Michigan Rep. Elissa Slotkin is projected to win Michigan’s open Senate seat, a vital win for Democrats after losing the Senate and losing the state in the presidential race.
The Associated Press called the race for Slotkin on Wednesday, in a very tight race against Republican Mike Rogers. The razor-thin margin reflects Slotkin’s narrow lead before the election, where polls showed the candidates tied several times.
In Michigan, Democrats lined up behind Slotkin, who currently represents a competitive House district that she won in 2018.
“I’m just thrilled with the candidacy of Elissa Slotkin. She has proven herself, having been a Democrat in what was a predominantly, or heavily leaning, Republican district, and so she is a proven product,” Tony Tollefson, chair of Michigan’s Marquette County Democratic Party, said. “There’s no surprises there.”
Slotkin will fill the seat left open by Debbie Stabenow, who has been in the Senate since 2001. (Stabenow endorsed Slotkin.)
Slotkin’s opponent in the Senate race, Rogers, was a former congressman, and they spent much of their campaigns attacking each other on their congressional records.
Much of the policy debate revolved around reproductive health, where polling showed Slotkin had stronger standing with voters than Rogers. Michigan enshrined the right to an abortion in its state constitution in 2022, but Slotkin cast Rogers as “unilaterally pro-life.” Rogers’ record on the issue — which includes past support of legislation to withdraw federal approval of mifepristone and of the Life at Conception Act — continued coming up.
“I will do nothing, when I go back to Washington, D.C., to do anything that would change what the Michigan constitution voted on by the people of Michigan,” Rogers said during their Oct. 8 debate.
Slotkin campaigned with former Rep. Liz Cheney, who was also one of the top surrogates for Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign. NPR reported that it was part of a broader strategy by Slotkin to highlight bipartisan chops. (Cheney also endorsed Slotkin in 2022 when she was running for her House seat.)
“I think as we look toward how as a country we are going to heal and come together after this election, it’s so important that you have people from across the political spectrum doing things like coming here to support Elissa,” Cheney said on the campaign trail, according to WOOD-TV.
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Amelia Benavides-Colón and Em Luetkemeyer are NOTUS reporters and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellows.