Democrat Hillary Scholten wins election to US House in Michigan's 3rd district

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Democrat Hillary Scholten will win the race for Michigan's third congressional district, The Associated Press projects, flipping a seat from red to blue in a tough election year for Democrats. 

Scholten beat GOP opponent John Gibbs for the seat, which is open after Gibbs topped incumbent Rep. Peter Meijer, R-Mich., in a primary. Meijer voted to impeach former President Donald Trump last year, leading the former president to endorse Gibbs' run nearly a full year before Election Day. 

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Former President Donald Trump endorsed John Gibbs in his primary against Rep. Peter Meijer, R-Mich., nearly a year before Election Day.? (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Gibbs also picked up some unexpected support in his primary from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), which spent money to support him over Meijer.  

The DCCC and other Democratic groups boosted candidates like Gibbs, who backed Trump and made false claims about the 2020 presidential election, with the expectation those candidates would be easier to beat in a general election. 

Rep. Peter Meijer, R-Mich., lost in a primary to Trump-backed John Gibbs after voting to impeach the former president in 2021.? (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio, File))

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"What we did was we ran an ad that's true – that said he's too extreme for Western Michigan, and we ran that general election ad about two weeks early," DCCC Chair Sean Patrick Maloney, D-N.Y., said last Sunday on CBS' Face the Nation. 

"Hillary Scholten has been beating him consistently since she became our nominee," he continued. "She's a strong pro-choice Democrat. He’s a nut, and she's gonna beat him."

Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) Chair Sean Patrick Maloney, D-N.Y., predicted that Michigan Democratic congressional candidate Hillary Scholten would beat Republican John Gibbs, after the DCCC boosted Gibbs in a GOP primary.? (Hillary Scholten for Congress)

Gibbs previously worked in former President Donald Trump's administration as acting assistant secretary for community planning and development at the Department of Housing and Urban Development. He was also on Trump's 1776 Commission.

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Scholten ran against Meijer in 2020 and lost 53% to 47%. She previously worked the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center and volunteered for the Times Up Legal Defense Fund. 

Before that, Scholten clerked at the Second Circuit Court of Appeals and worked for the Justice Department under former President Barack Obama. 

Fox News' Jessica Chasmar contributed to this report.