U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Holly, launched her campaign for a second term in Congress on Friday, presenting herself to voters as a bipartisan, solutions-focused legislator in a series of virtual events.
Michigan’s 8th District U.S. House race has attracted national attention as Slotkin, a Democrat who beat an incumbent Republican in a district won by President Donald Trump in 2016, seeks to defend her seat from a group of GOP candidates out to take it back. Slotkin may need voters to split their ticket again in 2020, and while she said a second term would bring more action on bipartisan issues like lowering drug costs, Trump’s allies are seeking her defeat after Slotkin voted to impeach the president.
Slotkin noted she represents an “independently minded” district that expects her not to take the party line on each issue.
“I went to Washington as someone who had never thought about being in politics, with a very different training and a very different approach to the job,” Slotkin said Friday. “I consider myself very formally a Midwestern Democrat. I’m practical, I believe in bipartisanship and I believe in decency.”
Addressing a virtual audience from the UAW Local 652 headquarters in Lansing, Slotkin said she doesn’t plan to “rest on her laurels.” She said grassroots organizing was fundamental to her 2018 campaign and that voters can expect her to take a “deeply personal approach” despite limitations on personal interaction amid the coronavirus pandemic.
“It is my obligation to come back to you all and explain the value proposition for the constituents and residents in this district and why I hope to earn your vote,” she said.
The 8th Congressional District covers Ingham and Livingston Counties as well as a portion of Oakland County.
Slotkin’s campaign priorities remain centered around the same issues that spurred her 2018 campaign, Slotkin said Friday. Lowering the cost of prescription drugs, ensuring access to clean water and “bringing some civility and decency back to Washington.”
“It is my job to find the overlap between what I believe and what I want done and what my Republican colleagues believe and what they want done,” she said. “Even if it sometimes gets strained from time to time given what’s going on in the headlines, it is still my job to knuckle down, put my nose to the grindstone and find something we can agree on.”
Slotkin touted the passage of nine provisions she introduced during one of the more divisive periods of congressional politics in recent years. Six were related to regulating the use of PFAS -- a collection of dangerous compounds found in drinking water sources throughout the state -- including legislation that requires the military to stop using the compounds in firefighting exercises by 2024.
The cost of healthcare remains one of the central issues Slotkin’s constituents are focused on, she said. The congresswoman said she is frequently stopped by residents who want to know what is being done to make healthcare less expensive.
Slotkin shepherded a bipartisan bill through the House that would bring more transparency to patients about the cost of drugs immediately after being given a prescription. She expressed hope that the bill will receive support in the Republican-led U.S. Senate.
Slotkin, a former CIA and Pentagon official, said she was fairly “apolitical” before the 2016 presidential election, which left her feeling discouraged with the tone of political discourse. Slotkin said her mother’s experience navigating the health care system after being diagnosed with a terminal illness was a formative experience that inspired her campaign for Congress.
Slotkin’s mother was diagnosed with stage four ovarian cancer and, within the same month, lost her job and employer-provided health insurance, then declared bankruptcy. She died in 2011.
“That left a lasting impression on me,” Slotkin said. “So in 2017, when the House of Representatives at that time decided to repeal the (Affordable Care Act) ... it broke me. It was the thing that got me into this race, quite literally watching a Rose Garden ceremony of people celebrating their vote to remove protections for people with pre-existing conditions.”
Before joining Congress, Slotkin served three tours in Iraq with the CIA and held several positions with the U.S. State Department and the Department of Defense.
Slotkin was a top adviser to two Secretaries of Defense on the Middle East, Europe and NATO, Russia, Africa, and the Western Hemisphere. She worked under the administrations of Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama.
She was elected to a first term in 2018 during a year that saw Democrats winning big across Michigan. She defeated Republican incumbent Mike Bishop by 4 percentage points.
Slotkin was assigned to House committees on Armed Services and Homeland Security.
Four Republican hopefuls -- Real estate agent and salesman Mike Detmer, Marine veteran Alan Hoover, former prosecutor and TV news anchor Paul Junge and Lansing-area lawyer Kristina Lyke -- are competing to take on Slotkin.
They will face off in the August primary election.
READ MORE:
Slotkin leads House effort to limit Trump’s military action against Iran
Slotkin puts focus back on health care after navigating Iran, impeachment
Five Michigan Republicans jockey to take on Slotkin at pro-Trump candidate forum
Who is running for Congress in 2020? Michigan’s top races to watch