(This story was originally published by Bridge Michigan, a nonprofit and nonpartisan news organization. Visit the newsroom online: bridgemi.com.)
By The Associated Press
Nelson Vandermeer voted Republican for decades but balked at supporting President Donald Trump, fearing that the Republican’s plan for tariffs on imports would hurt workers more than help.
Last year, Vandermeer’s premonition came true in a very personal way. The 62-year-old lost his job as a product designer at Howard Miller, a clockmaker that relied on parts produced overseas. After a century in business, the Zeeland-based company closed its factory, sold off its inventory and brand name and laid off nearly 200 workers.
“So much for bringing jobs back,” Vandermeer said. Next month, he plans to vote straight Democrat in the midterms.
As if an unpopular war with Iran and persistent inflation were not enough trouble for Republicans, they are confronting a backlash over the tariffs that Trump made a cornerstone of his economic agenda. He promised that charging higher taxes on imports would spur a factory renaissance in the United States, but that has not come to pass. Although the country has added manufacturing jobs so far this year, the sector has fewer employees than when Trump returned to the White House in January 2025.
White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers insisted that a factory boom is underway, citing increases in manufacturing output and more work in certain nonresidential construction trades. “Factory construction jobs of today mean more manufacturing jobs down the road once those factories come online,” she said.
Even before the tariffs, Howard Miller struggled as Americans lost their taste for fancy timepieces such as its signature grandfather and mantel clocks. So the company broadened its offerings years ago to include bar carts, cabinets and consoles.
But those products also depended on glass and other parts from abroad, and diversification did not ensure survival.
“I could still have a job, but now I don’t because of tariffs,” Vandermeer said. “It was like taking a knife to the back.”
A new ownership team headed up by West Michigan-based Huizenga Group acquired the assets to the Howard Miller Company earlier this year and announced it was relaunching the company. It said in a May news release that it is “now actively rebuilding with a curated product strategy centered on its most enduring categories: wall, mantel, tabletop and floor clocks.”
The ownership team includes Huizenga Group founder J.C. Huizenga; Phil Poel, executive vice president at Traeger Grills; Bill McKendry, founder and chief creative officer at BrandHaven; and Jim O’Keefe, Howard Miller’s former vice president of sales and marketing.
The new Howard Miller ownership team hired 13 employees, covering administration, customer service, operations, marketing and design, and hired a national outside sales force of 25-30 salespeople, O’Keefe said at the time.
—————
Job losses pile up in battleground states
Vandermeer lives in Michigan’s 4th Congressional District, which is represented by Republican Bill Huizenga, a Zeeland native who is running for a ninth term in the Nov. 3 election.
Before Trump implemented his broadest set of tariffs last year, on what the president called “Liberation Day,” Huizenga was supportive.
“Is it going to be easy? Not necessarily. Is it the right thing to do? Absolutely it is,” he told reporters at the time.
A spokesperson for Huizenga said last week that the congressman “sees a potential role for tariffs” for boosting domestic manufacturing “while recognizing the need to address their broader economic effects.” His Democratic opponent, state Sen. Sean McCann, has criticized the incumbent for opposing legislation that would rein in tariffs that Trump imposed unilaterally.
There are similar issues in competitive races in Kansas, Iowa and Ohio, where Republican acquiescence could hurt the party on Election Day as their constituents face factory layoffs, farm foreclosures and higher prices.
Tracy Chew, 55, voted for Trump in 2016, then for Democrat Joe Biden in 2020 and Democrat Kamala Harris in 2024.
She used to work for Case, a backhoe manufacturer, but the company announced before the tariffs that it would close its plant in Burlington, Iowa. She lost her job in April, as did her daughter, followed by husband and son-in-law over the next few weeks.
Chew is leaning toward voting for Democrats again this year, feeling that Trump let them down.
“I’m furious he isn’t doing enough,” she said. “Tariffs are not targeting the right companies, the right amount.”
Layoffs in Iowa have piled up elsewhere.
Winnebago Industries, which produces recreational vehicles like campers, cut 200 jobs last year after the cost of importing aluminum, steel and electronics increased by tens of millions of dollars.
“It’s a day to day battle,” said Michael Happe, the company’s chief executive.
In the tight race for an open U.S. Senate seat in Iowa, U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson faces Democratic state Rep. Josh Turek. There is a close contest, too, in Kansas, where Democrat Adam Hamilton, the pastor of the largest United Methodist Church in the U.S., is trying to unseat Republican Roger Marshall.
Cole Hoppock, chief executive of appliance maker Vornado Air in Wichita, Kansas, said Trump’s tariffs “impacted virtually everything.” The company known for its retro household fans laid off more than 70 factory workers in February, blaming higher prices for imported parts.
Trump’s trade policy could force cutbacks soon at another Kansas employer, Canadian jet manufacturer Bombardier. Trump has threatened to ban the company’s sales in the U.S. if Bombardier does not start making all its planes in the U.S. Bombardier said it buys parts from 2,800 companies in 47 states, including in Kansas, where it employs more than 1,000 people.
—————
Trump’s approach to trade is unpopular
Trump has spent years complaining that other countries are ripping off the U.S. when it comes to trade. Most economists say he is wrong and that his remedy — broad universal tariffs — would cause more pain than help.
Now most Americans disagree with Trump’s approach, according to The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. A September poll showed only about 3 in 10 U.S. adults approve of Trump’s handling of trade negotiations, compared with 4 in 10 in March.
Some of Trump’s tariffs have been haphazard.
He targeted Brazil because of political differences and he jacked up tariffs on China to levels so extreme that they risked a recession and forced the president to retreat. The Supreme Court in February ruled against Trump’s declaration of an emergency to roll out his “Liberation Day” tariffs last year, leaving foreign trade unsettled as the administration continues to adjust with new levies and threats.
Tariffs are far from the only reason for the loss of manufacturing jobs, and factories have cut workers for decades with or without them. Even some Republicans who dislike Trump’s approach will not split with the party.
Bicycle Corp. of America, which closed its factory in South Carolina last year, blamed rising prices for imported parts. Koby Bird, who retired after working in quality control, likes tariffs but was frustrated by Trump’s habit of raising and lowering them seemingly at whim.
“It was all over the place,” Bird said. “Businesses couldn’t plan.”
Next month, Bird is likely to stick with Republicans, including U.S. Sen. Darline Graham, because tariffs are only one issue and he believes Democrats would spend too much money on the wrong things.
Ernie Goss, an economist at Creighton University in Nebraska, said manufacturing woes may not convert to Democratic victories. He said some people may “think the tariffs in the long run will work.”
—————
Some workers may be turning on Trump
Wendell Young, a union leader in Pennsylvania, where several factories have had layoffs, said he senses a backlash among workers.
Last summer, Young said he got a firestorm of angry responses to his email blaming tariffs for a decision by Post Holdings to cut 160 jobs at a local pet food factory.
“Keep politics out of this,” wrote one of workers at the plant in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania. “President Trump isn’t the reason.”
“People used to beat me up for not supporting Trump. I haven’t heard that in a year,” said Young, president of Local 1776 of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union. “Some of these people are red Republicans and they are shocked. They expected more jobs.”
Post Holdings ultimately agreed to reduce the head count by offering severance for people to leave, but lower production had a ripple effect.
Local can manufacturer Trivium Packaging decided to cut several jobs because they were getting less orders from Post and other companies, according to Young’s union.
“I understand the mindset behind tariffs, but I just don’t know if it’s working,” said former Post worker Heather Kingston. She left for another company before the layoffs, and her husband is still working at Post. “There doesn’t seem to be many manufacturing jobs moving into the area,” she said.
Kingston said she voted for Republican Dan Meuser in the 9th District last time but is having doubts this year. Meuser’s seat is considered safe, but other races in the state are up for grabs, including in the 7th and 8th districts, which are near the Post and Trivium factories.
(Zeeland Record Editor Greg Chandler contributed to this story.)
By The Associated Press
Nelson Vandermeer voted Republican for decades but balked at supporting President Donald Trump, fearing that the Republican’s plan for tariffs on imports would hurt workers more than help.
Last year, Vandermeer’s premonition came true in a very personal way. The 62-year-old lost his job as a product designer at Howard Miller, a clockmaker that relied on parts produced overseas. After a century in business, the Zeeland-based company closed its factory, sold off its inventory and brand name and laid off nearly 200 workers.
“So much for bringing jobs back,” Vandermeer said. Next month, he plans to vote straight Democrat in the midterms.
As if an unpopular war with Iran and persistent inflation were not enough trouble for Republicans, they are confronting a backlash over the tariffs that Trump made a cornerstone of his economic agenda. He promised that charging higher taxes on imports would spur a factory renaissance in the United States, but that has not come to pass. Although the country has added manufacturing jobs so far this year, the sector has fewer employees than when Trump returned to the White House in January 2025.
White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers insisted that a factory boom is underway, citing increases in manufacturing output and more work in certain nonresidential construction trades. “Factory construction jobs of today mean more manufacturing jobs down the road once those factories come online,” she said.
Even before the tariffs, Howard Miller struggled as Americans lost their taste for fancy timepieces such as its signature grandfather and mantel clocks. So the company broadened its offerings years ago to include bar carts, cabinets and consoles.
But those products also depended on glass and other parts from abroad, and diversification did not ensure survival.
“I could still have a job, but now I don’t because of tariffs,” Vandermeer said. “It was like taking a knife to the back.”
A new ownership team headed up by West Michigan-based Huizenga Group acquired the assets to the Howard Miller Company earlier this year and announced it was relaunching the company. It said in a May news release that it is “now actively rebuilding with a curated product strategy centered on its most enduring categories: wall, mantel, tabletop and floor clocks.”
The ownership team includes Huizenga Group founder J.C. Huizenga; Phil Poel, executive vice president at Traeger Grills; Bill McKendry, founder and chief creative officer at BrandHaven; and Jim O’Keefe, Howard Miller’s former vice president of sales and marketing.
The new Howard Miller ownership team hired 13 employees, covering administration, customer service, operations, marketing and design, and hired a national outside sales force of 25-30 salespeople, O’Keefe said at the time.
—————
Job losses pile up in battleground states
Vandermeer lives in Michigan’s 4th Congressional District, which is represented by Republican Bill Huizenga, a Zeeland native who is running for a ninth term in the Nov. 3 election.
Before Trump implemented his broadest set of tariffs last year, on what the president called “Liberation Day,” Huizenga was supportive.
“Is it going to be easy? Not necessarily. Is it the right thing to do? Absolutely it is,” he told reporters at the time.
A spokesperson for Huizenga said last week that the congressman “sees a potential role for tariffs” for boosting domestic manufacturing “while recognizing the need to address their broader economic effects.” His Democratic opponent, state Sen. Sean McCann, has criticized the incumbent for opposing legislation that would rein in tariffs that Trump imposed unilaterally.
There are similar issues in competitive races in Kansas, Iowa and Ohio, where Republican acquiescence could hurt the party on Election Day as their constituents face factory layoffs, farm foreclosures and higher prices.
Tracy Chew, 55, voted for Trump in 2016, then for Democrat Joe Biden in 2020 and Democrat Kamala Harris in 2024.
She used to work for Case, a backhoe manufacturer, but the company announced before the tariffs that it would close its plant in Burlington, Iowa. She lost her job in April, as did her daughter, followed by husband and son-in-law over the next few weeks.
Chew is leaning toward voting for Democrats again this year, feeling that Trump let them down.
“I’m furious he isn’t doing enough,” she said. “Tariffs are not targeting the right companies, the right amount.”
Layoffs in Iowa have piled up elsewhere.
Winnebago Industries, which produces recreational vehicles like campers, cut 200 jobs last year after the cost of importing aluminum, steel and electronics increased by tens of millions of dollars.
“It’s a day to day battle,” said Michael Happe, the company’s chief executive.
In the tight race for an open U.S. Senate seat in Iowa, U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson faces Democratic state Rep. Josh Turek. There is a close contest, too, in Kansas, where Democrat Adam Hamilton, the pastor of the largest United Methodist Church in the U.S., is trying to unseat Republican Roger Marshall.
Cole Hoppock, chief executive of appliance maker Vornado Air in Wichita, Kansas, said Trump’s tariffs “impacted virtually everything.” The company known for its retro household fans laid off more than 70 factory workers in February, blaming higher prices for imported parts.
Trump’s trade policy could force cutbacks soon at another Kansas employer, Canadian jet manufacturer Bombardier. Trump has threatened to ban the company’s sales in the U.S. if Bombardier does not start making all its planes in the U.S. Bombardier said it buys parts from 2,800 companies in 47 states, including in Kansas, where it employs more than 1,000 people.
—————
Trump’s approach to trade is unpopular
Trump has spent years complaining that other countries are ripping off the U.S. when it comes to trade. Most economists say he is wrong and that his remedy — broad universal tariffs — would cause more pain than help.
Now most Americans disagree with Trump’s approach, according to The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. A September poll showed only about 3 in 10 U.S. adults approve of Trump’s handling of trade negotiations, compared with 4 in 10 in March.
Some of Trump’s tariffs have been haphazard.
He targeted Brazil because of political differences and he jacked up tariffs on China to levels so extreme that they risked a recession and forced the president to retreat. The Supreme Court in February ruled against Trump’s declaration of an emergency to roll out his “Liberation Day” tariffs last year, leaving foreign trade unsettled as the administration continues to adjust with new levies and threats.
Tariffs are far from the only reason for the loss of manufacturing jobs, and factories have cut workers for decades with or without them. Even some Republicans who dislike Trump’s approach will not split with the party.
Bicycle Corp. of America, which closed its factory in South Carolina last year, blamed rising prices for imported parts. Koby Bird, who retired after working in quality control, likes tariffs but was frustrated by Trump’s habit of raising and lowering them seemingly at whim.
“It was all over the place,” Bird said. “Businesses couldn’t plan.”
Next month, Bird is likely to stick with Republicans, including U.S. Sen. Darline Graham, because tariffs are only one issue and he believes Democrats would spend too much money on the wrong things.
Ernie Goss, an economist at Creighton University in Nebraska, said manufacturing woes may not convert to Democratic victories. He said some people may “think the tariffs in the long run will work.”
—————
Some workers may be turning on Trump
Wendell Young, a union leader in Pennsylvania, where several factories have had layoffs, said he senses a backlash among workers.
Last summer, Young said he got a firestorm of angry responses to his email blaming tariffs for a decision by Post Holdings to cut 160 jobs at a local pet food factory.
“Keep politics out of this,” wrote one of workers at the plant in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania. “President Trump isn’t the reason.”
“People used to beat me up for not supporting Trump. I haven’t heard that in a year,” said Young, president of Local 1776 of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union. “Some of these people are red Republicans and they are shocked. They expected more jobs.”
Post Holdings ultimately agreed to reduce the head count by offering severance for people to leave, but lower production had a ripple effect.
Local can manufacturer Trivium Packaging decided to cut several jobs because they were getting less orders from Post and other companies, according to Young’s union.
“I understand the mindset behind tariffs, but I just don’t know if it’s working,” said former Post worker Heather Kingston. She left for another company before the layoffs, and her husband is still working at Post. “There doesn’t seem to be many manufacturing jobs moving into the area,” she said.
Kingston said she voted for Republican Dan Meuser in the 9th District last time but is having doubts this year. Meuser’s seat is considered safe, but other races in the state are up for grabs, including in the 7th and 8th districts, which are near the Post and Trivium factories.
(Zeeland Record Editor Greg Chandler contributed to this story.)
Last Living Delegate Looks Back on 1961 Constitutional Convention
By Scott McClallen
Michigan Capitol Confidential
Eugene Wanger helped write Michigan’s current constitution when he was 28 years old. Today, he is the last survivor of the 144 delegates who met at the Lansing Civic Center on Oct. 3, 1961, to start drafting what became the current Michigan Constitution, the primary law of the state, which voters approved in 1963.
State voters will decide Nov. 3 whether a new roster of delegates should amend and possibly rewrite our state constitution. This question is put to popular vote every 16 years, and voters have rejected the idea the last three times they were asked: in 1978, 1994, and 2010.
Michigan Capitol Confidential contacted Eugene Wanger this month to talk about his experiences during what he called “the chance of a lifetime,” when delegates chose to wipe the slate clean and start over.
Wanger became interested in the Con-Con because he was a political science major in college and attended the University of Michigan law school. His interest in political discussions emerged early; he was twice the State Champion Orator as a student at the J. W. Sexton High School in Lansing.
He started practicing law a few years before the Constitutional Convention started and won a seat as a delegate.
“We were coming out of a recession, and it hit the auto industry hard,” Wanger said. “It hurt people. And then there had been some mixup in the state finances. We had a short period of time when the state employees couldn’t be paid because the cash wasn’t ready. That was called ‘payless paydays.’ That disturbed the public.”
He said that delegates adopted the new constitution because “it was a good job.”
The news media in those days were comprehensive and had state bureaus staffed by experienced reporters, Wanger said.
“The coverage on various subjects, and especially on state government, was very good and knowledgeable and detailed. A lot of that seeped into the public mind during the course of the convention.”
Wanger wrote the provision in Michigan’s Constitution that formally banned the death penalty — establishing in law what had been longstanding public sentiment since Michigan became a state in 1837.
“Michigan is the only state in the union that has a constitutional prohibition of the death penalty,” Wanger said. “In fact, I wrote it.”
Delegates also discussed state finances and whether the ballot was too long, Wanger said.
Convention leaders established committees for different topics. The delegates chose to appoint some government employees to state office instead of electing them. They also crafted requirements for Michigan’s auditor general to require that person to be a certified public accountant and to audit the performance of state agencies.
Special interest groups sent many lobbyists to the gathering, but “nobody at Con-Con was going to be running for reelection,” so lobbyists had less influence than they do in the Legislature, Wanger said.
“I was never pressured by any lobbyists,” Wanger said. “If a lobbyist had a point to make, he would make it in front of our committees.”
The people serving as delegates were often former government employees, such as treasurers or Senate or House leaders. None of the delegates were current lawmakers, who were not eligible to be delegates. Fred Chase, secretary of the 1961 Con-Con, had been the Michigan Senate’s parliamentarian for about 28 years, Wanger said.
“He was a master at this sort of thing,” Wanger said. “The absence of legislators from the convention didn’t make any real difference because we had the experience of our secretary and parliamentarian there to take care of that.”
Michigan voters approved the state’s fourth constitution two years later in 1963.
Should voters approve the Con-Con initiative next month, that would cost taxpayers roughly $61 million to hold three elections to pick delegates, according to the Senate Fiscal Agency. A statewide election costs about $4,500 per voting precinct, and Michigan has about 4,500 precincts. Delegates would then revise the Constitution and send it to voters for approval or rejection.
Wanger’s advice to potential future delegates? “Be honest and work hard.”
—————
Michigan Capitol Confidential is the news source produced by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. Michigan Capitol Confidential report with a free-market news perspective.
Michigan Capitol Confidential
Eugene Wanger helped write Michigan’s current constitution when he was 28 years old. Today, he is the last survivor of the 144 delegates who met at the Lansing Civic Center on Oct. 3, 1961, to start drafting what became the current Michigan Constitution, the primary law of the state, which voters approved in 1963.
State voters will decide Nov. 3 whether a new roster of delegates should amend and possibly rewrite our state constitution. This question is put to popular vote every 16 years, and voters have rejected the idea the last three times they were asked: in 1978, 1994, and 2010.
Michigan Capitol Confidential contacted Eugene Wanger this month to talk about his experiences during what he called “the chance of a lifetime,” when delegates chose to wipe the slate clean and start over.
Wanger became interested in the Con-Con because he was a political science major in college and attended the University of Michigan law school. His interest in political discussions emerged early; he was twice the State Champion Orator as a student at the J. W. Sexton High School in Lansing.
He started practicing law a few years before the Constitutional Convention started and won a seat as a delegate.
“We were coming out of a recession, and it hit the auto industry hard,” Wanger said. “It hurt people. And then there had been some mixup in the state finances. We had a short period of time when the state employees couldn’t be paid because the cash wasn’t ready. That was called ‘payless paydays.’ That disturbed the public.”
He said that delegates adopted the new constitution because “it was a good job.”
The news media in those days were comprehensive and had state bureaus staffed by experienced reporters, Wanger said.
“The coverage on various subjects, and especially on state government, was very good and knowledgeable and detailed. A lot of that seeped into the public mind during the course of the convention.”
Wanger wrote the provision in Michigan’s Constitution that formally banned the death penalty — establishing in law what had been longstanding public sentiment since Michigan became a state in 1837.
“Michigan is the only state in the union that has a constitutional prohibition of the death penalty,” Wanger said. “In fact, I wrote it.”
Delegates also discussed state finances and whether the ballot was too long, Wanger said.
Convention leaders established committees for different topics. The delegates chose to appoint some government employees to state office instead of electing them. They also crafted requirements for Michigan’s auditor general to require that person to be a certified public accountant and to audit the performance of state agencies.
Special interest groups sent many lobbyists to the gathering, but “nobody at Con-Con was going to be running for reelection,” so lobbyists had less influence than they do in the Legislature, Wanger said.
“I was never pressured by any lobbyists,” Wanger said. “If a lobbyist had a point to make, he would make it in front of our committees.”
The people serving as delegates were often former government employees, such as treasurers or Senate or House leaders. None of the delegates were current lawmakers, who were not eligible to be delegates. Fred Chase, secretary of the 1961 Con-Con, had been the Michigan Senate’s parliamentarian for about 28 years, Wanger said.
“He was a master at this sort of thing,” Wanger said. “The absence of legislators from the convention didn’t make any real difference because we had the experience of our secretary and parliamentarian there to take care of that.”
Michigan voters approved the state’s fourth constitution two years later in 1963.
Should voters approve the Con-Con initiative next month, that would cost taxpayers roughly $61 million to hold three elections to pick delegates, according to the Senate Fiscal Agency. A statewide election costs about $4,500 per voting precinct, and Michigan has about 4,500 precincts. Delegates would then revise the Constitution and send it to voters for approval or rejection.
Wanger’s advice to potential future delegates? “Be honest and work hard.”
—————
Michigan Capitol Confidential is the news source produced by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. Michigan Capitol Confidential report with a free-market news perspective.
