CNN
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Michigan’s newly elected Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin will make the party’s response to President Donald Trump’s joint speech on Tuesday as Democrats work to define the party’s future following severe losses last fall.
Slotkin’s remarks will be a Democrat opening volley as they search for a compelling, united answer to Trump and the administration’s actions amid the Republican rule in Washington.
The speech provides a high-profile platform for Slotkin, a former CIA analyst who held back the experienced Republican challengers in the state that voted for Trump in November. Congressional Democratic leaders view her as a great party ruler and believe that Trump’s ability to win a Senate seat in a state he won is evidence of a wider appeal to voters.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer called Slotkin “a rising star in our party,” and told reporters, “Americans love what she has to say. She’s good in both economic and national security.”
Slotkin admitted to CNN last fall that Democrats struggled to communicate their message to voters. “We’ve come to reveal that message. We’re not always good at it. It’s with us,” she said.
A Michigan Democrat says her goal is to “level” with Americans during her speech Tuesday.
“The public hopes that our leaders will level up with them what is actually happening in our country. From our economic security to national security, we need to guide ways to actually improve the lives of people in the countries we all love.
Slotkin warns that Trump’s tariff policies could lead to a trade war that would be “a gift to foreign automakers.”
Protecting the US automotive industry has been a central concern for voters on the Michigan battlefield. There, Slotkin and other Democrats argued that opposition to Trump’s trade policies and strengthening electric vehicle production threatened American industry.
Her Tuesday night delivery comes with high prices and risk. Alabama GOP Sen. Katie Brittt faced backlash last year after her reaction to then-President Joe Biden’s union speech. Britt told the story of a woman with a sexual personnel as she criticized former Biden’s immigration policy, but later admitted that no incident occurred during Biden’s presidency.
At 48, Slotkin is the youngest democratic woman to be elected to the Senate, but she was not a single destroyer as a potential swing vote on important issues like immigration. In one of her first votes as a senator, she joined the Republicans and passed the Laken Riley Act. This is a GOP-led bill that calls for the detention of undocumented immigrants charged with certain crimes.
Her November victory retained Michigan’s Democratic Senate seat, where President Donald Trump defeated former Vice President Kamala Harris with over 80,000 votes. Slotkin, who previously held seats in the Lansing area in a competitive house race, defeated former GOP MP Mike Rogers in November to win a Senate seat with a meager margin of about 19,000 votes.
Slotkin campaigned on major democratic issues, including abortion access and gun control, while also trying to reach out to Republican voters.
“You always have an open door to my office. I want to hear from you, so you’ll always have a place at the table,” Slotkin said in a direct appeal to conservatives in one of her arguments with Rogers.
Slotkin asked voters to “come on team normal” throughout the campaign, casting himself as a commonsense problem solver focusing on the concerns of a wide coalition of voters.
Before serving in the House for six years, Slotkin worked as a CIA analyst in a national security role under former Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama.
As a graduate student in New York City at the time of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, Slotkin said that the fateful day had changed the trajectory of her career and led her into a life of public service.
“I didn’t go to graduate school because I thought I would choose national service as my career,” she recalls CNN about what my second day in Colombia was. “By the end of the day, I knew national service was what I was trying to do.”
This story has been updated with additional details.
