The race for Michigan’s 7th Congressional District is attracting national attention as Republicans try to tie their Democratic opponent into a controversial deal with a company backed by the Chinese Communist Party.

Michigan Republicans are calling on former Democratic Senator Curtis Hertel, currently running for the state’s 7th Congressional District, to break his silence on a nondisclosure agreement he signed to obtain details of controversial plans to use taxpayer money to build an electric vehicle battery factory in western Michigan owned by a company with ties to the Chinese Communist Party.

The plant, announced in October 2022 by Michigan Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer, was expected to receive millions of dollars in incentives and bring over 2,000 jobs to the region as part of an agreement with Michigan lawmakers and Green Charter Township.

But the project quickly drew the ire of local voters, largely because the company behind the plant, Gotion Inc., is a subsidiary of Gotion High-Tech, which in turn has close ties to the Chinese Communist Party.

CCP-backed tech companies poised to profit from Biden’s climate law, national security experts warn

Two former Michigan State Senators, Republican Tom Barrett (left) and Democrat Curtis Hertel Jr. (right), are running to represent Michigan’s 7th Congressional District. (AP Photo/File)

Last fall, five of the seven council members were removed by local voters for their support of the project, while the other two members resigned.

This controversy has now spilled over into the race for Michigan’s 7th Congressional District, one of the few truly exciting House races in Michigan. This is because Hertel was one of several representatives from both parties who signed a confidentiality agreement with the Michigan Economic Development Corporation that allowed them to learn and negotiate details of the plans for the power plant.

Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin, who is giving up her seat in Michigan’s 7th District to run for the U.S. Senate, recently came out against the Gotion deal, amplifying calls for Hertel to do the same.

“Until there is a national security review, I’m not enthusiastic about the idea of ​​moving forward with a project or a sale of farmland to a Chinese company,” Slotkin told reporters at a campaign rally earlier this month. “I think we need to think not only about economics, but also about the national security implications that Chinese companies have.”

Rep. Elissa Slotkin. (Getty Images)

Biden administration gives green light to Chinese electric vehicle battery factory in Michigan, despite local opposition

“Hertel must answer whether or not he agrees with his running mate Elissa Slotkin and whether he regrets signing the NDA to sell out Michigan taxpayers to the CCP,” said Mike Marinella, spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee.

The controversy surrounding the plant has also caused a stir in the presidential election campaign. Former President Donald Trump declared on the social media channel Truth last month that he was “100 percent AGAINST” the plant, adding that Gotion would “put the people of Michigan under the thumb of the Chinese Communist Party in Beijing.”

Meanwhile, Trump’s running mate and Senator JD Vance of Ohio addressed the controversy last week during a campaign appearance in Michigan.

“I think the most important thing is that we have to stop paying Chinese manufacturers to produce, whether here or abroad,” Vance told reporters in Michigan after his speech. “We want to build an American manufacturing industry and an American middle class. If we’re going to pursue this policy, let’s do it for Americans and American companies.”

FEWER AMERICANS WANT TO BUY AN EV – EVEN AS BIDEN PRESSES THE TOUGHEST CLIMATE CHANGE RULES EVER

Republican vice presidential candidate Senator JD Vance (R-OH) speaks at NMC-Wollard Inc. / Wollard International in Eau Claire, Wisconsin on August 7, 2024. (Adam Bettcher/Getty Images)

Questions about Hertel’s involvement in the project, however, remain a focus for Republicans in Michigan, particularly after it was reported last year that Hertel was one of several Democratic lawmakers in the state who received funds from a political action committee (PAC) linked to the law firm Warner Norcross + Judd, which is acting as a foreign agent representing Gotion.

According to a Fox News report last September, the company’s PAC donated $2,400 to the statewide campaign for Hertel, who represented Michigan’s 23rd Senate District from 2015 until January.

One lawmaker who has not signed a nondisclosure agreement about the project is former Republican Senator Tom Barrett, Hertel’s opponent in the race for Michigan’s 7th Congressional District. Barrett has also seized on the controversy, arguing that Hertel owes people an explanation for his involvement in the project.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

“Curtis Hertel, a 22-year career politician, owes the people of Mid-Michigan an explanation as to why he signed a secret non-disclosure agreement to give $175 million of their tax dollars to a CCP-backed company,” Barrett told Fox News Digital. “The fact that he accepted money from foreign agents on behalf of Gotion should disqualify him from Congress.”

Reached by Fox News Digital for comment, Hertel campaign communications director Sam Kwait-Spitzer dismissed the Republicans’ allegations as a “false attack.”

“Curtis did not sign a non-disclosure agreement with Gotion, and Tom Barrett is trying to cover up his own record: voting against 5,000 good-paying manufacturing jobs here in Central Michigan and trying to hand the future of the auto industry over to China,” he said.

Get the latest updates on the 2024 election, exclusive interviews and more in our digital election hub, Fox News.