By Jon King / jking@whmi.com


A key business group has endorsed Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin in her bid her re-election.

The Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce today announced its endorsement of the Holly Democrat, noting that she was among a slate of candidates, “uniquely positioned to push for bipartisan solutions that will help our state weather this recession and rebuild the economy in an inclusive fashion.” The slate includes both Democrats like Slotkin, as well as Republicans, including incumbent 7th District Congressman Tim Walberg and 6th District Congressman Fred Upton. It is the second major chamber of commerce endorsement for Slotkin. The Lansing Regional Chamber of Commerce’s political advocacy arm endorsed her earlier this month.

Brad Williams, the chamber’s vice president of government relations, was quoted in a release as saying that Slotkin has not only “been able to cosponsor vital pieces of legislation” as a member of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus, “she has shown time and time again willingness to push her party and work with all members of Congress to improve her district, state, and country.” Slotkin said she was grateful for the endorsement, noting that she had, “worked with the business community across the district” to get local businesses “access to loans and other critical resources” and to learn how she could best support local companies and workers at the federal level.

Slotkin is being challenged for re-election by Brighton Republican Paul Junge, whose campaign manager, Rob Wagener, responded to today's announcement with the following statement; "While Congresswoman Slotkin pretends to be bi-partisan, she votes with Pelosi 96% of the time. She postures as a moderate but fails to challenge her own party on covid relief measures, delaying relief for working families."

In response, Gordon Trowbridge, Senior Adviser for Communications for the Slotkin campaign, said that was "flatly false" and that Rep. Slotkin has "repeatedly challenged her own party's leadership on COVID-19 relief issues. In April, she called for an end to the stalemate on PPP funding, and helped push for the House vote extending those loans. And just last week, she challenged her party's leadership to get back to the negotiating table on COVID-19 relief and helped introduce a bipartisan proposal from the Problem Solvers Caucus to resolve partisan differences. Voters will pay more heed to the Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce's support for Rep. Slotkin's "bipartisan spirit" than to Mr. Junge's repeated false attacks."

Slotkin and Junge will have their chance to trade barbs face-to-face tonight in their first debate of the election at 7pm on WLNS, Channel 6 in Lansing. That will be followed by a second televised debate this Sunday, September 27th on WDIV in Detroit and then a final meeting on Tuesday, October 6th at Cleary University in Howell, which will be aired live on WHMI and streamed on Facebook by The Livingston Post. 8th District residents with questions for either candidate are asked to email them to news@whmi.com for possible inclusion in the broadcast on the 6th.