Rep. Slotkin defeats Harper in Michigan Democratic US Senate primary

U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin at her election night party in Detroit, Aug. 6, 2024 | Anna Liz Nichols

Updated, 11:47 p.m., 8/6/24

U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Holly) will be the Democratic nominee for Michigan’s open U.S. Senate seat in November after winning the Democratic primary on Tuesday over her lone rival, actor Hill Harper of Detroit.

The Associated Press called the race for Slotkin, 48, around 9 p.m.. With over 32% of the votes counted, unofficial results show she garnered about 80% of the Democratic vote, while Harper managed approximately 20%. 

Slotkin celebrated with retiring U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Lansing), as well as other elected leaders at the Hotel St. Regis in Detroit.

“We have less than 100 days to knock on doors to make phone calls to get out the vote, to persuade a ton of independent voters and I’m going to need your help. …We’re gonna run through the tape in November,” Slotkin said.

There are deep political divides around the country, Slotkin lamented, running deeper still in Michigan, a pivotal battleground state in the fight for party control in the U.S. Senate, as well as in the presidential race. The stakes are high this year, but so long as Democrats participate and engage with those who wouldn’t participate in elections, Slotkin said Democrats can win, returning the country to “normal.”

“With our eyes fixed on the future of Michigan and our country, I ask you to join me. Let’s send a message that for Michiganders, the truth still matters. That character still matters, facts still matter. We’ve been through difficult periods in our history. We will get through this one,” Slotkin said. 

Harper addressed his supporters during the 10 p.m. hour and said that was “proud of his campaign and the supporters.”  

He also said that weather was an issue in the election, as it rained during periods in metro Detroit and mid-Michigan. 

“No question we had the most momentum, the most energy. It was a question of turnout. The weather hurt us a lot,” Harper said. 

Harper said he doesn’t see himself running for political office in the future, but will remain an active Detroit resident.

Slotkin will now face former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers (R-White Lake), who won the GOP primary, as they vie to Stabenow, which is the matchup that pundits and politicos alike had predicted.

Booing erupted from the crowd of supporters when Slotkin began talking about Rogerts to which Slotkin responded, “No, we don’t boo. … We win.”

But on the campaign trail, she had to contend with an insurgent campaign by Harper that questioned Slotkin’s ability to represent the needs of Michigan’s Black community, which boiled over last month when a planned debate between the two was canceled amid accusations of a lack of representation of a Black female journalist on the panel. 

Slotkin steered clear of the controversy, merely saying she would “instead continue to directly engage voters in Detroit and across the state.” Her campaign has also emphasized her long list of endorsements among Black leaders across the state, including state Sen. Sarah Anthony (D-Lansing), state Reps. Kristian Grant (D-Grand Rapids) and Amos O’Neal (D-Saginaw), Jackson Mayor Daniel Mahoney, Saginaw Mayor Brenda Moore, and former Detroit Police Chief Ike McKinnon.

Fellow Democratic U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Birmingham) was ecstatic for Slotkin’s victory, jumping up and down in support for her win. When it comes to attacks from other candidates, Stevens said Slotkin is the wrong person to go after.

Stevens said Slotkin was the one who made sure Michigan’s delegation stayed together and was safe during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

“Like Elissa, I’m not too focused on attacks, but I will say that when you come for Elissa Slotkin, she will take you to the floor, and she will take you to task and no one bullies her. No one runs over her. She’s very strong. She’s a fighter,” Stevens said. “And I think anyone trying to undercut her is just underestimating how strong Elissa Slotkin really is.”

Slotkin, a former CIA analyst and high-ranking Defense department official won her first congressional race in 2018 in a Democratic wave, where she flipped a district that former President Donald Trump had won by 6 points in 2016. She has served three terms and currently represents the 7th District in mid-Michigan. 

When she announced in February 2023 that she was making a run to replace Stabenow, Slotkin was instantly seen as the one to beat, having quickly generated a national profile on security issues during her time in Congress, along with being an outspoken Trump critic.

Stabenow is Michigan’s first and only woman to represent the state in the U.S. Senate and is the person, Slotkin said, that makes campaigns like hers possible.

I’m stepping into some enormous shoes. She’s a small lady, but enormous, enormous shoes,” Slotkin said. “There are moments when even I take it for granted … that women can get into higher office, the stories and the scars that she bears for all of us so that I didn’t even have to think about it when I decided to run, it wasn’t even a question that a woman can run and she was the one who made that possible.”

Stabenow said Slotkin represents the protection of democracy adding that voters can’t let Donald Trump or his pick for vice president, Ohio U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance, “anywhere near” the White House, adding that “they’re weird.”

“We know that this is about making sure our shared values that we care about for our kids and our grandkids actually are protected and that our freedoms, the freedoms we have fought for, are protected in a strong, vibrant democracy,” Stabenow said. “That really is what’s at stake, we know that and the good news is Elissa Slotkin understands that.”

Slotkin has also solidified herself as a strong advocate for curbing gun violence having been the only member of Congress to represent two districts with mass shootings. Her district encompassed Oxford in November 2021 when a student at Oxford High School opened fire and killed four students, while wounding seven people. And then in February 2023 she represented the East Lansing area when a gunman killed three students on the Michigan State University campus, and injured five others. 

“We can help our children. This issue has me by the throat because of the violence in our communities,” Stoltkin said. “Mr. Rogers is not interested in the biggest killer of children in America, instead of talking about this issue and figuring out some sort of compromise way that the other side of the aisle can get engaged in this fight. … He’s spending this time dividing us, spreading hate, no hope anywhere.”

Another issue sure to be key heading into November’s Senate showdown with Rogers is reproductive rights. Slotkin told the Advance in July that “Republicans haven’t stopped for one minute trying to continue to go after a woman’s right to choose in different ways,” including trying to ban the abortion pill mifepristone, trying to prohibit women traveling for an abortion, and trying to provide legal personhood to an embryo, which endangers IVF and the freedom to use contraception. 

“They have not stopped, and because they haven’t stopped, it’s continued to be a salient issue,” Slotkin said, adding that conservatives had “a 50-year plan to get rid of the right to an abortion” and Democrats need to organize and develop a “10-year plan to get it back.”

Slotkin will attempt to continue the Democratic shutout of Michigan Republicans in the U.S. Senate, with the GOP only winning two of the last 15 Senate elections in Michigan, with the last one in 1994 when Spencer Abraham won election. He only served one term before losing in 2000 to Stabenow.

While the Cook Political Report has rated the open race as a “tossup,” that determination was made prior to President Joe Biden dropping out of the presidential race and endorsing presumptive nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, who has brought a burst of enthusiasm into the Democratic Party that has translated into gains in both fundraising, volunteers and rising poll numbers. 

Slotkin is already pitched forward on the money front, with more than $8.7 million in cash on hand as of July 17, while Rogers reported just over $2.5 million in cash on hand as of June 30, according to the latest fundraising filings with the Federal Elections Commission.

But with the lineup now set, both campaigns are sure to start attracting major fundraising hauls as the seat could very well determine control of the U.S. Senate. 

It’s important to look at history, Slotkin said, thanking specifically women of color of Detroit, where she announced her campaign for the Senate seat in March of last year, for supporting her and teaching her important leadership lessons.

Diversity is what makes Michigan great, Slotkin said, and what makes elected leaders great is what they do with the gift of leadership they are given by voters.

“Today we have Republican candidates that are largely uninterested in actually governing. Instead of getting things done, they would rather wage cultural wars in every part of our lives,” Slotkin said. “Helping people which is the very mission of public service, it’s what you swear an oath to do, has taken a backseat to vitriol, to chaos…When it comes to these candidates, I ask you to remember one fundamental thing: Look at what they do when they’re in power, not when they are looking for your votes.”

Advance reporter Ken Coleman contributed to this story.