Democrat Elissa Slotkin will win Michigan Senate seat, CNN projects

By Alison Main, CNN

(CNN) — Rep. Elissa Slotkin will win the competitive Michigan Senate race, CNN projects, keeping the seat in Democratic hands and making her the youngest Democratic woman elected to the Senate.

She will defeat former Rep. Mike Rogers, who once chaired the House Intelligence Committee and was endorsed by former President Donald Trump earlier this year. Rogers called Slotkin and conceded the race, according to two sources.

“Donald Trump and I were both elected by the people of Michigan. Tens of thousands of Michiganders voted for Donald Trump and Elissa Slotkin on the same ballot, and it is my responsibility to get things done for Michiganders no matter who is in office, just as I did in President Trump’s first term,” Slotkin told reporters Wednesday in Detroit.

“I’m a problem solver, and I will work with anyone who is actually here, to work as your senator. That will always be my first priority,” she added, reiterating her belief that “America is at its best when we have two healthy parties that push and pull and debate on issues of policy and substance and make our laws better.”

Slotkin will be sworn into a GOP-controlled Senate that will be in position to boost Trump’s presidency. The GOP is also looking to defend its narrow majority in the US House of Representatives, though it remains uncalled.

Slotkin will succeed Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow, Michigan’s first female US senator, who announced early last year she would step aside and “pass the torch” to a new generation of leadership.

First elected to the House in 2018, Slotkin made appeals to conservative voters, ending both of her debates with Rogers by noting that her dad is a lifelong Republican who feels betrayed by his party’s loyalty to Trump.

“You will always have an open door in my office. You will always have a place at the table, because I want to hear from you,” she vowed during the campaign.

Rogers, who cozied up to Trump despite his previous criticism of the former president after the January 6, 2021, insurrection, highlighted Slotkin’s voting record in support of the Biden-Harris administration’s agenda, as she touted her abilities to be an independent thinker.

The Michigan Republican, whom Democrats attacked for moving to Florida after leaving the House in 2015, repeatedly linked Slotkin to efforts by the administration to incentivize a transition to electric vehicles, a hot-button issue with Michigan’s auto workers.

Slotkin ran television ads across the state telling voters that she doesn’t care what kind of car they drive, as Rogers accused her of wanting to essentially ban gas-powered vehicles in the state.

“I live on a dirt road, nowhere near a charging station, so I don’t own an electric car. No one should tell us what to buy, and no one’s gonna mandate anything,” she said in one spot, explaining that her priority is making sure EVs are made in Michigan instead of in China.

Slotkin also ran a multimillion-dollar ad campaign highlighting Rogers’ previous voting record on abortion legislation, arguing that though access to the procedure is protected in Michigan’s constitution, Republicans would enact a national abortion ban if given the levers of power.

“It’s not a talking point to women, it is our lives. It’s whether we bleed to death in a parking lot. It’s who and when gets to decide how we have a family. Do not trust him,” Slotkin fired back as Rogers vowed in their first debate that he would not defy the will of the Michigan people in Washington.

The Democratic congresswoman said that she would support reforming the Senate’s filibuster rule if elected so that legislation to codify Roe vs. Wade could pass with a simple majority vote in the chamber.

Slotkin also emphasized her position on gun safety, pointing out that she is the first US congresswoman to represent a district that suffered two school shootings, one at Oxford High School in 2021 and another at Michigan State University in 2023.

“This idea that we can’t go after the No. 1 killer of children in America is broken,” she said on the debate stage in Detroit.

In 2022, Slotkin, then the congresswoman for the 8th District, ran to represent the 7th district after Michigan’s congressional map was redrawn to capture a significant part of her Lansing-area constituency in that seat.

Slotkin, who embarked on a road trip-style tour of the state with Stabenow shortly after securing the Democratic nomination for Senate, said when she first decided to launch a bid for the seat, “it wasn’t even a question” if a woman could run, thanks to Stabenow.

Slotkin, a former CIA analyst who often touted her service under presidents of both parties, asked voters just after she won the Democratic primary to “join us on team normal,” a message that persisted throughout her campaign as she tried to build a broad coalition.

The-CNN-Wire
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