Elissa Slotkin

Elissa Blair Slotkin (born July 10, 1976) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative from MI's 7th congressional district since 2019. The district, numbered as the MI's 8th congressional district from 2019 to 2023, is based in Lansing and stretches into Detroit's outer western suburbs.

Slotkin is a member of the Democratic Party. Before entering politics, she was a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) analyst and Department of Defense official. She is a candidate for the U.S. Senate in the 2024 election to succeed Debbie Stabenow.

Early life and education
Slotkin was born on July 10, 1976, in New York City, the daughter of Curt Slotkin and Judith (née Spitz) Slotkin. She is Jewish. Slotkin spent her early life on a farm in Holly, Michigan. She attended Cranbrook Kingswood School in Bloomfield Hills. Her family farm was part of Hygrade Meat Company, founded by her grandfather, Hugo Slotkin. Hygrade was the original company behind Ball Park Franks which is now owned by Tyson Foods.

Slotkin earned a bachelor of arts in sociology from Cornell University in 1998 followed by a master of international affairs from Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs in 2003.

Early career
Slotkin was recruited by the Central Intelligence Agency after graduate school. Fluent in Arabic and Swahili, she served three tours in Iraq as a CIA analyst. During the George W. Bush administration, she worked on the Iraq portfolio for the National Security Council. During Barack Obama's presidency, she worked for the State Department and the Department of Defense. Slotkin was acting assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs from 2015 to 2017.

After leaving the Defense Department in January 2017, Slotkin moved back to her family's farm in Holly, where she owned and operated Pinpoint Consulting.

2018
In July 2017, Slotkin announced her candidacy for Michigan's 8th congressional district. She said she was motivated to challenge two-term Republican incumbent Mike Bishop when she saw him smile at a White House celebration after he and House Republicans voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act. On August 7, Slotkin defeated Michigan State University criminal justice professor Christopher Smith in the Democratic primary with 70.7% of the vote.

In November 2018, Slotkin defeated Bishop with 50.6% of the vote. She is the first Democrat to represent Michigan's 8th district since 2001, when Debbie Stabenow gave up the seat to run for the U. S. Senate.

2020
Slotkin won reelection in 2020 with 50.9% of the vote, defeating Republican Paul Junge.

In 2019, Slotkin held several town halls about her decision to vote in favor of President Donald Trump's impeachment. The meetings drew hundreds of protestors and received nationwide media coverage.

Slotkin adapted to campaigning during the COVID-19 pandemic by holding campaign events both virtually and socially distanced, with contactless door canvassing, and by running advertisements on gas pumps.

2022
Due to redistricting, Slotkin ran for reelection in Michigan's 7th congressional district.

She defeated Republican nominee Tom Barrett with 51.5% of the vote to Barrett's 46.5%. The general election was the most expensive U.S. House race of 2022 with Slotkin raising $9.8 million.

Slotkin criticized Barrett's stance on abortion, specifically his statement that he is "100% pro-life, no exceptions". She also criticized his multiple votes against incentives for a new General Motors electric vehicle battery plant in Delta Township.

She was endorsed by Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney.

During the campaign, Slotkin signed a seven-month lease on a condominium in Lansing, Michigan. The owner of the condominium was a donor to Slotkin's campaign, although her campaign stated that the lease was at a fair market rate. After the election and prior to her February 2023 divorce, Slotkin moved back to her family farm in Holly, which is in Michigan's 9th congressional district.

Slotkin attributed her victory to "losing better" in the district's Republican-leaning areas. Her win defied trends in other states that resulted in Democrats narrowly losing control of the House of Representatives for the 118th Congress.

Committee assignments

 * Committee on Armed Services
 * Subcommittee on Intelligence, Emerging Threats and Capabilities
 * Subcommittee on Readiness (vice chair)
 * Committee on Homeland Security
 * Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence (chair)
 * Subcommittee on Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection
 * Committee on Veterans' Affairs
 * Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs

Caucus memberships

 * New Democrat Coalition
 * Problem Solvers Caucus

U.S. Senate candidacy
On February 27, 2023, Slotkin announced her candidacy for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Debbie Stabenow in 2024. As of April 2024, Slotkin had raised nearly $16 million for her Senate campaign leading the field in fundraising.

Political positions
Slotkin has been described as a moderate to conservative Democrat. She has been ranked among the most bipartisan members of the House.

Campaign finance policy
In 2022, Slotkin co-sponsored the Ban Corporate PACs Act, which if enacted would prevent corporations from operating a political action committee.

Criminal justice
Following the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25, 2020, Slotkin co-sponsored and voted for the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2020. She voted in favor of the bill again in 2021. Slotkin was the only House Democrat in Michigan who voted for a bill to overturn DC criminal code modernization.

Slotkin opposes abolishing the death penalty.

Economic policy
Slotkin opposes Medicare for All but supports a buy-in Medicare option.

During the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, Slotkin supported the bipartisan CARES Act relief package, which passed Congress in March 2020. In May 2020, she voted for the HEROES Act, a $3trillion stimulus package. In November 2021, she voted for the Build Back Better Act.

In August 2022, Slotkin voted for the Inflation Reduction Act.

Flags
In 2023, Slotkin was one of two House Democrats who voted for a Republican-backed amendment which prevented Department of Defense facilities from displaying non-official flags, including the pride flag. After facing criticism for the vote, Slotkin said that it was intended to prevent the flying of "hateful flags [...] particularly the Confederate flag", adding that she would "rather support a no-flag policy than allow hateful imagery above U.S. military bases."

Foreign policy
Slotkin is one of five Democratic House members who voted against an amendment to prohibit support to and participation in the Saudi-led coalition's military operations against the Houthis in Yemen. Slotkin was the main sponsor of the 2020 Iran War Powers Resolution which sought to restrict President Donald Trump's ability to commit the United States to a war with Iran without a Congressional Declaration of War. Slotkin voted against H.Con.Res. 21, which directed President Joe Biden to remove U.S. troops from Syria within 180 days.

Slotkin condemned Rashida Tlaib for defending the "from the river to the sea" slogan.

Gun policy
In 2022, Slotkin voted for H.R. 1808, the Assault Weapons Ban of 2022. She also introduced H.R. 6370, the Safe Guns, Safe Kids Act, which would require secure firearm storage in the presence of children. The bill was introduced after the 2021 Oxford High School shooting, and passed by the House as part of the Protecting Our Kids Act.

In 2023, following a mass shooting at Michigan State University in her district, she introduced the Gun Violence Research Prevention Act with Sen. Ed Markey. The bill would provide $50 million each year for the next five years towards the research on firearms safety and gun violence prevention by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Health care
Slotkin supports the Affordable Care Act. During her 2020 campaign, she described the protection of health care coverage for individuals with preexisting conditions as the most important issue for her district. She supports allowing Medicare to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies for lower drug prices for those it insures.

Impeachment
In September 2019, Slotkin and six other freshman House Democrats authored an opinion piece in The Washington Post calling for an impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump. Its publication led to widespread Democratic support for an impeachment inquiry. Slotkin voted in favor of impeaching Trump in both his first and second impeachments.

LGBT rights
In both the 116th and 117th Congresses, Slotkin received a 100% rating from the Human Rights Campaign's (HRC) Congressional Scorecard, which measures "support for equality" among members of Congress based on their voting record. She was endorsed by the HRC in each of her campaigns for the House.

Student debt
During the Trump administration in 2020, Slotkin voted against one amendment, supported by 93% of the Democratic caucus, that would provide $10,000 debt relief for student loan borrowers. Slotkin also pushed the Department of Education to assist federal employees with student loan payments during the partial government shutdown. Slotkin voted twice against a Republican-led measure that would have overturned the Biden administration's student debt forgiveness initiative. In 2023, that initiative was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Personal life
Slotkin married Dave Moore, a retired Army colonel and Apache helicopter pilot, in 2011. They met in Baghdad during Slotkin's third tour in Iraq and lived in Holly. The two filed for divorce in 2023. Slotkin had two stepdaughters while married to Moore.