Democratic Rep. Elisa Slotkin and former Republican congressman Mike Rogers clashed over national security, immigration and abortion in a debate Tuesday as each candidate sought to be next. US Senator from Michigan.
Retired Sen. Debbie Stabenow, Democrat of Michigan, endorsed Slotkin, a three-term lawmaker who currently represents Michigan's 7th Congressional District, to fill her seat. Rogers served in the House from 2001 to 2015, chaired the House Intelligence Committee and was endorsed by former President Trump.
The race is tight in battleground Michigan, although Slotkin has an average lead of 5 percentage points in opinion polls. The winner could very well determine which major party gains control of the Senate next year. Fox News Power Rankings lists the Michigan Senate race as Lynn D.
The hour-long debate, hosted by NBC affiliate WOOD TV, was mostly polite and focused on the issue. However, there have been times when candidates have accused each other of lying or distorting information in their records.
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The Michigan Senate race between Elisa Slotkin and Mike Rogers is more competitive than initially anticipated. (Associated Press)
“Dishonest and deceitful,” Rogers fumed when he insisted that Slotkin repeatedly vote to “privatize or cut Medicare and Social Security” while he was a member of Congress. “I’m not sure he’ll be able to pass a polygraph test at the CIA anymore,” he said, referring to Slotkin’s former career as a CIA analyst.
Rogers said he later hit Slotkin after he “snorted into the microphone” during a discussion about nuclear energy. Competition with China.
“It’s sad that a guy who thinks he’s a national security guy can’t see that we need to work together on this issue, and not repeatedly lie,” he said.
Early voting is underway in the swing state of Michigan, and both candidates have said they are willing to work with the other party. Each was attacked as biased.
“We are a very purple state. Lots of Democrats, lots of Republicans,” Slotkin admitted. “I was elected the 14th bipartisan member of Congress out of 435.”
He noted that Rogers served as vice president in the House, “the guy who got everyone to vote with the Republicans.”
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Representative Elisa Slotkin speaks on stage during the final day of the Democratic National Convention on August 22, 2024 in Chicago. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Instead, Rogers said Slotkin contributed to rising gas prices, rising food bills and rising crime by “voting 100% for the Biden-Harris agenda.” He said that if elected to the Senate, he would “seek every opportunity to be bipartisan.”
The candidates are deeply divided on foreign policy, national security, immigration and abortion.
Slotkin framed electric vehicle production in Michigan as a national security issue. “I don’t care what kind of car you want to drive,” he said, adding that it will be “us or China” that builds the next generation of vehicles.
“China is eating these types of vehicles,” Slotkin continued, warning that if America doesn’t invest in electric vehicles, Michigan’s auto industry could repeat a historic mistake by giving foreign competitors a “seeding ground.”
Rogers accused Slotkin of supporting the EV mandate and noted, “85% of everything processed into electric vehicles goes through China.”
“Why on earth would we hand over this car market to the Chinese Communist Party,” he said. “My opponent has supported the EV mandate multiple times, trying to pick and choose the cars our companies make and the cars you buy. And anyway, that got us 2,400 layoffs at Stellantis, 1,000 layoffs at General Motors. and it won't work for America.
The debate became heated as each candidate tried to accuse the other of having close ties to China. Rodgers has repeatedly complained that he hired Slotkin during the campaign's non-disclosure agreement with Gotion, a China-linked company that received $175 million in taxpayer money to build a battery factory in Big Rapids. Slotkin said his opponent's claims were “outrageous” and that Rogers was AT&T's chief security officer “at a time when they were actively working to bring Chinese companies into our telecommunications.” Rogers denied the allegations.
In another conversation about the Middle East, Rogers bristled at “my opponent's notion that somehow working in Iraq allows them to be wrong about the whole effort toward Iran.” Slotkin accompanied troops on three tours to Iraq as a CIA analyst.
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Former Representative Mike Rogers speaks at a campaign event hosted by former President Trump on September 27, 2024 in Walker, Michigan. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
When the topic turns to abortion, Rogers said the choice to end a pregnancy is “the most painful decision a woman has to make.”
Recognizing that the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022 allowing states to regulate abortion, Rogers said: “The people of Michigan voted overwhelmingly to legalize abortion in part of the Michigan state constitution. The people of Michigan voted for Michigan.” The Constitution gave us the direction to go back to Washington, D.C., to do something that would change that.”
Slotkin said he would vote for a bill to codify Roe — it resulted in the removal of state restrictions on abortion — and says Rogers can't be trusted on this issue. “He voted for every ban, every ban, every bill that came across his desk to make things harder for a woman and to prohibit, in some cases, a woman and her right to choose 56 times in total.”
“He voted for and sponsored bills that would make IVF and contraception impossible,” he said. “If he doesn’t trust us to defend our own rights, don’t trust him.”
“Deceit and fraud,” Rogers replied. “I talked about making sure IVF is available to families so they can grow their families. It’s a very personal matter for these families and I support that 100%.”
Slotkin also framed Rogers as an adventurer, noting that he was living in Cape Coral, Florida, when Michigan voters put the abortion issue on a 2022 ballot initiative, before Rogers returned to Michigan to run for Senate.
On immigration, Slotkin said the “system is broken” and that Congress needs to do more to secure the border. “To me, if you’re not here legally, you shouldn’t be here. You should go home and be removed to your country.” He accused Republicans of using the issue as a “political talking point,” noting that a bipartisan border security agreement failed in the Senate after GOP opposition.
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Rogers said he was “happy to hear that my opponent has made a transition on border security” after supporting the Biden administration’s policies.
“The question is this. You can't vote against the wall. You can’t vote against sanctuary cities,” he continued. “You cannot do what you are doing to allow 10 million people into our country. We spend around US$450 billion on housing, food, telephones and medical care for illegal immigrants. teacher and every Michigan state police officer for 15 years.”
He referred to the bipartisan Bill Slotkin as “a bill to exacerbate and perpetuate the problem.”
Tuesday's debate was the first of two planned debates between Senate candidates. A second debate hosted by Detroit's WXYZ-TV Channel 7 is scheduled for next Monday
