Washington
CNN
—
Michigan Rep. Elissa Slotkin is getting into the race to exchange retiring Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow, with a marketing campaign launch video on her YouTube web page and a US Senate marketing campaign web site up.
The announcement makes Slotkin the primary Democrat to formally declare a bid in what’s prone to be among the many best and costly Senate contests in 2024.
In the three-minute-long video, Slotkin talks about rising up in Michigan, getting into public service after 9/11 and happening to work for the CIA.
“Look, everyone knows America goes via one thing proper now. We appear to be residing disaster to disaster. However there are particular issues that ought to be actually easy,” Slotkin says within the video. “That is why I’m operating for the USA Senate. We want a brand new technology of leaders that thinks in a different way, works tougher, and by no means forgets that we’re public servants.”
Slotkin received reelection to the US Home in certainly one of Michigan’s prime battleground districts in 2022. In response to her most up-to-date FEC submitting, Slotkin had about $130,000 in her marketing campaign account on the finish of 2022.
Michigan’s Senate seat is essential for Democrats. The get together is defending 23 of the 34 Senate seats up for reelection subsequent 12 months, together with three seats in states that backed former President Donald Trump by a minimum of 8 factors in 2020: West Virginia, Montana and Ohio. Apart from Michigan, the get together can be defending seats in different battleground states resembling Arizona, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
Different potential candidates for the seat embrace Republican Reps. Invoice Huizenga and John James, Democratic Rep. Debbie Dingell, and Democratic state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, who drew nationwide consideration final 12 months in a flooring speech pushing again towards anti-LGBTQ assaults from a Republican colleague. James misplaced a closer-than-expected race to Stabenow in 2018 after which narrowly misplaced a bid for the state’s different Senate seat in 2020, earlier than successful election to the Home in November from a swing seat north of Detroit.
A number of different Democrats who’ve been thought-about potential candidates, resembling Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Rep. Dan Kildee, have mentioned they don’t seem to be operating.
This story has been up to date with further particulars and background info.