Joshua Saul

Joshua Saul (Republican Party) ran for election to the U.S. House to represent Michigan's 1st Congressional District. He lost in the Republican primary on August 6, 2024.

Saul completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2023. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Joshua Saul served in the U.S. Army from 2009 to 2013. Saul earned a bachelor's degree from Ferris State University in 2018. His career experience includes working as an accountant.^[1]

Elections

2024

Michigan's 1st Congressional District election, 2024 (August 6 Democratic primary)

Michigan's 1st Congressional District election, 2024 (August 6 Republican primary)

General election

General election for U.S. House Michigan District 1

Incumbent Jack Bergman defeated Callie Barr, Liz Hakola, and Andrew Gale in the general election for U.S. House Michigan District 1 on November 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Jack Bergman (R)	59.2	282,264
		Callie Barr (D)	37.9	180,937
	Submit photo	Liz Hakola (Working Class Party)	1.8	8,497
		Andrew Gale (L)	1.1	5,486

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 477,184
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Bensson Samuel (Independent)

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House Michigan District 1

Callie Barr defeated Bob Lorinser in the Democratic primary for U.S. House Michigan District 1 on August 6, 2024.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Callie Barr	58.5	40,787
	Bob Lorinser	41.5	28,936

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 69,723
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House Michigan District 1

Incumbent Jack Bergman defeated Joshua Saul in the Republican primary for U.S. House Michigan District 1 on August 6, 2024.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Jack Bergman	79.3	92,498
	Joshua Saul	20.7	24,155

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 116,653
= 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

J.D. Wilson (R)

Libertarian convention

Libertarian convention for U.S. House Michigan District 1

Andrew Gale advanced from the Libertarian convention for U.S. House Michigan District 1 on July 20, 2024.

		Candidate
✔		Andrew Gale (L)

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified.
= 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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Working Class Party convention

Working Class Party convention for U.S. House Michigan District 1

Liz Hakola advanced from the Working Class Party convention for U.S. House Michigan District 1 on June 23, 2024.

		Candidate
✔	Submit photo	Liz Hakola (Working Class Party)

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified.
= 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.

Endorsements

Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Saul in this election.

Campaign themes

2024

Ballotpedia survey responses

Joshua Saul completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2023. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Saul's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

Christian, husband, father, disabled veteran, CPA, and patriot.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

Restore our rights
Balance the budget
Secure the boarder

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

I think Congress needs to create serious consequences for the routine violations of constitutional rights in this country every day, from every branch. Until we fix that problem there can be no trust or faith in government, and that is a big reason why congress has single digit approval numbers for the majority of my life. We the people are standing up and saying NO MORE! We will restore our rights and return accountability to government.

What do you perceive to be the United States’ greatest challenges as a nation over the next decade?

The failure to hold government officials accountable for civil rights violations will undermine our ability to have trust in our institutions. Coupled with our financial situation spiraling we are in danger of having a country that’s citizens don’t feel is worth defending, while at the same time losing our place as the global reserve currency. The civil unrest and breakdown of the American way of life that would follow if we don’t fix it will be unimaginable.

What are your thoughts on term limits?

We must enact term limits in order to eliminate the corrupt career politicians. Failure to do so is moral cowardice at best, and influence peddling if you are being kind, and corruption if we are being honest.

Do you believe that compromise is necessary or desirable for policymaking?

You need to be able to compromise on details without compromising your values. That is a difficult line to walk, and good legislators will be able to tell you where they made compromises and why it wasn’t compromising their values to do so.

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.

Campaign website

Saul’s campaign website stated the following:

“

Government Accountability

We can all see that there is one word that does not apply to our government as currently constituted, accountability. In theory there is supposed to be checks and balances, but in reality we have wound up with a complicated web of laws, administrative policies, and good old boys clubs that protect the bad actors. The FBI and its leadership have abused one of the most powerful spy tools ever invented to snoop on everyone from a Presidential campaign to their online dating matches. And every time the story is the same, "We will enact New reforms that will make it better." The problem is it never gets better because the incentive structures never change.

So my plan is an overhaul of the incentives of Government officials. I want to be clear, this is not an attack on any individuals that have not done wrong. This is a simple acknowledgment that our current system does not allow for basic levels of accountability. I also want to be clear that this should not be misconstrued as an attack on the police. There are real and profound problems with the institution of policing in America that mostly steam from legislative bodies and courts that have forced people in uniform to choose between keeping their job and upholding individual rights.

To flip those incentive structures we will need to start by setting the rules that everyone is required to play by. That means solidifying our Constitutional Rights that are granted by God, and rejecting the man made loopholes that prevent accountability. There is no magic bullet. But like the system that was created, we need several layers of overhaul to the legal system and to each branch of government irrespective of the other branches of government.

That means going to war with the administrative state. This is a bear of a problem, because no branch of government has done a good job of upholding the American ideal. Our focus will be on fixing the branch that we are running for, the Legislative branch. I have some prescriptions for the other branches as well, and some important changes in law that would restore accountability for government officials of all branches. But unfortunately Congress had spent most of my life abdicating its duties which is why I am running to fix it, and they require the most fixing.

Financial Responsibility

Only five accountants serve in our current Congress. This is a big reason why we are currently closing in on $35 Trillion in debt with no plan to fix it. By the time the election comes around we are on pace to be over $36 Trillion in debt. And unlike the cheap money of the past decade, we are now borrowing with a 5.5% interest rate. This is not sustainable. To help fix this we need to have responsibility from Congress.

We also need to recognize that we have other threats to our economic system that need to be addressed quickly. From the pending real estate market busts, to the international move away from the dollar as a reserve currency, and to the failure of the Biden Admin to renew a deal for the Petrodollar, we have flashing red lights everywhere and publicly available solutions are slim. Below are some basic principles that would guide me, as well as reforms that I would work to enact as your representative, and programs for us to pursue at the federal, state, and local level that can get us back on the right track.

Secure our Border

The house has already passed a quality piece of legislation to tackle this issue, HR2. This issue is less about finding a solution as to who the people trust to lead us moving forward. Both sides have made their priorities clear. Republicans want to stop the invasion and deport the criminal aliens. Democrats want to hire more people to process them into the country and have them move into your house.

I certainly believe the Senate race in Michigan will have a huge impact on this issue, as we very well may control the fate of the Senate. And now we have years of data showing the results of the different approaches. During the Trump administration reforms were put into place that greatly slowed the flow. And the action taken was a big part of the reason that wages at the bottom end of the pay scale were rising faster than at the top during the Trump administration. When you decrease the supply of labor operating below the minimum wage then it makes the demand for US workers in those jobs go up, and thus the salaries as well. Unfortunately, too much of that was done through executive action so it was reversed with a change in party. Congress failed to pass the legislation that could have stopped the current crisis before it started.

However that failure has created a clear picture as to the results of the different approaches. The so-called “sanctuary” cities are now feeling the results of their own liberal ideals, and what border towns have been telling us for years. Estimates are at 20 million plus illegal aliens in the US today, with roughly half of them coming since Biden took office. We already have a housing and homelessness problem, and now we are paying for illegal aliens to stay in hotels while thousands of veterans sleep on the street. We can’t continue to prioritize the people who have no respect for our laws and regain our sovereignty for our own citizens.

Protect our children

The left has been fighting a culture war for my entire life, but in the past decade the right has decided to begin to engage as well. Not engaging sooner has brought us to the brink of cultural decay, but the freedom instinct of the right never wants to prevent anyone from being able to express themselves. However this instinct has been weaponized against the right with groups using identity arguments as ways of limiting expression. From the 1619 project to the alphabet community, the woke agenda has justified treating people as members of groups and that group identity is the most important characteristic of a person. I still can't believe more people don’t see through this racist and destructive mindset, but the left has created legitimate reasons for people to not resist.

The most important front in this culture war is the children. The trans-gender movement is destroying the future of our society, as it has sterilizing individuals as its stated goal. The evidence of the permanent effects of taking things like puberty blockers and cross sex hormones is not something that is surprising to anyone who is being honest. And research shows that 90-95% of kids who don’t take the drugs grow out the trans identity naturally, while it is the exact opposite for those who take the drugs. You add that to the fact that 40% of trans people try to kill themselves, and you are left with a clear picture, medically speaking. You can either go for watchful waiting, and have a low ball 90% chance they grow out of it. Or you can intervene and flip a coin if they are so unhappy they chose to end their own life. It is also worth considering the best case scenario being a life of taking drugs, never having your own children, and possibly painful continuing treatment to allow the cosmetic surgeries to be maintained.

There is also the race issue. On a government level that means we need to work to ensure the progress made during the civil rights movement is not undone by the people who have segregated housing and graduation ceremonies like some of our Ivy League schools. The most disgusting part is they are doing it in the name of “diversity” when in reality it is the same logic as the segregationists and slave owners. The only difference with the modern left is they believe that white people should be discriminated against instead. That is directly from the godfather of anti-racism, Ibram X Kendi. We need someone who will have a steadfast commitment to not letting up ground here, and in doing so the Republican party can continue to make gains across minority communities as President Trump has done. Our agenda is better for all Americans. Democrats like to fracture us into groups they can manipulate against each other. It's time we reject that racist ideology and unite as Americans!

Improve Veteran Care

I have spent the majority of my adult life having the VA be my main source of healthcare. Having that experience I can tell you it is no surprise to me that so many veterans kill themselves every day (between 17-22 depending on the source). And it’s only down at all because we have already lost so many. A big part of the reason is the way we treat our veterans is borderline inhumane. The VA medical system is home to some of the kindest and most caring people I have met in my life. However they are constrained by rules that require infantilizing veterans and creating delays in care.

One example that is easy to point out is how the VA discriminates against the disabled who need hand controls. No other place in society requires an adult to take a road test, like a teenager, to prove you are a safe driver. However if you are a veteran who drives with hand controls you must submit yourself to a road test annually if you want the pleasure of keeping your prescription for your hand controls. And the VA will not approve you to get the hand controls in a new vehicle without a current prescription. So every time a veteran who uses hand controls gets a new car they must take a road test, or add a few thousand dollars onto the sticker price.

For the practical application of this stupidity, we can use my situation in Florida as an important test case. I first had requested to have this process started when Brandy and I moved down there in February 2022. Brandy was pregnant with our daughter, and we were upgrading my car to have something safer for Luna. The first physician who put in the request did it incorrectly, and so the request was rejected without notifying me or the staff. I followed up at my next appointment a couple weeks later, they were able to see it was rejected so they entered it again, with the same result. I had to call back a few weeks later to check on the status before anyone noticed, and enter the request again. Finally they did it properly, only for me to find out there is only one location in the state that does the training which was two hours from my home, and this particular service is exempt from the choice program. I needed to be able to drive my increasingly pregnant wife around. But that did not matter, I was told I had to wait at least a month for an appointment. By the time I had my appointment with the VA Brandy’s pregnancy had turned into a high risk pregnancy due to high amniotic fluid. So we had to choose between her getting the rest she needed and getting the test I needed to be able to do things like, drive her to the hospital in an emergency. In the end I was not able to get the hand controls installed in my vehicle before she was induced. The only reason we were able to manage this situation is because of the high risk nature of the pregnancy, she had an induction scheduled early. That allowed us to plan to have family present that could drive us around. By the time they were installed in my vehicle it was a 6 month process, which I was told I should expect moving forward. All to replace the same equipment I had been using for years without any tickets or accidents. To put that in perspective the VA treated a 32 year old CPA with more skepticism than the justice system treats drunk drivers when it comes to answering the question of if you are a safe driver.

This is just a glimpse into the injustice I have experienced and witnessed at the VA. I am better qualified to solve this problem than Jack Bergman for a few reasons. First, I have experienced the system first hand so I know the places that cause the most frustration. Second, I have worked in healthcare since graduating college so I have first had experience balancing the unique challenges in healthcare. Third, my older brother is a physician at the VA and is a great advisor into the part of the system I don’t see as a patient. Fourth, at my core I am still a grunt who repeated the warriors ethos a million times. “I will always place the mission first, I will never accept defeat, I will never quit, I will never leave a fallen comrade.” That is not a catchphrase to me, it is an ethic that serves as a guiding principle. And I will apply it to making sure that every Veteran is treated with the dignity and respect that they have earned. ^[2]

”

—Joshua Saul’s campaign website (2024)^[3]

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.

Joshua Saul campaign contribution history
Year	Office	Status	Contributions	Expenditures
2024*	U.S. House Michigan District 1	Lost primary	$21,450	$21,450
Grand total			$21,450	$21,450
Sources: OpenSecrets, Federal Elections Commission *This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
* Data from this year may not be complete

External links

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Candidate

U.S. House Michigan District 1

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Footnotes

↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on November 6, 2023
↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
↑ Joshua Saul’s campaign website, “What We Believe,” accessed July 24, 2024

[show]

Michigan's current delegation to the United States Congress

Senators

Gary Peters (D)

Elissa Slotkin (D)

Representatives

District 1

Jack Bergman (R)

District 2

John Moolenaar (R)

District 3

Hillary Scholten (D)

District 4

Bill Huizenga (R)

District 5

Tim Walberg (R)

District 6

Debbie Dingell (D)

District 7

Tom Barrett (R)

District 8

Kristen Rivet (D)

District 9

Lisa McClain (R)

District 10

John James (R)

District 11

Haley Stevens (D)

District 12

Rashida Tlaib (D)

District 13

Shri Thanedar (D)

Democratic Party (8)

Republican Party (7)

[1] Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on November 6, 2023

[quotedisclaimer-2] Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.

[3] Joshua Saul’s campaign website, “What We Believe,” accessed July 24, 2024

[1]

[2]

[3]

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Joshua Saul

Contents

Biography

Elections

2024

General election

General election for U.S. House Michigan District 1

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House Michigan District 1

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House Michigan District 1

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Libertarian convention

Libertarian convention for U.S. House Michigan District 1

Working Class Party convention

Working Class Party convention for U.S. House Michigan District 1

Endorsements

Campaign themes

2024

Ballotpedia survey responses

Campaign website

Campaign finance summary

See also

External links

Footnotes

Information about voting

2025 Elections

2026 Elections

2024 Election analysis

Trending

Public Policy

Information for candidates

Get Engaged

Services

Additional analysis

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