There have only been 7 individuals to represent that seat since 1907 (8 since 1895). When Republican James McLaughlin won in 1906, he lasted for the next 26 years, but lost reelection (at 74) to Democrat Harry Musselwhite in the ‘32 FDR landslide. McLaughlin died only 3 weeks later before the end of the session. Republican Albert Engel then beat Musselwhite in 1934, one of the modest gains made by the GOP that year (though we overall lost seats).
Engel decided to run for Governor in 1950 (ill-advised), and lost the primary to ex-Gov. Harry Kelly. Kelly lost a heartbreakingly narrow margin to freshman Democrat Soapy Williams (just a smidge over 1,000 votes where the Prohibitionist candidate probably made the difference).
Engel was succeeded by Republican Ruth Thompson. Bob Griffin beat Thompson in the ‘56 GOP primary (I’d imagine age played a factor, as she was 69 and Griffin was a vigorous 33. Griffin has now outlived his successor, Vander Jagt, and is 85). If Hoekstra runs for Governor, he’d be well-advised to make sure the path is cleared, or he might end up like Engel did back in ‘50.
DJ, Congressman Hoekstra is sure to win the MI governorship, given that he’s a foreign-born naturalized citizen . . . . : )
All kidding aside, Hoekstra was born in the Netherlands and his family moved to the U.S. when he was a small child (once, when looking for potential runningmates for Fred Thompson, I thought of Hoekstra, then remembered that he was constitutionally ineligible to serve as President or VP). And, as we all know, current Gov. Granholm was born in Canada and is also a naturalized citizen. When was the last time that two foreign-born, naturalized U.S. citizens served back-to-back as governors of a state?