CongresswomanElissa Slotkin(D-MI 7) is the first Democrat to announce she will seek the seat to replace Michigan U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow, who will retire after her current term is done.
Slotkin, a former CIA intelligence analyst, unseated an incumbent Republican to win a House seat in 2018 and won extremely tight races twice more. Her last reelection bid was one of the most competitive and expensive in the nation.
Slotkin’s decision to run for the Senate was anticipated but made formal Monday morning in a video posted to her campaign website. She said her focus will be on issues that matter to the middle class.
“We need a new generation of leaders that thinks differently, works harder and never forgets that we are public servants,” she said.
“We all know America is going through something right now,” she said. “We seem to be living crisis to crisis. But there are certain things that should be really simple, like living a middle-class life in the state that invented the middle class, like making things in America, so that we’re in control of our own economic security.”
Slotkin’s decision to run for the Senate means Michigan’s 7th Congressional District seat is open. Former state Senator Tom Barrett, the Republican who lost to Slotkin last year, has indicated he plans to run for the seat.
No other Democrats have announced plans to run for the Senate seat, but there’s still plenty of time. Republican Michigan State Board of Education member Nikki Snyder has filed to run for the Senate seat. Also, small business owner Michael Hoover has filed.
Michigan is considered a swing state, but has not sent a Republican to the US Senate since 1994. Senator Spencer Abrahamserved one term from 1995 to 2001, but lost the seat to Stabenow. The Democratic and Republican nominees will be selected in a primary election next year.
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