Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin and former Republican congressman Mike Rogers clashed over national security, immigration and abortion in a debate Tuesday as each candidate vied to be Michigan's next U.S. senator.
Retired Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., 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, was chairman of the House Intelligence Committee and was endorsed by former President Trump.
This race in battleground Michigan is close, although Slotkin has enjoyed an average 5 percentage point lead in public 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 Lean D.
The hour-long debate hosted by NBC affiliate WOOD TV was mostly polite and focused on specific issues. However, there were several occasions when candidates accused each other of lying or distorting facts from their records.
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The Michigan Senate race between Elissa Slotkin and Mike Rogers is more competitive than initially anticipated. (Associated Press)
“Dishonest and deceitful,” Rogers fumed after Slotkin insisted that he repeatedly voted to “privatize or cut Medicare and Social Security” while he was a member of Congress. “I’m not even sure she could pass a polygraph test at the CIA anymore,” he said, referring to Slotkin’s former career as a CIA analyst.
Slotkin responded later after Rogers said he was “snorting into the microphone” during a discussion about nuclear power and competition with China.
“It’s really sad that a guy who considers himself a national security guy can’t see that we need to work together on this issue, and not repeatedly lie,” she said.
Early voting is underway in the swing state of Michigan and both candidates have come forward willing to work with the other side. Each attacked the other as partisans.
“We are a very purple state. Lots of Democrats, lots of Republicans,” Slotkin acknowledged. “I was elected the 14th most bipartisan member of Congress out of 435.”
She 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 Elissa Slotkin speaks on stage during the final day of the Democratic National Convention on August 22, 2024, in Chicago. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Rogers, for his part, said Slotkin contributed to high gas prices, rising food bills and rising crime by “voting 100% with the Biden-Harris agenda.” He said that if he is elected to the Senate, he will “seek every opportunity to be bipartisan.”
The candidates appeared deeply divided on issues of 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,” she said, before adding that it will be “us or China” that builds the next generation of vehicles.
“China is eating up these types of vehicles,” Slotkin continued, warning that Michigan’s auto industry could repeat a historic mistake by “ceding ground” to a foreign competitor if America doesn’t invest in electric vehicles.
Rogers accused Slotkin of supporting EV mandates and pointed out, “85% of everything processed into electric vehicles has to go through China.”
“Why on God’s green earth we would cede this automobile market to the Communist Party of China is beyond me,” he said. “My opponent has repeatedly supported EV mandates, trying to pick and choose the cars our companies have to build and the cars you have to buy. And, by the way, that got us 2,400 layoffs at Stellantis, a thousand layoffs at General Motors. Ford is talking about closing two lines. The CEO of Ford has spoken out and said this won't work for America.
The debate became heated as each candidate tried to accuse the other of having a close relationship with China. Rogers repeated claims he made during the campaign that Slotkin signed a 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 allegations were “offensive” and responded that Rogers was AT&T's chief security officer “when they were actively working to include Chinese companies in our telecommunications.” Rogers denied the accusation.
In another conversation about the Middle East, Rogers criticized “my opponent's notion that the fact that they served in some way in Iraq gives permission to be wrong in the whole effort toward Iran.” Slotkin accompanied the troops as a CIA analyst during three tours in Iraq.
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Former Representative Mike Rogers speaks during a campaign event hosted by former President Trump at the Falk Productions plant on September 27, 2024, in Walker, Michigan. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
When the topic turned to abortion, Rogers said the choice to terminate a pregnancy is “the most painful decision a woman will ever have 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 make abortion legal in a part of the Michigan state constitution. go back to Washington, D.C., to do anything that might change what the Michigan Constitution, voted on by the people of Michigan, gave us this guidance to go back to.”
Slotkin said he would vote for a bill to codify Roe — thus eliminating state restrictions on abortion — and said Rogers could not be trusted on the issue. “He voted for every ban, every restriction, every bill that came across his desk to make things more difficult 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,” she said. “If he doesn’t trust us to protect our own rights, don’t trust him.”
“Deceive and deceive,” Rogers retorted. “I talked about making sure IVF is available to families so they can grow their families. It’s a very personal thing for these families and I support it 100%.”
Slotkin also framed Rogers as an adventurer, noting that he lived in Cape Coral, Florida, while Michigan voters addressed the issue of abortion in a 2022 ballot initiative, before Rogers returned to Michigan to run for Senate.
On immigration, Slotkin said the “system is broken” and that Congress must do more to secure the border. “To me, if you’re not here legally, you shouldn’t be here. You should go back to your home country and be removed to your home country.” She accused Republicans of using the issue as a “political talking point,” noting that a bipartisan border security agreement in the Senate fell apart after GOP opposition.
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Rogers said he was “delighted to learn that my opponent has converted 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 the things you have done to allow 10 million people into our country. We spend around US$450 billion housing and feeding illegal immigrants, telephones and health care. every Michigan teacher and every Michigan state trooper for 15 years.”
He called the bipartisan bill Slotkin referenced “a bill to exacerbate and make permanent 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.
