Michigan Primary 2024 Voter Guide: United States Senate

Democratic Candidates

Name: Elissa Slotkin

Age: 48

Current Occupation: U.S. Representative, 7th Congressional District

Education: BA, Cornell University | Master of International Affairs, Columbia University

Tell us about yourself in 200 words or less.

I’m a third-generation Michigander and spent my early life on a farm in Holly, Mich., where I currently live. During my first week at graduate school in New York City, the 9/11 attacks happened. I was recruited to join the CIA as a Middle East analyst, and within a year, I was deployed to Baghdad alongside America’s soldiers and diplomats, serving a total of three tours in Iraq. My tours in a combat zone led to various defense and intelligence roles at the White House. I have proudly worked for both Republicans and Democrats in my career, including directly for President Bush and President Obama; I took on a series of leadership roles at the Defense Department, and until January 2017, I oversaw policy at the Pentagon on Russia, Europe, the Middle East and Africa as acting Assistant Secretary of Defense. There, I negotiated some of the Pentagon’s most sensitive national security matters — from the fight against ISIS to the U.S. response to Russian aggression. After leaving the Pentagon, I returned to Michigan and ran for Congress. I was elected in November of 2018 and I have represented MI-07 in the U.S. House of Representatives since.

Why are you running for a U.S. Senate seat in Michigan?

I’m running for Senate because I believe that we need a new generation of leaders that thinks differently, works harder and never forgets the mission of public service. But the reason I first decided to run for office was more personal. My mother died of ovarian cancer in 2011. She struggled to afford healthcare for years because of an early case of breast cancer, and at the time, the insurance companies had gouged her for years based on that pre-existing condition. The same month that our family got my mother’s terminal diagnosis and was desperately trying to get her life-saving care was the same month that we were also filling out the paperwork for her to declare bankruptcy. I remember the exact moment that made me run: when the then-Republican controlled House of Representatives, the body I now serve in, voted to repeal those protections for people with pre-existing conditions.

Seven years later, the Republican leaders, fueled by the extreme wing of the party, are continuing the march to repeal things that the average Americans want. They want to privatize Social Security and Medicare, repeal drug price protections like allowing Medicare to negotiate. Then there’s the rights they’re obsessed with repealing: a woman’s right to choose, voting rights and any possible gun safety legislation.

What are the top 3 priority issues that the state of Michigan faces and what actions would you, as its U.S. Senator, take regarding each of them?

My overarching priority is to make it easier for Michiganders to get into and stay in the middle class. I’ve long said Michigan is the state that invented the middle class; it did so by maintaining a strong union presence and making investments in small businesses and critical manufacturing areas, which I hope to reinforce. Essential to keeping people in the middle class is keeping prices affordable.

I’m committed to reducing the prices of healthcare. In the House, I’ve spearheaded legislation to cap costs of insulin and to allow Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices and am deeply committed to putting every American on the path to homeownership. I believe that we need to make more critical items in America so that we are in control of our own economic security — supply-side shocks like COVID have the potential to wreak havoc on our economy and middle class families, so I’m committed to bringing critical manufacturing back to the United States.

Additionally, we have to protect our kids from the things that are truly harming them — not books, not Black history, but instead the number one killer of people under age 21: gun violence. Other things that are truly harming our kids are diseases of despair, mental health issues, opioid addiction and fentanyl, and climate change.

What is your stance on gun reform in the U.S.?

We absolutely must end the uniquely American problem that is gun violence in our communities. I’m the first Member of Congress to have two mass school shootings in my district — Michigan State University and Oxford High School. But it’s not just mass school shootings — it’s in our communities, our places of worship, by accident and by suicide. I recognize the urgency and impact this issue has on our communities and it’s why I’ve led legislation on safe storage of firearms, universal background checks, red flag laws, and the assault weapons ban. The vast majority of Americans — and especially Michiganders — are responsible gun owners. I had a Glock and an M4 on me in Iraq and I thank God every day I had those weapons. But we all know that being a responsible gun owner and caring about gun violence are not mutually exclusive.

What is your stance on abortion rights?

First, we need to codify the Roe standard into federal law. The biggest mistake we can make is thinking that overturning Roe was the end. It was only the beginning. Republicans across the country — in courtrooms, State Legislatures and Congress — are targeting contraceptives, travel, abortion medication and even IVF. In Congress, I have defended a woman’s right to have a family when and how she chooses, including working to protect access to contraception and IVF and blocking Republican attempts to limit access to reproductive care among our service members. It’s why I am proud to have earned the endorsement of groups like Planned Parenthood. In the U.S. Senate, you won’t have to guess where I stand: I will defend a woman’s right to have a family when and how she chooses. These decisions belong to families and their doctors — not elected officials who care more about their elections than the lives of women.

What is your solution to fight the current inflation crisis in the U.S.?

Folks are experiencing inflation everyday — it’s one of the top things I hear from Michiganders when I’m home — and it is why I am committed to using every tool in our toolbox to address the root causes and stabilize prices. If there was a silver bullet to end inflation, we would have fired it. Because I’m a planner, I focus on how we’re setting ourselves up for the future. The Inflation Reduction Act finally lowered the cost of prescription drugs, saving middle-class Michiganders a lot of money. We’re also making progress on America’s energy independence, by investing in an all-the-above energy strategy to reduce our reliance on countries halfway across the world for our needs — and inoculating ourselves against global events that increase our prices at home. Lastly, we are bringing our supply chains back home, rebuilding our manufacturing capacity, and reducing our reliance on other countries for the critical parts and pieces that drive our economy – keeping our prices stable and lower at home.

What actions/decisions by your challenger(s) have you disagreed with and how would you do things differently?

I’m a firm believer in the standard set by Roe v. Wade. But Republicans across the country – in courtrooms, State Legislatures, in the House and Senate — are targeting contraceptives, travel, abortion medication, and now even IVF. My Republican opponents in this race have co-led bills and voted to ban abortion over and over. But beyond any one bill or policy, they have no clear principles on this issue, desperately trying to have it both ways — to be against any abortion for any reason behind closed doors, but trying to hide that fact in public now that they know it’s unpopular. In the U.S. Senate, you won’t have to guess where I stand: I will defend a woman’s right to have a family when and how she chooses. These decisions belong to families and their doctors — not elected officials who care more about their elections than the lives of women.