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Slotkin quickly edges out Rogers for open Michigan U.S. Senate seat

Umito November 6, 2024

In the race for Michigan’s open U.S. Senate seat, Democratic U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin of Holly took an early lead over former Republican Rep. Mike Rogers of White Lake, although the outcome remained uncertain.

With only 15 percent of ballots counted as of 10 p.m., Slotkin led with 52 percent of the vote while Rogers had 45 percent, according to unofficial results compiled by the Associated Press. Return to freep.com for updated results.

The race between Slotkin, a three-term congressman, former acting deputy secretary of defense and former intelligence officer; and Rogers, a former FBI agent and Army officer who served as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee before resigning in 2015 after serving seven two-year terms, was seen as a national indicator of success potential for Republicans in this year’s elections.

Michigan has not elected a Republican U.S. senator since Spencer Abraham won a single six-year term in 1994. And no Republican has been elected to that office in the state in any year presidential election dating back to the 1970s.

But the Republican Party thought it had a good chance this year, with Democratic President Joe Biden facing low favorable ratings, at least in part, because of what had been a surge in illegal immigration along the border south and high inflation which, in recent months, has eased somewhat. There was also the fact that former Republican President Donald Trump, running for re-election, was placing particular emphasis on winning Michigan, as he did in 2016, and the belief that this could support Rogers, a former critic of Trump who has since joined him and won his approval.

But in Slotkin, Democrats also chose a candidate known for her tenacity on the campaign trail and her ability to outrun her party’s candidates. She is also known for being a prodigious fundraiser, and throughout the election she was seen as the likely favorite to win the seat vacated by Democratic U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow after four six-year terms.

In the latest Free Press poll, Slotkin held a 47-42% lead over Rogerswhich is just outside the survey’s margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points. However, other polls showed a closer race than that.

According to Open Secrets, a website that tracks political spending, Slotkin has already spent nearly $44 million of his own campaign funds on the race, compared to Rogers’ $8.6 million. But given that the race could help determine which party gets majority control of the Senate — and how big that majority is — a staggering amount of independent spending on behalf of voters was injected into the race, including more than $78 million from conservative groups opposed to Slotkin and supporting Rogers. Nearly $63 million more supports Slotkin and targets Rogers’ defeat.

The race largely revolved around Rogers’ attempts to characterize Slotkin as an ally of the Biden administration and Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, claiming Slotkin did nothing while prices at consumption and illegal immigration were both increasing. He also called her a supporter of what Republicans call an electric vehicle mandate that would force automakers to build and consumers to buy electric cars and trucks.

No mandate exists – although stricter emissions rules could mean automakers would have to sell many more electric vehicles by 2032 or face heavy penalties if those rules were not changed – but Detroit automakers participated in developing these standards. Slotkin, who throughout her political career has presented herself as a moderate, bipartisan consensus-builder, also said she does not support any rules that would force anyone to make or buy an electric vehicle, but that she supports standards that would improve electric vehicle technology. so they can be built in the United States

Slotkin, meanwhile, fired back by pointing out that Rogers lived out of state most of the time after leaving office, only returning to run for the Senate seat, and that he was not trustworthy on the issue of abortion rights. Rogers, like other Republicans, pledged that he would not vote for a national ban or other restriction that would run afoul of the abortion protections now enshrined in the state constitution. But Slotkin rightly notes that throughout his political career, Rogers was a staunch opponent of abortion. She also criticized him for being too corporate, protecting the pharmaceutical industry from price controls and voting against health care reforms like the Affordable Care Act.

Contact Todd Spangler: [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter@tsspangler