City Council VP Michael Webber Seeks Rep. McMillin's Seat

Michael Webber, who has served as Vice President of the Rochester Hills City Council for the past two years and has sat on the council for six years, announced today that he will be a Republican candidate for State Representative in 2014 in the 45th House District, a seat that will be vacated by the term-limited Rep. Tom McMillin.

The district includes the cities of Rochester Hills and Rochester and a portion of the Charter Township of Oakland. 

Webber will run in an August 2014 Republican primary and, if successful, will run against a Democratic candidate that November. 

“Michigan is beginning to recover from the lost decade. I want to be a part of that recovery," Webber said in a statement. "My candidacy will focus on ways that we can work together to move our state forward."

Webber, a Rochester Adams graduate, has lived in Rochester Hills 24 years and and serves on the Rochester Community Schools Foundation Board of Directors. Webber graduated from the James Madison College at Michigan State University with a Bachelor’s Degree in International Relations. He is married to his wife, Julia—a graduate of Rochester High School—and the couple has an infant son, James.

Webber also works as an agent with Nickel & Saph. Prior to his work with Nickel & Saph, Webber served for nine years within Michigan state government on the staffs of former Gov. John Engler, Speaker of the House Rick Johnson, State Sen. Nancy Cassis, State Rep. John Proos and State Rep. Marty Knollenberg. He currently serves as the 58th President of the Rochester Area Jaycees and has been a member for six years. Webber serves as the chair of the Rochester Regional Chamber of Commerce Legislative Committee and also serves on the Older Person Commission Governing Board.

While Webber has most recently served in a city government capacity, he says his past work at the staff level in the Michigan government has prepared him to represent his district. 

"I spent nine years working in the state government," Webber said Monday. "I still maintain a lot of those relationships and have an understanding of a lot of the issues facing the state. I can hit the ground running from day one."

He says his roots growing up in the area can help him reach Rochester and Oakland Township voters who might not be familiar with his presence on the Rochester Hills City Council.