Stupak To Face 3 Challengers in Election for Congress Seat

U.S. Congressman Bart Stupak of Menominee will face three challengers in his re-election bid for a ninth term in the U.S. House of Representatives this fall. Tom Casperson, a Republican state representative form Escanaba, Don Hooper, a Republican and retired businessman from Iron River, and attorney Linda Goldthorpe of Helmer, also a Republican, have filed for the office.

Michigan's First Congressional District, comprised of 31 counties, including the entire Upper Peninsula.

Mr. Stupak, a Democrat, who announced his candidacy March 18, was first elected in 1992. He serves as chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations and is a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, for which he serves on the Telecommunications and the Internet Subcommittee and the Environment and Hazardous Waste Subcommittee. He also serves on the Law Enforcement Caucus and Northern Border Caucus.

In announcing his candidacy, Mr. Stupak cites the repairing the weakening economy, providing health care coverage for all Americans, and ending the war in Iraq among top priorities.

Mr. Casperson announced his candidacy March 17. He has represented the 108th District in the Michigan House of Representatives since 2002, re-elected in 2004 and 2006. The 108th district includes Delta, Menominee, and Dickinson counties.

He has served as the Assistant Majority Whip, chair of the House Conservation, Forestry and Outdoor Recreation Committee, and vice-chair of the Transportation Committee, and has been a member of the committees and subcommittees overseeing agriculture, energy and technology, veterans affairs, tourism, and transportation appropriations.

He has worked in his family's log trucking business, Casperson and Son Trucking, for the past 25 years and has owned the business for the past 10 years.

Mr. Hooper served in the U.S. Aviation Engineers during the Korean War, worked in mining, heavy equipment operation, and welding for 10 years, and was a businessman for 35 years, including serving as chief executive officer of a trucking company.

Ms. Goldthorpe, a pro bono attorney, announced her candidacy March 26.

After receiving a bachelor's degree in psychology and business administration at Northern Michigan University, she has worked as an administrator at a residential school for autistic and delinquent children in New York.

Later, she attended Cooley Law School in Lansing, obtaining her Doctorate of Jurisprudence in 1991, and has practiced law in Ontonagon and Marquette.