Republican · Michigan's 5th District · 2026
Tim Walberg
Walberg and his wife, Sue, enjoy the outdoors and riding their Harley together.
Biography
Tim Walberg and his wife, Sue, have been married for more than 50 years and raised three children in Tipton.1 They enjoy being grandparents, spending time outdoors and riding their Harley.1 Before politics, Walberg served as a pastor in Michigan and Indiana.1
His education included a bachelor's degree from Fort Wayne Bible College and a master's from Wheaton College.2 He also worked as a division manager for Moody Bible Institute and led the Warren Reuther Center for Education and Community Impact.1 His state legislative career began in 1983 in the Michigan House.2
Walberg first entered Congress in 2007, lost his 2008 reelection campaign and returned in 2011.2 He now chairs the House Education and Workforce Committee and also serves on Natural Resources.1 His committee's work covers education and workplace policy, including college affordability and pathways into skilled occupations.3 It helped develop higher education provisions in the 2025 budget law, including changes to federal student loans and repayment.3
He backs Workforce Pell, enacted in 2025 to extend Pell Grants to eligible students in certain shorter job training programs.45 He supports school choice and greater control for parents and local communities over education decisions.3 He also favors simpler student aid and loan repayment systems, clearer college prices and more information about what graduates receive for their investment.3
Record and controversies
Gaza remarks
At a March 2024 town hall, while discussing a proposed U.S. humanitarian port for Gaza, Walberg opposed spending on humanitarian aid and invoked Hiroshima and Nagasaki as a comparison for ending the war quickly.6 He later said he opposed nuclear weapons and had used a metaphor for swift victories by Israel and Ukraine, arguing that shorter wars would protect innocent lives without involving American troops.6
Uganda speech
At Uganda's National Prayer Breakfast in October 2023, Walberg urged the country to resist international pressure, at an event where other speakers defended its new law against same sex conduct.7 The 2023 law included the death penalty for an offense it called aggravated homosexuality.8 His office said he had not endorsed any law and was criticizing what it saw as unequal treatment by the World Bank; the report acknowledged he had not named the law in his speech.7 In a January 2024 letter, Democratic Representative Mark Pocan acknowledged Walberg's explanation that he had not backed the law and considered the death penalty contrary to Christian values.9