Elissa Slotkin enters race for US Senate, giving Democrats a likely frontrunner
U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Lansing, told the Free Press on Monday morning that she has made the decision to run next year for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Debbie Stabenow, giving the campaign its first widely known candidate.
Slotkin, a former intelligence officer and acting assistant Defense Department secretary under former President Barack Obama, has proven herself a formidable campaigner and prodigious fundraiser in three tough U.S. House races since 2018, making her the likely Democratic frontrunner in the race, depending on who else — if anyone — from the party decides to challenge her.
She said she will center her campaign message on "growing and strengthening Michigan’s middle class."
“There are certain things that should be really simple — like living a middle class life in the state that invented the middle class; like making things in America, so that we’re in control of our own economic security; like protecting our children from the things that are truly harming them; and preserving our rights and our democracy so that our kids can live their version of the American Dream," Slotkin said as part of a video to be released Monday launching her campaign. "This is why I’m running for the United States Senate. We need a new generation of leaders that thinks differently, works harder and never forgets that we are public servants.”
Even though it was thought that Stabenow's announcement in early January that she would not seek a fifth 6-year term next year could lead to a flurry of candidates filing, so far it's been the opposite.
Four Democrats who were considered early on as potential candidates — Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Birmingham — have all said outright or broadly suggested they are not running for the open Senate seat.
More:Debbie Stabenow talks about 'suiting up' to represent Michigan and why she's stepping down
Meanwhile, no widely known Republicans have announced for the race. U.S. Rep. John James, R-Farmington Hills, who waged two strong but ultimately unsuccessful bids for the U.S. Senate in 2018 against Stabenow and in 2020 against U.S. Sen. Gary Peters, last week filed paperwork to run for the U.S. House seat he currently holds next year.
Nikki Snyder, a Republican member of the state Board of Education, has filed to run for the Senate seat, as has Michael Hoover, a small businessman and first-time candidate. So far, they are the only candidates. No Republican nominee for a U.S. Senate seat in Michigan has won since the GOP wave in 1994, when Spencer Abraham beat former U.S. Rep. Bob Carr and served one term before Stabenow beat Abraham in the 2000 election.
In her first race in 2018, Slotkin — who grew up in Holly in Oakland County, a member of the family that ran a meat-packing company that created Ball Park Franks — defeated incumbent U.S. Rep. Mike Bishop, R-Rochester, in a Republican-leaning district that backed former President Donald Trump in both the 2016 and 2020 elections. In 2020, Slotkin won again, beating Republican nominee Paul Junge and becoming one of just a handful of Democratic U.S. House members who won in districts also won by Trump.
For her race in 2022, she moved into a new Lansing-based, mid-Michigan district after her home in northern Oakland County was redrawn into a much-more Republican-leaning district linked to northern Macomb County and the Thumb. Facing state Sen. Tom Barrett, R-Charlotte, who was also well-known in the region, she raised nearly $10 million compared to Barrett's $2.8 million as outside spending flooded the campaign both for and against her.
In what was considered a tossup district, Slotkin beat Barrett 52%-46%, her best showing in any of her elections to date.
As an elected official, Slotkin has shown herself to be accessible, holding regular town hall meetings, and has played up her role in trying to address local priorities, from working to create manufacturing jobs, limit prescription drug costs, expand access to health care and address concerns over "forever" PFAS chemical wastes. She also has touted her bipartisanship, working with the Problem Solvers Caucus, which features members from both parties, and fighting to pass legislation to aid veterans.
She has also been a vocal proponent of safe storage laws for guns and was a visible presence in the aftermath of two mass shootings: The first, in her former district, was at Oxford High School in November 2021; the second came again in her district two weeks ago at Michigan State University, after which Slotkin, who describes herself as a supporter of the Second Amendment right to bear arms, said she was "filled with rage" that students again faced death in their schools. "You either care about protecting kids or you don't," she said.
Slotkin has always presented herself as a moderate, independent Democrat, willing to buck her party if need be. Generally, she has voted with her party, though she is more likely to vote against her party than most Democrats. Meanwhile, she has leaned into her Michigan roots and her national security background — she did three tours in Iraq and served in the White House under both Obama, a Democrat, and his Republican predecessor, former President George W. Bush — to underscore her qualifications as a public servant.
She enters the race having recently announced that she and her husband are divorcing, though they said the possibility of her entering the Senate race, which had been widely expected, had nothing to do with that decision.
Stabenow, who is 72, announced in early January that she wouldn't run for another term, saying only that it was time for her to step away and spend time with family, including her 96-year-old mother. She said one of the reasons for her decision was to pass the torch to a "new generation of leaders."
Contact Todd Spangler: [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @tsspangler.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Elissa Slotkin running for US Senate seat in Michigan
