DETROIT – The Michigan Senate race is one of several that could help determine control of the House and decide the presidential race this fall. And unlike some other swing states, both candidates are near the top of the ticket in open Senate races.
Former Republican Rep. Mike Rogers praised former President Donald Trump in an interview as being “ready to start on day one to help get America, and Michigan in particular, back on track.”
Meanwhile, Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin hailed Vice President Kamala Harris' positive impact on her race as a “sea change” from President Joe Biden's campaign, which was struggling before dropping out of the race after a dramatically brutal debate against her in July. . Trump.
“It was like night and day, wasn’t it?” Slotkin talked about Harris' rise to the top of the list. “We saw a complete shift in voter turnout and interest in Democrats.”
But “night and day” doesn’t mean there’s no room for comfort in the race to replace retiring Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow.
“It’s going to be very close,” Slotkin admitted Thursday in the living quarters of his big bus after a campaign stop in Ann Arbor. The election is three weeks away, and although he has a slight lead over Rogers in most public polls, there are plenty of elections coming up.
“It’s about the independent voters, the swing voters, the voters who make decisions too late,” he said. “We’re running against a very small group of people who decide elections in Michigan, and they’re still making up their minds.”
While Rogers has linked himself to Trump, he also said he believes his campaign “will attract some Harris voters… and we will embrace them.”
“I think the auto workers — we're doing a great job with black men across the state because we're going to talk to them about opportunities and the future,” he said of a trend the Republican Party is working hard to promote this year. election.
Rogers, a former law enforcement official and chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, once criticized Trump — even mulling a challenge to the White House. But he has since traded endorsements with Trump and courted his MAGA supporters.
Now, Rodgers is careful not to attract criticism. Asked about Trump's derogatory comments about Detroit earlier in the day, he said he “didn't hear what (Trump) said.” (Trump called Detroit, Michigan's most populous city, a “developing area” and said the entire country would become “like Detroit” if Harris were elected.)
Pressed about Trump’s comments about Jewish voters (he suggested that Jews vote for Democrats “because they hate their religion”), Rogers was equally evasive: “Yeah, listen, I’m not running Donald Trump’s campaign. I'm the Mike Rogers campaign. for the United States Senate.” competing.”
Slotkin, a moderate Democrat who has been in Congress since 2018, described himself as a “natural member of the party.” He said he would work with “anyone in the ruling party” but accused Rogers of “adopting and exploiting the latest policies of extremism.”
Two national security candidates clash
Both Rogers and Slotkin have deep roots in national security work. Slotkin was a CIA analyst working at the Department of Defense. Rogers was an FBI special agent in charge of organized crime.
They have different ideas about defeating China, preventing the escalation of wars in the Middle East and ending Russia's war in Ukraine.
Israel's military actions in Gaza and Lebanon are particularly relevant in Michigan, home to the largest population of Arab and Muslim Americans of any swing state. A significant number of American Jews also live in Michigan.
Slotkin, the only Jewish member of Michigan's congressional delegation, sought to draw lines between the Muslim and Jewish communities east of Detroit. He has kept his contact with the groups largely private and has refrained from publicly criticizing the Biden administration's handling of the Gaza conflict.
Slotkin declined to comment on the community divisions so prevalent in the state, other than to note that the conflict has been “very raw” for Michiganders.
“There is no such thing as pleasing every person. It just doesn’t exist,” he said.
He said his strategy with communities worked because the most important thing is to “keep the lines of communication open.” He urged the Biden-Harris administration to continue to “talk to leaders, even when we don’t always agree.”
“I can also express genuine sympathy for the dead children. I mean, that doesn’t make me any less in favor of a strong state of Israel,” he added.
Rogers was criticized for Slotkin's balanced approach.
Slotkin “can’t go to every community and tell them something and then do something different,” Rogers said.
“That’s why the Jewish community, I think, is upset with my opponent. Because of this, the Muslim community is angry with my opponent. It's the old style of the 1970s – it remains for everyone, for all reasons. It doesn’t work when you address the problems we have in the state of Michigan,” he continued.
Asked how he is reaching out to the community, Rogers said that while the regional conflict is “an important issue” for the parties, borders and the economy are also important.
“I don’t care if you are Arab, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu or Christian. No matter what happens. Food prices are the same across that spectrum,” Rogers said.
Slotkin criticized Rogers for briefly moving to Florida before launching his Senate campaign. He, in turn, criticized him for his track record on electric vehicles.
Slotkin has recently taken offense to the issue, assuring voters in campaign ads and during the first debate that he himself drives a gas-powered car and is not in favor of the electric car mandate, although he voted for the Biden administration's rule . By 2032, U.S. automobiles will shift the economy to two-thirds electric.
“I don’t believe in doing anything that the auto industry can’t do, because that’s our bread and butter in Michigan,” Slotkin said.
“And if they can't meet (those standards), if they change what they think they can, then I'm willing to have that conversation,” Slotkin said, opening the door to opposition to the administration's emissions targets.
Rogers argued that “order doesn’t work; The market works.”
“Let people buy EVs. Let's build EV here. The electric vehicle market will eventually recover, but you can't force people today,” he said. “There’s a lot of concern among people — it’s not fair to the people who work here in Michigan and make great cars.”
How candidates are managing abortions
Biden won Michigan by less than 3 percentage points in 2020, and abortion helped stage a historic election for Democrats in 2022, when they took control of the legislature and government and voters codified reproductive access into law. Now, Harris and Trump are neck and neck in the state, according to recent polls.
As he began his campaign for Senate, Rogers said he respected Michigan laws protecting abortion and contraception and said he would not seek federal action on the issue. He touted the will of Michigan voters in a campaign ad last month, acknowledging abortion as “a top concern.”
But in the years before the Supreme Court struck down national abortion rights, Rogers voted for several anti-abortion bans in the House. He describes himself as a “lifelong pro-life” Republican.
Slotkin said he believes abortion will affect the race this year and that he supports “filibuster reform in any form” to restore federal abortion rights.
Whether or not Democrats vote to change the rules and raise the 60-vote threshold for a simple majority, which Harris said she supports, Slotkin said she thinks her party has not been “proactive” on important policy issues.
“At the Pentagon, if I say, 'Let's just play defense; We're not really going to have a plan,' I'm going to get fired. So I don’t accept it,” he said.
Slotkin said he would use his experience in “strategic planning” in the Senate to come up with a five-year plan to restore federal abortion rights, and criticized his predecessors in the Democratic Party for “waiting for bad things to happen.” thinking about the future
“The Democrats I hang out with have no idea, collectively, what our plan is,” he said.
