Believe it or not, this incumbent has a better district than what she won in 2018 and defended in 2020. That doesn’t mean she is out of the woods yet, as the slightest backlash against Democratic nominees will wash her away and replace her with her GQP opponent. Majority Savers heads to Michigan’s 7th district to profile Rep. Elissa Slotkin!
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Elissa Slotkin for Michigan-7
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Candidate Background
There are plenty of interesting facts about Elissa Slotkin that could fill this section, but I had to stick to the most interesting and relevant ones. You can learn more about her from her campaign site.
- She grew up on a farm in Holly, Michigan and went to a prestigious prep school in Oakland County. She gained this privilege by being an heiress to the Ball Park Franks fortune, which was founded by her grandfather.
- She went to college at Cornell University for social work, and then went to Columbia University for her master’s degree. Fluent in Arabic and Swahili, she was recruited out of college for the CIA.
- She served three tours in Iraq as a CIA analyst, both under GW Bush and under Obama. After those tours, she worked in the State Department and the Department of Defense under Obama. She could’ve run for either party, but chose our side after Bishop voted to kneecap the ACA.
Signature Issues
Slotkin describes herself as a moderate Democrat, and her DW Nominate score backs that up. She has a score of -0.32, which puts her right of center in our caucus. She is more liberal than 65% of the entire House body, and more moderate than 68% of House Democrats. It is her second dimension which sticks out — she is probably the most hawkish member in our caucus.
She still votes with Biden’s position nearly 100% of the time on critical votes.
Health Care and Abortion: She is pro-choice, but has downplayed that position in Congress due to the marginal nature of the district she represents. Her main priority upon being elected to Congress was to protect the ACA, especially the portion on pre-existing conditions. She even supports Medicare negotiating prescription drug prices.
Gun Safety: Once Oxford High School had a mass shooting a few months ago, it became her mission to pass common sense gun safety legislation. While she respects the 2nd amendment, she supports an assault weapons ban, red flag laws, and comprehensive background checks. She proudly sponsored the first gun safety reform bill in three decades recently.
Democracy Protection: Whether it is threats at home or from abroad, Slotkin takes her oaths seriously. She is particularly concerned about cyber warfare and the stream of misinformation that is putting our democracy at risk. She is a proud supporter of the For the People Act, and one of her big issues is the fight to get the torrent of money out of politics.
Elections History
Recent Elections —
2020 President: Joe Biden (D) 49.6%, TFG (R-inc) 48.7%
2020 House: Elissa Slotkin (D-inc) 50.9%, Paul Junge (R) 47.3%
2022 Race Rating: Tossup
2022 PVI: R+2
This district was numbered the 8th district for several decades, and it was a swing seat for most of its political history. Rep. Bob Carr held this marginal district for a long time, but then he chose to run for Senate in the wipeout year of 1994 during the Republican Revolution. A member of the GQP replaced him in his House seat as well.
This district history includes the stomping grounds of Sen. Debbie Stabenow, who held this district between 1997 and 2001. Sadly, when she went for the Senate seat herself in 2000, she was replaced by someone who would hold the seat for 14 years in Rep. Mike Rogers, aided and abetted by a Michigan legislature that gerrymandered the seat so that he could win it easily.
Eventually, Rogers left and Rep. Mike Bishop took over. He looked secure in a seat that TFG won twice over his two campaigns. Who would suspect that such a district would fall to the Democratic Party? Elissa Slotkin had other ideas in 2018, and she used the blue wave to wrest over control of this district to our side. She survived 2020 as well, and now has a better district but her current campaign will still be an uphill fight.
Political Tour of the District
This district is a rather simple one to handicap. If we turn out our people in one metro area, we win. If we don’t, we will lose the district. The main anchor of the entire district is the Lansing metro area, and then there are the outlying areas such as Livingston County that are extremely red in nature.
Here’s where this race will be won in the 7th district.
- Lansing Metro Area: This is the anchor of the entire district, and the only source of Democratic votes. East Lansing (MSU) HAS to turnout. The core city that is nearly majority minority HAS to turnout. The suburbs (which can swing against us) HAVE to side with us and turnout. There are no other votes to gather here. Luckily, this metro area is spilling over into other counties.
Here’s where we need to keep the margins down, or we lose.
- Livingston County: This county is the anchor of the GQP vote, and it is irredeemably red. This county used to be a hotbed of KKK activity, just to give you a sense of the politics of the county. It has become the white flight destination for southeastern Michigan, which is slowly changing the politics of the county. But for now, Slotkin has to get what votes there are here.
- Farm Country: Once you get outside of the Lansing metro area, the votes quickly turn to GQP candidates in Eaton, Clinton, and Ingham Counties. Shiawassee County is the same way as well. There aren’t very many votes out this far, but what exists is very red and could tip the scales against Slotkin in a close race. Once again, she needs to do damage control in these parts.
Activism — Help How You Can!
Rep. Elissa Slotkin is one of the best fundraisers in the entire House of Representatives. She was one of the first to post her 2nd Quarter fundraising haul, which was massive. She gained $1.5 MILLION in cold hard cash, which is going to be deployed to (hopefully) good use in the fall as parts of the district are brand new to her. Her opponent hauled in $591k for a comparison.
Slotkin also has a war chest that would make some Senators blush. Hopefully she can hang on, as she could be a Senator once Stabenow retires with fundraising hauls like this. She has a gargantuan $6.5 MILLION cash on hand, which means she can GOTV *and* carpet bomb the airwaves with ease. I feel guilty asking for donations for her given others need it more, but donate if you feel like it.
DONATE TO REP. ELISSA SLOTKIN HERE
If you live in southeastern Michigan or the Lansing area, this is probably the best race to volunteer for in terms of Congress, along with Rep. Dan Kildee. https://www.mobilize.us/elissaforcongress/ is the link to sign up for the campaign, which not only helps her but will also help Gov. Gretchen Whitmer get through her re-election as well!
Slotkin is very prolific on Twitter, and it shows in her having 51.8k followers and tweets about many an event she has attended. To see what her campaign has been up to, go ahead and follow her on Twitter!
She is also active on Facebook, on which I have sworn not to follow political candidates on. Go ahead and check out elissaslotkin on Facebook when you get a chance!
Majority Savers has now profiled 36 different candidates that could make or break out slim majority in Congress, and I still have nearly 60 more that I wish to write about. Rep. Elissa Slotkin may not be the most progressive Democratic representative I have written about, but her re-election is vital to our coalition having success in November. Thank you for reading!
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Elissa Slotkin for Michigan-7
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