climate, education, environment and trade in Southwest Michigan and the country “big” and “urgent.”

“We have people that are worried about living paycheck to paycheck right now,” Hoadley said. "We saw that with the government shutdown. We know that to solve the problem about access to clean drinking water in our district is going to take significant support from both the state and federal government.”

Michigan’s 6th Congressional District represents around 720,000 people in the counties of Kalamazoo, Van Buren, Cass, St. Joseph, Berrien and Allegan.

Winning re-election to Congress in November 2018, Upton is currently serving his 17th consecutive term. He was first elected in 1986 as representative for Michigan’s 4th District, and later represented the 6th District after boundaries were redrawn in 1992. There are no term limits in the U.S. House of Representatives.

In 2018, Upton had his closest race of his career. He took just over 50% of the vote, defeating Democrat Matt Longjohn (about 46%) and U.S. Taxpayer Party candidate Stephen Young (about 4%). Among Kalamazoo County voters, Longjohn became the first Democratic candidate in 20 years to garner more votes than Upton.

District lines are expected to be redrawn once again following the upcoming census in 2020. District lines in Michigan will also be redrawn following new redistricting rules put in place after that passage of Proposal 2 in November 2018.

Upton’s campaign released a statement Monday in response to Hoadley’s announcement.

“Fred Upton has always been focused on fighting for common-sense ideas that actually work and help southwest Michigan’s families," the Upton campaign said in a statement. "So far this year, Fred has been receiving tremendous feedback from folks here at home on a number of bipartisan issues he’s been working on, including the economy, PFAS, protecting the Great Lakes, improving health care, and more. We understand there are those excited to start politicking, but right now Fred’s energy and efforts are focused on solving problems.”

The Michigan Republican Party also released a statement in response to Hoadley’s announcement Monday, saying, “Hoadley’s ideals are in direct contrast with the values of West Michigan, and will only stand to put jobs and businesses at risk.”

The party highlighted Hoadley’s support of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s proposal to implement a 45-cent gas tax hike in her Fiscal Year 2020 budget. The proposal would raise the fuel tax by 45 cents per gallon by Oct. 1, 2020 in three, 15-cent increments.

“Tax Hike Hoadley has never seen a problem he didn’t think he could tax and spend his way out of. Washington’s tried that and it simply doesn’t work,” Michigan Republican Party Chairman Laura Cox said in a statement.

The Hoadley campaign sent a statement in response to the Michigan Republican Party’s release, calling it a “meaningless, laughable attack against Hoadley” that shows the party is “petrified” of Hoadley and thinks Southwest Michigan voters are ready for change next November.