Chris Glasser
Chris Glasser (Democratic Party) ran for election to the U.S. House to represent Michigan's 4th Congressional District. He did not appear on the ballot for the Democratic primary on August 6, 2024.
Glasser completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2023. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Chris Glasser was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan. He earned a bachelor's degree from Western Michigan University in 2021. Glasser's career experience includes working as an EMT, firefighter, reserve sheriff's deputy, Children's Protective Services investigator, and nonprofit board member.[1]
Elections
2024
See also: Michigan's 4th Congressional District election, 2024
Michigan's 4th Congressional District election, 2024 (August 6 Democratic primary)
Michigan's 4th Congressional District election, 2024 (August 6 Republican primary)
General election
General election for U.S. House Michigan District 4
Incumbent Bill Huizenga defeated Jessica Swartz and Curtis Clark in the general election for U.S. House Michigan District 4 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Bill Huizenga (R) | 55.1 | 234,489 |
 | Jessica Swartz (D) | 43.4 | 184,641 | |
 | Curtis Clark (U.S. Taxpayers Party) | 1.6 | 6,687 | |
| Total votes: 425,817 | |||
 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for U.S. House Michigan District 4
Jessica Swartz advanced from the Democratic primary for U.S. House Michigan District 4 on August 6, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Jessica Swartz | 100.0 | 49,169 |
| Total votes: 49,169 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Joseph Alfonso (D)
- Chris Glasser (D)
Republican primary election
Republican primary for U.S. House Michigan District 4
Incumbent Bill Huizenga defeated Brendan Muir in the Republican primary for U.S. House Michigan District 4 on August 6, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Bill Huizenga | 73.4 | 67,749 |
 | Brendan Muir | 26.6 | 24,580 | |
| Total votes: 92,329 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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U.S. Taxpayers Party convention
U.S. Taxpayers Party convention for U.S. House Michigan District 4
Curtis Clark advanced from the U.S. Taxpayers Party convention for U.S. House Michigan District 4 on July 27, 2024.
Candidate | ||
| ✔ | | Curtis Clark (U.S. Taxpayers Party) |
| ||||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Glasser in this election.
2022
See also: Michigan's 4th Congressional District election, 2022
General election
General election for U.S. House Michigan District 4
Incumbent Bill Huizenga defeated Joseph Alfonso, Lorence Wenke, and Curtis Clark in the general election for U.S. House Michigan District 4 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Bill Huizenga (R) | 54.4 | 183,936 |
 | Joseph Alfonso (D) | 42.5 | 143,690 | |
 | Lorence Wenke (L) | 2.5 | 8,478 | |
| Curtis Clark (U.S. Taxpayers Party) | 0.7 | 2,244 | |
| Total votes: 338,348 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for U.S. House Michigan District 4
Joseph Alfonso advanced from the Democratic primary for U.S. House Michigan District 4 on August 2, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Joseph Alfonso (Write-in) | 100.0 | 10,992 |
| Total votes: 10,992 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Chris Glasser (D)
Republican primary election
Republican primary for U.S. House Michigan District 4
Incumbent Bill Huizenga advanced from the Republican primary for U.S. House Michigan District 4 on August 2, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Bill Huizenga | 100.0 | 88,851 |
| Total votes: 88,851 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Steve Carra (R)
Libertarian convention
Libertarian convention for U.S. House Michigan District 4
Lorence Wenke advanced from the Libertarian convention for U.S. House Michigan District 4 on July 10, 2022.
Candidate | ||
| ✔ | | Lorence Wenke (L) |
| ||||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
U.S. Taxpayers Party convention
U.S. Taxpayers Party convention for U.S. House Michigan District 4
Curtis Clark advanced from the U.S. Taxpayers Party convention for U.S. House Michigan District 4 on July 23, 2022.
Candidate | ||
| ✔ | | Curtis Clark (U.S. Taxpayers Party) |
| ||||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Campaign themes
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Chris Glasser completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2023. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Glasser's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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- I want to bring public service back to politics. As a former EMT, Firefighter, Reserve Deputy, and current Child Welfare worker, I understand the expectations that society has for us. We need to apply those same expectations to our politicians. We elect them, they serve us, and they should be held to a high standard of accountability and transparency.
- I believe in Social Liberty. You should be free to live your personal life as you see fit as long as you do not harm others. People should be free to express themselves, love who they love, and worship how they want to worship, We need to end the war on drugs and focus on a health approach, not a criminal approach to substance abuse.
- I believe in Economic Accountability. The actions of corporations have effects on their employees, consumers, the environment, and the community in which they reside. We have laws for when people hurt people, and we need laws for when corporations hurt people.
Criminal Justice reform because in America, the nation of freedom, we have the largest population of incarcerated persons, both in raw numbers and per capita. Criminal Justice reform because your access to freedom depends on your ability to pay cash bail and not the level of harm that you pose to the community. Criminal Justice reform because we punish low-level crime and ignore white-collar crime.
That is exactly what I plan to do. Politics shouldn't be a team sport. I'm not rooting "for" Democrats and "against" Republicans. I have a political philosophy that is centered around improving the lives of working class Americans. That is the only team that I am "rooting for".
To understand my approach to our political system in general, see The System by Robert Reich.
To understand some of my criticisms of our healthcare system, see An American Sickness by Elizabeth Rosenthal.
To understand some of my criticisms about our economic system, see Monopolized by David Dayen and The Privatization of Everything by Donald Cohen and Allen Mikaelian.
To understand my criticism of money in politics, see Dark Money by Jane Mayer.
I believe that respect, integrity, and empathy are important for an elected official. They need to treat all of their constituents with respect, they need to act with integrity, and they need to have empathy to understand the different struggles and perspectives of their constituents.
I am principled, which means that if you understand my morals and values, you should be able to predict my voting behavior. It will not be influenced by partisan politics or political bribery.
I have a strong sense of empathy. One of my favorite words is "sonder", which means the realization that everyone's lives are just as complex as our own. While at the store you may just see a person pushing a cart or someone behind a cash register, it is important to understand that those people have families, friends, jobs, go to school, and struggles just like you do.
I want people to understand that change begins with them and that if they work together, important change can happen.
What I do remember, which didn't make much sense to me at the time, was walking down the sidewalk as a child and seeing "IRAQ" in large letters outside of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Kalamazoo. It was a strange word that I didn't know the meaning behind. Looking back, I realize that the sisters were protesting the war in Iraq, which ultimately lead to the death of over 280,000 Iraqi citizens, over 4,000 US service members, and cost nearly $2 trillion.
(Honorable mention: The Name of All Things by Jenn Lyons)
The House represents districts of comparable sizes, approximately 770,000 people. Compare that to the Senate, where one Senator represents 580,000 people and another represents over 39 million people.
A person's political or governmental experience is only as good as the service that they completed while in those positions. We have politicians with decades of experience in DC that we'd love to see gone. And there are people who have never stepped into a legislative chamber or executive office that would make excellent representatives.
However what I am seeing is a failure of leadership in Washington and a deep divide occurring on Main Street. If we want to reform our healthcare system or our economic system, we need to have competent leaders and a population of Americans willing to work together and hold those leaders accountable.
However, I think it is possible that an effective representative can allow their votes and actions to be their best campaign tool. If they are doing things in Washington that benefit their constituents, and they make active efforts to stay engaged at home in their district, an election every two years should not be the same kind of barrier that it is for non-incumbents.
On the federal level however, we are trying to address the problem of our elected officials not representing their constituents. The incumbent advantage means that even some of the most unpopular politicians get re-elected time and time again. Term limits could definitely help with that issue. However, term limits would also force out some of our best elected representatives who actually do listen to their constituents and who have the knowledge, experience, leadership, and morals to be effective legislators.
I think there are reasonable concerns regarding term limits. I agree with the concerns laid out by the Brookings Institute: It takes power away from voters, it severely decreases congressional capacity, it limits incentives for gaining policy expertise, it automatically kick out effective lawmakers, and it does little to minimize corruptive behavior or slow the revolving door.
Our system is not a meritocracy. It is not always the hardest working, the smartest, or the most skilled who succeed. There are people working multiple jobs, working over 40 hours a week, just to make enough to pay rent, afford food, and get health insurance. We need to reform our system so it can be a true meritocracy where people have opportunities and are rewarded for their efforts.
However, bipartisanship is not in of itself a moral virtue. We have seen legislation passed with bipartisan support that was detrimental to Americans. In the end, what matters is enacting policies that benefit the majority of Americans, whether it is passed with bipartisan support or by utilizing a political majority.
While the debt, the deficit, and taxation is often misunderstood, they are still important topics. While the debt and deficit should not be the end-all factor when creating programs and forming a budget, spending responsibly should always be a priority. Your tax money should be spent in a responsible way that benefits you.
In general, I do not support raising taxes on working class families. Ultimately, I want to see working class families to pay less in taxes, spend less on education, spend less on healthcare, and see their wages increase.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
2022
Chris Glasser did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
See also
2024 Elections
External links
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Candidate U.S. House Michigan District 4 |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on July 10, 2023
