During political campaigns, canned language on vague policy positions becomes ever-present background noise, elevator music for an election season that feels like it may never end.
Only a handful of politicians have an ability to cut through the noise with actual substance and real-world proposals.
U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Holly, is one of those who can offer refreshingly substantive ideas that just may solve some problems, and Michiganders ought to elevate her to a position where she can represent the entire state.
The Free Press Editorial Board endorses ELISSA SLOTKIN for Michigan’s open U.S. Senate seat.
Slotkin's Republican opponent in the Nov. 5 general election, former Congressman Mike Rogers of White Lake, relies on tough-guy talk and manufactured outrage to appeal to voters.
He does it well, keeping this race close.
But Rogers practices a particularly transactional kind of politics. Like endorsing former President Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential candidacy after declining to do so in 2016 or 2020 — once it became clear that the former president’s approval is required to win the Senate seat. Or backpedaling on a career of anti-abortion advocacy to insist that reproductive rights are best left to the states — after two-thirds of Michigan voters approved a constitutional amendment enshrining abortion rights in the state constitution.
Rogers comes across as a mishmash of opportunism, fearmongering and shopworn policy platitudes. His vision of America as a grim us-versus-them may appeal to voters battered by inflation and weary from the punishing political cycle of the last eight years. It is impossible to envision Rogers leading Michigan forward.
There’s no question which of these candidates has the resolve and the arsenal of ideas to make a positive impact on life in Michigan.
Who she is
Slotkin is a native of Oakland County. She enlisted in the CIA after 9/11, and served three tours of duty in Iraq. After leaving the CIA, she served in the National Security Council under then-president George W. Bush, and then as acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for National Security Affairs under former President Barack Obama. Troubled by political polarization in this country, she left the administration after 2016, and returned to Michigan.
Slotkin ran for U.S. Congress in 2018, winning the 8th District seat (changed to the 7th after redistricting) and has twice won re-election in this politically diverse swath of Michigan—comprising Clinton, Ingham, Livingston, Shiawassee and parts of Oakland, Genesee and Eaton counties.
She announced her intention to run for the open seat created by the retirement of Democratic U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow last year.
Slotkin has solutions
On immigration—an issue some Republican candidates for office have turned into a colorful sideshow of lies around murderous migrants who slaughter their neighbors’ cats—Slotkin offers clear-eyed solutions.
Slotkin told the Free Press Editorial Board she believes every country in the world has a right to know who crosses its borders—and that Michigan’s population desperately needs to grow at rates that require legal, vetted immigration.
She proposes raising limits on every visa category, “keying immigration to our economy,” securing the border in ways that allow the U.S. to vet incoming migrants from their home countries and tackling root problems that have families walking thousands of miles to our southern border in search of safety.
On child care, Slotkin wants to cap costs according to income, and offer discounted or free education to students who study child care and commit to stay in the field for five years.
She supports the same measure to boost the ranks of mental health professionals, police, firefighters and other essential workers.
Slotkin wants to cap interest rates on student loans at 2.5% and offer more federal grants for students from underserved neighborhoods.
She wants to guarantee the same paid parental leave that federal employees are offered to all American workers.
And when Slotkin pursues funding for community funding projects (members of Congress can direct federal resources to up to 15 local projects each year) she uses an algorithm developed by a Michigan professor to help determine which applications would steer money to historically neglected communities.
Elissa Slotkin’s record of stellar representation of a politically mixed district makes her the best choice to speak for Michigan in the U.S. Senate.
By Detroit Free Press Editorial Board, Oct. 7, 2024
