[1] A former chairman of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, Upton has played a major role in shaping post-Obamacare health care legislation.

He was a member of the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity, Peninsular Chapter, and became a sports editor at The Michigan Daily and thought he might someday cover the Chicago Cubs.

[12] After redistricting, Upton decided to run in the newly redrawn Michigan's 6th congressional district, winning reelection to a fourth term with 62% of the vote.

[22] On January 17, 2012, Hoogendyk announced that he would challenge Upton in the primary, the winner of which would face the Democratic nominee, former marine and businessman Mike O'Brien.

[25][26] Upton won with 55.9% of the vote, defeating Democrat Paul Clements, Libertarian Erwin Haas, and Green Party candidate John Lawrence.

Upton was reelected, defeating Democratic nominee Paul Clements, a political science professor at Western Michigan University, 58.5%–36.4%.

[citation needed] Upton was reelected with 50.2% of the vote against Democratic nominee Matt Longjohn (45.75%) and U.S. Taxpayers Party candidate Stephen Young (4.1%).

In November 2013, in response to Americans losing their health insurance coverage because of the ACA, Upton proposed a bill that would allow them to retain it.

[38] At the time, he noted that the legislation, ultimately signed into law by President George W. Bush, would "help preserve energy resources and reduce harmful emissions, all while saving American families billions of dollars on their electric bills.

"[41] He would later be criticized for moderating his position on carbon emissions,[42] leading a failed effort to stop the Obama administration from enforcing the new energy standards.

"[42] In late 2010, he co-authored a Wall Street Journal opinion piece saying he was "not convinced" that "carbon is a problem in need of regulation" and urging Congress to overturn Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency.

"[45] In 2012, Upton, as chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said that Congress's refusal to set greenhouse gas limits "constituted a decision and that lawmakers should act now to reverse the EPA emissions rules."

Carbon regulation, he said, "threatens to drive energy prices higher, destroy jobs and hamstring our economic recovery.

[47][48] He said the bill "is a sincere effort to focus a targeted solution to lessons learned from the Keystone Pipeline... No one can rightly argue that the current presidential permit process as the State Department is not broken, no matter what side of the climate debate you're on.

"[50] As of 2017, Upton has received more than $2 million in campaign donations from oil and gas companies and electric utilities over the course of his political career.

[53][54] On November 5, 2021, Upton was one of 13 House Republicans to break with their party and vote with a majority of Democrats in favor of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

[64] The bill would prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity, and protect the free exercise of religion.

[65] In 2019, during the 116th Congress, Upton broke with his party, one of seven Republicans to side with Democrats by voting for legislation that would fund government services and end a shutdown.

[68] In July 2019, Upton was one of four Republican House members to vote in support of a motion to condemn comments Trump made on Twitter calling on four Democratic Congresswomen, three of whom were born in the U.S., to "go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.

[75] He was later censured by the Cass County Republican Party for voting to remove Marjorie Taylor Greene from the House Education Committee.

[76] On May 19, 2021, Upton was one of 35 Republicans who joined all Democrats in voting to approve legislation to establish the January 6 commission meant to investigate the Capitol attack.

[89] In 2022, Upton was one of 39 Republicans to vote for the Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act of 2022, an antitrust package that would crack down on corporations for anti-competitive behavior.