Michigan
Three U.S. House hopefuls in Michigan own million-dollar D.C. homes
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Three first-time Democratic candidates for key Michigan U.S. House districts each own at least one home in Washington, D.C., that’s valued at more than $1 million as they stump for votes in a campaign where the cost of housing has become a prominent issue.
In the 7th Congressional District, anchored by the Lansing area, Democrat Bridget Brink reported in a financial disclosure form having four investment properties in Washington, D.C., though one was sold last year, according to her campaign.
Brink, a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, valued two of the four properties between $1 million and $5 million, and, according to Washington, D.C., property tax records, she’s listed as an owner of two homes in the nation’s capital worth more than $1 million.
Another 7th District hopeful, former Navy SEAL Matt Maasdam, reported having an investment property in Washington, D.C., worth between $1 million and $5 million. And Democrat Eric Chung, a former Commerce Department lawyer who’s running in the 10th District, owns a home worth more than $1 million in Washington, D.C., according to property tax records.
The details underscore what some observers see as a growing trend in the battleground state: Congressional hopefuls with ties to Michigan returning to the state to run for Congress there.
“There does seem to be an uptick in the number of such candidacies in recent years,” said Bill Ballenger, a former Republican state lawmaker and longtime political pundit in Michigan.
The ties each candidate has to the area where they are running for Congress could be more scrutinized this year as national Democrats and Republicans both target the 7th and 10th districts in the midterm elections, with Democrats aiming to flip control of the seats.
What Brink, Chung and Maasdam are attempting to do — running for the U.S. House in a Michigan congressional district where they aren’t longtime residents — has precedent.
In 2017, Elissa Slotkin, a former Central Intelligence Agency official who worked for presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, moved back to her family’s farm in Oakland County and beat Republican incumbent Rep. Mike Bishop of Rochester for a seat in the U.S. House, representing what’s now the 7th District. The Holly Democrat is now Michigan’s junior U.S. senator.
Lansing, where Brink and Maasdam are now running for Congress, is more than 500 miles from Washington, D.C., where they own properties and hope to serve constituents. The average home value in Ingham County is $229,189, according to the real estate website Zillow.
The homes that Brink and Maasdam own in Washington, D.C., are worth more than four times that amount. In Macomb County, where Chung is running, the average home is worth $273,000, per Zillow.
“I’m a little taken aback by the opportunism here by people who have relatively little to no ties to a district showing up to run there,” said John Sellek, CEO of the firm Harbor Strategic, who has advised Republican campaigns.
“It’s galling to think that I could pick up and move to Dayton, Ohio, because maybe there’s an open seat there, and I run because they didn’t have another candidate. That’s not great.”
Both Brink and Maasdam are in a three-way Democratic primary race with climate activist Will Lawrence for their party’s nomination to challenge U.S. Rep. Tom Barrett, R-Charlotte, in the general election. Barrett is a former state lawmaker serving his first term in Congress.
Jason Cabel Roe, a consultant who works with Barrett, contended that Brink and Maasdam were both recruited by Democrats in Washington, D.C., to run in the 7th.
“I think it underscores that they have little connection to the districts that they’re running in,” Roe said. “And they’re creatures of D.C.”
Lawrence said the candidates’ ties to the district matter to voters there.
“People want a representative of the district to work for us in D.C.,” Lawrence said. “They don’t want someone hand-selected by D.C. insiders to come out here and tell us what we want.”
Lawrence contended that affordable housing is a huge issue in the race. In some areas of the 7th, new housing hasn’t been built in decades, he added.
Maasdam’s campaign said the D.C. property dates back to the candidate’s time working at the Obama White House and is now a rental property. Maasdam lives in Ann Arbor Township.
The D.C. houses were bought over a quarter-century when Brink, who now lives in Lansing, had overseas assignments in the Foreign Service as well as worked at the State Department and the National Security Council under Obama, Brink’s campaign said. The three houses are now leased out, the campaign said.
The campaign of Chung, who lives in Sterling Heights, refused to answer questions about his D.C. house.
Moving home to run for office
During the 2024 election, neither Brink, Maasdam nor Chung was registered to vote in the districts where they are now running.
Brink bought a house in Lansing in May 2025 before launching her campaign for the 7th District seat a few weeks later. She registered to vote in Michigan in June 2025, according to VoterRecords.com.
Maasdam lives in Ann Arbor Township, outside the 7th District. He registered to vote in 2020 at the Ann Arbor Township address, according to VoterRecords.com, which is located in the 6th District held by Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Ann Arbor. Congressional candidates are not legally required to live in the district they are running for.
Chung registered to vote in Sterling Heights in April 2025, after previously being registered in D.C., according to VoterRecords.com. He is vying for the Democratic nomination in a three-way contest in the 10th District, which is open as Republican U.S. Rep. John James of Shelby Township runs for governor.
Another congressional candidate in a competitive district, Republican Amir Hassan, also moved from the Washington, D.C. area back to Michigan to run for Congress last year, aiming to challenge Democratic Rep. Kristen McDonald Rivet of Bay City in the 8th District that includes Flint, Saginaw and Midland.
Hassan worked in federal law enforcement for 11 years before moving back to his hometown of Flint in July 2025 and launching a campaign. He and his wife, however, sold their home in Maryland’s Charles County last year, according to local records.
Hassan’s campaign said that, because of the nature of his work, Hassan had to live near where his protectees ― Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and then Secretary Sean Duffy ― were based, which is why he lived in suburban Washington.
Chung’s home in D.C. is also likely from his days working there, though his campaign refused to answer questions about it.
An attorney, Chung spent two years at the Commerce Department in Washington working to implement President Joe Biden’s 2022 law to boost U.S. semiconductor manufacturing. Before that, he was at the law firm Covington & Burling LLP.
Chung has said he quit the Trump administration after President Donald Trump “gutted” the CHIPS Act program. He moved back to Michigan (he grew up in Madison Heights) in April 2025 and launched his campaign for Congress the same month.
“Eric lives in the community he grew up in, in Sterling Heights, and is proud of the grassroots momentum behind his campaign to flip this seat,” Chung spokesperson Taylor Whitsell said in an email.
Chung did not disclose his downtown D.C. property in a financial disclosure in 2025. When a Detroit News reporter visited the home on Thursday, there were cobwebs on the front gate and the door, suggesting no one is currently occupying the row house.
Candidates and members of Congress are not required to disclose personal residences on their financial disclosures, according to ethics guidelines. If a property does not generate rental income, it generally does not need to be reported.
Why Matt Maasdam owns 3 homes
To qualify for office, candidates for the U.S. House are not required to reside in the district that they are seeking to represent. They must, however, live in that state.
Other members of Congress from Michigan have lived outside of the district that they’re elected to represent, including the late Democratic Rep. John Conyers Jr. of Detroit and James, who won the 10th District seat in 2022 while living outside of the district in Farmington Hills. After being elected, James moved to Shelby Township in the district.
But it’s generally considered good form to live among your constituents. Both Reps. John Moolenaar, a Republican, and Debbie Dingell, a Democrat, for instance, moved after the redistricting process in 2022 drew them out of their respective districts.
Owning homes out of state can lead to residency questions that can dog politicians for multiple election cycles, including GOP Senate hopeful Mike Rogers’ $1.7 million home in Cape Coral, Florida, and U.S. Rep. Jack Bergman’s home in St. Francisville, Louisiana.
Calling Rogers a “Florida resident” was a recurring theme among Democrats during his 2024 Senate bid, and Bergman’s home in Louisiana has continued to fuel critics, who claim he doesn’t really live in the remote western Upper Peninsula.
But residency questions and other local issues are increasingly overshadowed by national issues in races like U.S. House contests, thanks in part to social media “outrage” takes, Sellek said.
“The way that politics has been whipped into a frenzy over the last decade means people get mad over policy positions every day on social media,” he said. “Something as quaint as, ‘Are you even from here, do you shop at our stores or your kids go to our schools?’ It doesn’t matter as much.”
Maasdam’s campaign said he intends to move into the 7th District from his home in Ann Arbor Township by the Fourth of July.
In October, he purchased a lake home in Livingston County’s Genoa Township for $725,000. The house is on West Crooked Lake near Brighton.
Maasdam grew up in Nebraska, graduated from the University of Michigan and spent 20 years in the U.S. Navy, deploying to Iraq, Afghanistan, Africa and the Pacific as a SEAL. He later served as Obama’s military aide at the White House, responsible for carrying the “nuclear football.” Maasdam then went into business, working as an executive at Under Armor and then at e-commerce startups.
Maasdam previously told The Detroit News that he moved to Michigan in 2019.
“After their service, he and his wife, Laura, a veteran Navy helicopter pilot, chose to bring their family back to Michigan, because they wanted their two sons to grow up with the values that define this state: family, teamwork, grit, and hard work,” Maasdam spokeswoman Emma Grundhauser said.
In addition to his two homes in Michigan, Maasdam owns a row home in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of D.C., which is valued at $1.1 million in tax records. The average residential home in Washington’s Capitol Hill neighborhood is $922,903, according to Zillow.
The D.C. home dates to Maasdam’s time working at the White House when he wanted to be close enough that he could access the campus quickly in case of an emergency, Grundhauser said.
Since leaving D.C., he has rented that home out to military families in the area, Grundhauser said. The property produces up to $50,000 a year in rental income, according to Maasdam’s financial disclosure.
Maasdam also appears to own a share of a property valued at over $1 million in the area of the ski town of Steamboat Springs, Colorado. The property’s owner is a limited liability company called MBros LLC that’s registered to an address in Lincoln, Nebraska, according to state and county records.
Maasdam’s campaign said this property dates to Maasdam’s great-grandfather, who homesteaded in Colorado in 1904. Maasdam and his brothers have kept the 122-year-old, unwinterized property in the family “as a means of preserving this important part of their family’s history,” Grundhauser said.
The story behind Brink’s D.C. homes
Like Chung, Brink quit the Trump administration last year over disagreements with Trump’s policies.
Brink and her husband purchased four homes in D.C. over the last 25 years, including a six-bedroom, five-bath house purchased in 2010 in the Cleveland Park neighborhood that is valued at an estimated $2.3 million, according to Zillow.
Brink’s campaign said her 28 years in the Foreign Service required her to be “worldwide available,” moving her family every one to three years on U.S. government orders to posts abroad, as well as assignments in Washington with Obama’s National Security Council and at the State Department.
When her assignments required Brink to live in D.C., her family purchased homes that were later rented out after Brink received her next assignment, requiring them to move again, a campaign spokeswoman said.
All three D.C. properties are leased out, and a fourth was sold in April 2025, the campaign said. The combined income from rent and capital gains generated by Brink’s D.C. properties last year was $230,000 to $2.1 million, according to her 2025 financial disclosure.
After 28 years of working for the federal government, Brink left the Foreign Service and moved to Michigan last year. She grew up in west Michigan (outside of the Lansing-based 7th District), raised by a single mom near the Lake Michigan shore in Spring Lake and later in Grand Rapids with her grandparents. That region is represented in the House by two-term Democratic Rep. Hillary Scholten.
In May 2025, Brink and her husband purchased a riverfront home in Lansing for $565,000 and began claiming a homestead exemption, which designates the property as their primary residence. This is where she and her family currently live, Brink said.
“I’m a sixth-generation Michigander and the granddaughter of a Lansing autoworker. As I’ve fought for our rights and freedoms and American democracy, Michigan has always been top of mind for me, and we’re so proud to call Lansing home,” Brink said in a statement last week to The Detroit News.
“I left Michigan to serve my country, and I came home to Michigan to serve my community.”
Asked last year how she would respond to potential carpetbagging attacks, Brink said she would be happy to talk to people about questions about her background.
“I think this election is going to be about the future and what candidate can deliver for the people of my community. … I think I have a proven ability to deliver, and I think that’s what’s going to be important,” she said.
“But I’m so happy to be here. This is my home. I’m delighted to be back and especially now at this really important point for our country and for future generations.”
cmauger@detroitnews.com
mburke@detroitnews.com
gschwab@detroitnews.com
eleblanc@detroitnews.com
FLASHPOINT
Is Detroit, and the state election as a whole, ready for the general election? David Becker and Daniel Baxter are here to discuss it.
Then, we’re talking to Dr. James Baker about his concerns over changes in vaccine guidelines this week.
Plus, some big headlines this week as the races for governor and senate get even hotter.
And, we’ll remember some royalty because of today’s date.
A teenage boy and four adults were killed Friday in shootings that prompted a wide search for the fleeing gunman, whose body was ultimately found in a wooded area alongside one of his victims, authorities said. A teenage girl survived and was in stable condition, police said.
Chad Hickman, 39, was found dead after a wide search in Missaukee County, police said. Police released the ages and genders of the victims on Saturday but did not specify whether they were related to each other or the suspect.
Officers responded Friday morning to reports of a shooting at a home about 170 miles (270 kilometers) northwest of Detroit, where they found the bodies of a 16-year-old boy, a 45-year-old man and 40-year-old woman, and a 13-year-old girl in critical condition, Michigan State Police said.
Authorities say Hickman fled that scene, leading to a large-scale search. Police found the body of a 53-year-old man at a second home, and then a 29-year-old woman, dead alongside Hickman, in the woods. All the victims died of gunshot wounds, police said.
“This situation is heartbreaking for the community and challenging for the investigators involved,” Lt. Ashley Miller said in a Friday statement. Miller said Saturday the investigation is ongoing.
Hickman was convicted in 2024 of misdemeanor fourth-degree child abuse, according to court records. He was sentenced to one year in jail. In the same case, the court dismissed felony assault and criminal sexual conduct charges.
Tim Penrose, who lives on the street where the 53-year-old was found dead, said Hickman lived in that home. Penrose said he heard shots but didn’t think much of it until police arrived because he lives in a rural area where gunfire is not uncommon. Penrose said Hickman frequently harassed him and his wife, though he didn’t provide more details.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said Friday that she was monitoring the situation. “My thoughts are with the victims, their families, and the Missaukee community,” she said.
___
Associated Press writer Hallie Golden contributed. GaNun is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
A series of shootings in Michigan left five people plus a suspect dead Friday, police said, following an extensive search around two homes and a wooded area. Officers responded just before noon to reports of a shooting at a home in Missaukee County, about 170 miles northwest of Detroit, and found three people dead and another in critical condition, Michigan State Police said in a statement. The wounded person was taken to a hospital, the AP reports. Suspect Chad Hickman, 39, fled before they arrived at the home, according to police. As officers conducted a large-scale search for him, they found a fourth person dead at another home.
In a post on the social platform X, police warned that Hickman was armed and dangerous and told community members not to approach him. Hickman’s vehicle was later found in a wooded area near Whitlock Lake, and that led authorities to his body as well as that of another dead person. “This situation is heartbreaking for the community and challenging for the investigators involved,” Lt. Ashley Miller said in a statement. She added that investigators would work through the night to process each scene. The names and ages of the people killed were not immediately released, pending family notification.
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