Jessica Mathews / news@whmi.com


Livingston County’s Congresswoman has officially launched a U.S. Senate campaign.

Democratic 7th District Representative Elissa Slotkin will seek the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Democrat Debbie Stabenow in 2024. She’s the first high-profile candidate to jump into the battleground state race and is centering her agenda on growing and strengthening Michigan’s middle class.

In a video announcing her campaign, Slotkin said:
“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; like protecting our children from the things that are truly harming them; and preserving our rights and our democracy so that our kids can live their version of the American Dream. This is why I’m running for the United States Senate. We need a new generation of leaders that thinks differently, works harder, and never forgets that we are public servants.”

Slotkin was first elected to Congress in 2018 when she flipped a traditionally Republican district that included Livingston County. She has consistently won close races in the battleground state and proved to be an effective fundraiser. The 46-year-old former CIA intelligence officer and third-term representative won re-election last November. Her contest against Republican State Senator Tom Barrett was the third-most expensive House race in 2022.

Slotkin is the first Democrat to announce her intentions to run for a seat that will be crucial to the party’s efforts to maintain control of the Senate, where it holds a 51-49 majority. The only other candidate in the race so far is Republican Nikki Snyder, a State Board of Education member.

A press release is attached. A link to the launch video is provided.

Bottom photo: AP.