Michigan Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D) and former Rep. Mike Rogers (R) clashed over overseas coverage, manufacturing and immigration throughout their first debate Tuesday as they battle to switch retiring Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D) within the Senate.
Slotkin, a three-term lawmaker operating with Stabenow’s endorsement, is leaving her seat in Michigan’s seventh Congressional District to run. Rogers, who served within the Home from 2001 to 2015, is operating with former President Trump’s backing.
The race for the upper-chamber seat, held by Stabenow for over 20 years, could possibly be key to figuring out the bulk subsequent yr. It’s certainly one of simply three Senate races rated “toss ups” by the Prepare dinner Political Report, and polling averages from The Hill/Resolution Desk HQ present Slotkin simply 4 factors forward.
Listed below are 5 takeaways from the controversy, which was aired on The Hill’s sister information outlet WOODTV.
China emerges as lightning rod
Among the tensest moments of the night time got here when the candidates hit one another over their respective information on China, a back-and-forth that got here in opposition to the backdrop of issues over Beijing’s perceived financial affect in Michigan and its dominance within the electrical automobile (EV) trade.
Slotkin sought to color Rogers as weak on China by hammering him over his opposition to 2 EV vegetation being constructed within the Nice Lakes State, arguing the U.S. is “ceding ground to China.”
Rogers, in the meantime, repeatedly tried to tie Slotkin to Chinese language pursuits in Michigan, together with plans to construct a Beijing-linked battery components manufacturing plant there. Slotkin pushed again in opposition to the allegations, calling them “offensive.”
The remarks got here amid issues within the state over how the auto trade could possibly be impacted by the shift towards EVs. The Biden administration supplied tens of millions of {dollars} in federal grants to Normal Motors to transform a plant in Lansing that makes inside combustion engine vehicles to at least one that produces EVs.
However Republicans have raised issues over the shift towards EVs. Throughout a current rally in Michigan, Trump warned the U.S. can’t compete with China, the world’s largest EV maker, and argued that Beijing will take over “all of your business” within the state if the U.S. strikes away from conventional auto manufacturing.
Center East tensions in highlight
The battle between Israel and its neighbors within the Center East emerged as an early however pivotal matter on the controversy stage, because the escalating violence within the area appears to be like set to play a key function in a state house to the nation’s largest Arab American inhabitants.
Slotkin expressed assist for Israel and its proper to self-defense whereas additionally voicing concern over the lack of civilian lives in Gaza and Lebanon and her assist of a cease-fire deal, a transparent attraction to critics of the Biden administration’s dealing with of the battle.
Rogers, in the meantime, sought to hammer Slotkin over Iran, accusing her and fellow Democrats of failing to include the nation and spurring the present disaster within the area.
The give attention to the Center Jap battle got here amid rising worries that Democrats are bleeding assist from Arab American and Muslim voters, one thing that might in the end value Vice President Harris the state in November.
A survey from the Arab American Insitute confirmed Trump main his Democratic opponent by 4 factors with the group, a transparent warning signal for Democrats in Michigan, which has greater than 200,000 Arab American and Muslim voters.
Border, abortion places candidates on defensive
Each candidates had been placed on the defensive when it got here to among the key points vexing their respective events.
Slotkin was compelled to reply concerning the border inside the first minutes of the controversy when Rogers turned his reply to an early query about FEMA funding for pure disasters like Hurricane Milton into an assault on the Democrats’ dealing with of the border.
Slotkin acknowledged issues over the difficulty, saying that “no one is proud of what’s going on at the border” and calling the immigration system “broken.” Pressed by the moderator concerning the 10 million reported immigrants who’ve crossed the border since 2021, Slotkin emphasised that the federal government must do extra, whereas emphasizing her homeland safety bona fides by touting her function with the CIA.
In the meantime, Rogers was compelled to defend himself over abortion, the difficulty that has haunted the GOP because the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022. Slotkin repeatedly instructed viewers to not belief the Republican as he argued that he would respect Michiganders’ choice to amend the state structure to ensure abortion rights.
Issues get private
Issues tipped into extra private territory at factors within the debate as Slotkin and Rogers quarreled over overseas coverage and their information in Congress.
After Rogers tried to tie Slotkin to China and convey up allegations that she signed a non-disclosure settlement with a Chinese language firm, Slotkin refuted the claims and advised “the old Mike Rogers” wouldn’t have introduced it to the controversy flooring.
“It is a lie. The outdated Mike Rogers from 2014 wouldn’t be messing round in relation to nationwide safety, however the Mike Rogers of 2024 appears comfortable to do it,” Slotkin mentioned. “I’m sad about that.”
And after the candidates sparred over tensions within the Center East, Rogers knocked “my opponent’s notion that their somehow serving in Iraq gives permission to be wrong in the entire effort toward Iran.” Slotkin was a CIA analyst throughout three excursions alongside the U.S. navy in Iraq.
In a while, Slotkin jabbed Rogers over his residency, which has come below scrutiny all through his Senate marketing campaign. Rogers represented the state’s eighth Congressional District for over a decade, however he reportedly moved to Florida and registered to vote there after leaving Capitol Hill. Democrats have sought to accuse Rogers of carpetbagging, and Rogers’s marketing campaign despatched a cease-and-desist earlier this yr over a Slotkin advert repeating the criticism.
“I was here in Michigan, and I voted Yes on Proposition 3,” Slotkin mentioned, referring to the reproductive rights initiative that Michiganders authorised through the midterms. “You had been in Florida. You voted in Florida. You were not right here.”
Slotkin leans into bipartisanship
Slotkin closed the hourlong debate with an attraction throughout the aisle after stressing bipartisanship as a pillar of her marketing campaign to characterize the purple state.
“Let me just make one particular appeal to the Republicans watching today, like my dad. For the Republicans who feel like their party has left them over the last few years,” Slotkin mentioned, “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.”
The Democratic lawmaker pitched herself to GOP voters as “someone who actually gives a crap about you, who actually cares about getting something done the way we used to Democrats and Republicans, civilly and decently.”
All through the controversy, Slotkin touted her bipartisanship whereas her Republican rival sought to tie her to the Biden-Harris administration. Notably, although, the passing mentions to the White Home and a pair questions on proposals from Trump and Harris stood out as the one references to the aggressive presidential race on the prime of the ticket.
“You can be bipartisan in an election year,” Rogers mentioned, accusing Slotkin of voting “100% with the Biden-Slotkin agenda.”
She hit again that Rogers “was literally the whip for his party, the guy who got everyone to vote with the Republicans.” Rogers was appointed deputy whip as a freshman within the Home again in 2001.
Slotkin was ranked because the 14th most bipartisan Home lawmaker for 2023 on the Lugar Heart and the Georgetown College McCourt College of Public Coverage’s Bipartisan Index, a software measuring how a lot members of Congress attain throughout occasion traces on laws.
The Democrat confused that Michigan, a important state within the battle for management of Congress and a serious battleground within the presidential race, is “very purple,” amping up the strain to work throughout the aisle.
