Elissa Slotkin | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Official portrait, 2025 | |
| United States Senator fromMichigan | |
| Assumed office January 3, 2025 Serving with Gary Peters | |
| Preceded by | Debbie Stabenow |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromMichigan | |
| In office January 3, 2019 – January 3, 2025 | |
| Preceded by | Mike Bishop |
| Succeeded by | Tom Barrett |
| Constituency |
|
| Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs | |
Acting | |
| In office November 14, 2014 – January 20, 2017 | |
| President | Barack Obama |
| Preceded by | Derek Chollet |
| Succeeded by | Kenneth Handelman (acting) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Elissa Blair Slotkin (1976-07-10)July 10, 1976 (age 49) New York City, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | |
| Education | Cornell University (BA) Columbia University (MIA) |
| Awards | Secretary of Defense Medal for Outstanding Public Service |
| Signature |  |
| Website | |
Elissa Blair Slotkin (/ˈslɒtkɪn/SLOT-kin; born July 10, 1976) is an American politician and former intelligence analyst serving since 2025 as thejuniorUnited States senator fromMichigan. A member of theDemocratic Party, she served in theUnited States House of Representatives from 2019 to 2025.[1]
Slotkin was aCentral Intelligence Agency (CIA) analyst andDepartment of Defense official, ending her career there as the actingAssistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs. In2018, she was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, representingMichigan's 8th congressional district.
Slotkin was elected to the Senatein 2024, defeating Republican nomineeMike Rogers in a close race.[2] She became the second female senator from Michigan afterDebbie Stabenow. She is expected to become Michigan's senior senator whenGary Peters retires in 2027.[3]
Slotkin was born on July 10, 1976, inNew York City, the daughter of Judith (née Spitz) Slotkin[4] and Curt Slotkin.[5][6] She spent her early life on a farm inHolly, Michigan. She attendedCranbrook Kingswood School inBloomfield Hills.[7] Her family farm was part of Hygrade Meat Company,[8] founded by her great-grandfather Samuel Slotkin,[9] who emigrated fromMinsk in 1900.[10] Hygrade was the original company behindBall Park Franks, which is now owned byTyson Foods.[11] Judith and Curt divorced, and Judith came out as gay, in 1986, during the peak of theAIDS epidemic. Slotkin and her brother moved in with their mom. Their home was a gathering place for Detroit's covert but vibrant LGBTQ+ community. Her father was a longtime Republican andRonald Reagan supporter whose worldview she agreed with during her childhood. Slotkin has said that she became a Democrat because of theReagan administration's indifference to the widespread suffering of those with AIDS, which greatly affected her.[12]
Slotkin attended agricultural school atCornell University,[13] where in 1998 she earned aBachelor of Arts in sociology.[14]
Slotkin was a community organizer forRoca, Incorporated inChelsea, Massachusetts, from 1998 to 2000, and a Swahili language translator forHarbor Area Early Childhood inEast Boston, Massachusetts from 1999 to 2000.[15][better source needed] In 2000-2001 she was a grant writer for Isha L'Isha (co-founded byGail Dines).[15]
In 2001, Slotkin completed a course in the Arabic language at theAmerican University in Cairo.[15] In 2003, she earned amaster of international affairs fromColumbia University'sSchool of International and Public Affairs.[14]
Slotkin interned at the U.S. Department of State (2002).[15] She worked as a political analyst (2003-2004) and intelligence briefer (2004-2005) for the Central Intelligence Agency. From 2005 to 2006, she was a senior assistant on the staff of theDirector of National Intelligence. She was the leader of aCIA assessment team in Iraq from 2006 to 2007, and the National Security Council staff’s director forIraq policy from 2007 to 2009.[15] From 2009 to 2011, Slotkin was a senior advisor onIraq policy at the U.S. State Department and in 2011 she joined the staff of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy as an advisor onMiddle East policy. In 2012, Slotkin became chief of staff for the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Policy and later that year was appointed Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Policy. She was appointed Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Policy in 2013 and in 2014 was appointed as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs. From 2015 to 2017, Slotkin was acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs, where she oversaw policy related to Russia, Europe, the Middle East and Africa.[15] She served three tours inIraq over five years.[15][16]
Slotkin was recruited by theCentral Intelligence Agency after graduate school. Fluent inArabic andSwahili, she served three tours in Iraq as a CIA analyst. During theGeorge W. Bush administration, she worked on the Iraq portfolio for theNational Security Council. DuringBarack Obama'spresidency, she worked for the State Department and the Department of Defense.[11] From 2015 to 2017, Slotkin was acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs,[17] where one of her responsibilities was securing Israel'squalitative military edge.[18]
After leaving the Defense Department in January 2017, Slotkin moved back to her family's farm in Holly,[7] where she owned and operated Pinpoint Consulting.[19][better source needed]
In July 2017, Slotkin announced her candidacy forMichigan's 8th congressional district.[20] She said she was motivated to challenge two-term Republican incumbentMike Bishop when she saw him smile at a White House celebration after he and House Republicans voted to repeal theAffordable Care Act.[21] On August 7, Slotkin defeatedMichigan State University criminal justice professorChristopher Smith in the Democratic primary with 70.7% of the vote.[22][23]
In November 2018, Slotkin defeated Bishop with 50.6% of the vote.[1][24] She is the first Democrat to represent Michigan's 8th district since 2001,[24] whenDebbie Stabenow gave up the seat to run for the U. S. Senate.
Slotkin was reelected with 50.9% of the vote, defeating Republican Paul Junge.[25]
At a Jewish Democratic conference in July 2019, Slotkin accused the Republican Party of using opposition to antisemitism as a strategy to bring the Jewish community into their fold. She argued that Republicans were not primarily seeking Jewish votes, because "we are a relatively small community", but rather aiming to "sway" the community's donors. Republican Jewish leadership criticized her remarks.[26][27] In 2019, Slotkin held severaltown halls about her decision to vote in favor of PresidentDonald Trump'simpeachment. The meetings drew hundreds of protesters and received nationwide media coverage.[28]
Slotkin adapted to campaigning during theCOVID-19 pandemic by holding campaign events both virtually andsocially distanced with contactless door canvassing and by running advertisements on gasoline pumps.[29]
Due toredistricting, Slotkin's district was renumbered as the7th district. She defeated Republican nomineeTom Barrett with 51.5% of the vote to Barrett's 46.5%.[30] The general election was the most expensive U.S. House race of 2022, with Slotkin raising $9.8 million.[31][32]
Slotkin criticized Barrett's stance onabortion, specifically his statement that he is "100%pro-life, no exceptions".[33] She also criticized his multiple votes against incentives for a newGeneral Motors electric vehicle battery plant inDelta Township.[34] During the campaign, Slotkin signed a seven-month lease on a condominium inLansing, Michigan. The condo's owner was a donor to Slotkin's campaign, but the campaign said the lease was at fair market rate.[35][36] After the election and before her February 2023 divorce, Slotkin moved back to her family farm inHolly, inMichigan's 9th congressional district.[37][38]
Slotkin attributed her 2022 victory to "losing better" in the district's Republican-leaning areas.[32] She described her district as "pro-life" and said that, while she ran onepro-choice ad, she ran four on the economy.[39]
Upon her election in 2018, Slotkin and fellow moderate freshmen women from competitive districts with national security backgroundsAbigail Spanberger,Mikie Sherrill,Elaine Luria, andChrissy Houlahan, were described as a "mod squad" counterweight to theprogressive "Squad".[40][41][42]
In September 2019, Slotkin and six other freshman House Democrats wrote an opinion piece inThe Washington Post calling for animpeachment inquiry into President Trump. Its publication led to widespread Democratic support for an impeachment inquiry.[43][44] Slotkin voted to impeach Trump in both hisfirst andsecond impeachments.[45][46]
On February 27, 2023, Slotkin announced her candidacy in the2024 Michigan U.S. Senate election afterDebbie Stabenow announced that she would vacate the seat.[53] She won the Democratic primary on August 6, 2024, with 76% of the vote, and defeated Republican nomineeMike Rogers[54][55] in the general election, outperforming the top of the ticket.[2][56]
In 2025, Slotkin was one of 12 Senate Democrats who joined all Republicans to vote for theLaken Riley Act.[57] After Trump's2025 State of the Union address, she gave the official Democratic response. She called Trump's economic policies reckless, accused him of favoring billionaires at the expense of ordinary Americans, warned of rising costs and increased national debt, and said PresidentRonald Reagan would be "rolling in his grave" if he saw Trump cozying up toVladimir Putin.[58]
Slotkin called for waiting for intelligence to assess the effects of the June 2025 bombing of Iran, and on June 28, after receiving the Senate briefing on the attack, gave her rationale in more detail in an interview.[59]
Source:[60]
Slotkin has been described as amoderate Democrat.[43][61] According toGovTrack's 2022 scorecard, she was the fifth-most conservative House Democrat.[62] She was ranked among the mostbipartisan members of the House.[63][64][62][65]
In 2024, Slotkin said she supported federal legislation to codify theabortion rights established inRoe v. Wade.[66][67] She was endorsed by pro-choice organizationsReproductive Freedom for All[68] andPlanned Parenthood Action Fund[69] during her 2024 race for U.S. Senate.
In 2022, Slotkin co-sponsored the Ban Corporate PACs Act, which, if enacted, would prevent corporations from operating apolitical action committee.[70]
Following the murder ofGeorge Floyd inMinneapolis, Minnesota, on May 25, 2020, Slotkin co-sponsored and voted for theGeorge Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2020.[71][72][73] She voted in favor of the bill again in 2021.[74][75] Slotkin voted for a bill to overturn DC criminal code modernization which was signed into law by Biden.[76]
Slotkin opposes abolishing thedeath penalty.[77] She has said it should be used in rare cases.[77]
During theCOVID-19 pandemic in the United States, Slotkin supported the bipartisanCARES Act relief package, which passed in March 2020. In May 2020, she voted for theHEROES Act, a $3 trillion stimulus package.[78] In November 2021, she voted for theBuild Back Better Act.[79][80]
In August 2022, Slotkin voted for theInflation Reduction Act.[81] In May 2025, she was the only Senate Democrat to vote for a bill that would preventCalifornia from banning the sale ofgasoline-powered vehicles by 2035. She said she had a "special responsibility" to stand up for over 1 million Michiganders employed by the auto industry.[82]
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 theHouthis inYemen.[83][84][85] She was the main sponsor of the 2020Iran War Powers Resolution, which sought to restrict PresidentDonald Trump's ability to commit the U.S. to a war with Iran without a Congressional declaration of war.[86] Slotkin voted against H.Con.Res. 21, which directed PresidentJoe Biden to remove U.S. troops fromSyria within 180 days.[87][88]
Slotkin condemned RepresentativeRashida Tlaib for controversial statements about Palestinians, including using the phrase "from the river to the sea". Slotkin expressed support for the Israeli government's actions in November 2023.[89]
Slotkin voted against the 2023 funding bill to Israel. She criticized the House bill for requiring domestic spending cuts to fund foreign emergency aid. She also noted the bill's failure to allocate humanitarian assistance for the "dire" crisis in Gaza and highlighted the exclusion of aid to Ukraine and Taiwan.[90]
In January 2024, Slotkin signed a letter criticizingSouth Africa's genocide case against Israel, calling it "grossly unfounded".[91] In April 2024, she voted to send $17 billion inmilitary aid to Israel.[92][93] Slotkin called for a negotiated ceasefire to theGaza war, urged the Biden administration "to use all our leverage" to force Israel to limit civilian casualties, and decried Israeli politicians trying to block humanitarian aid shipments as "sick" during her 2024 Senate campaign.The New York Times reported that over the course of her political career, Slotkin has received contributions from the pro-Israel lobbying groupAIPAC. Since the outbreak of the war, she has voted for legislation to provide funding for Israel's military, sanction theInternational Criminal Court over its arrest warrants for Israeli officials, prevent the State Department from citing statistics from theGaza Health Ministry, andequate anti-Zionism with antisemitism.[94] In March 2025, Slotkin said she won majority-Muslim and majority-Arab American cities in Michigan after having sympathetic conversations with residents.[95]
In July 2025, Slotkin missed a vote on blocking arms sales to Israel in response to theGaza humanitarian crisis while on a trip toNew York to appear onThe Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Earlier in the week, she said blocking offensive weapons "would be a place to look but I'm not going to cut off a blanket next sale on a defensive weapon that comes through, no".[96][97][98][99] In a press release, Slotkin wrote, "Had I made it back for the vote yesterday, I would have voted yes to block offensive weapons to Israel based on my concerns over lack of food and medicine getting to civilians in Gaza." She added that she would consider future offensive weapons bills on a case-by-case basis.[100][101]
In 2022, Slotkin voted for H.R. 1808, the Assault Weapons Ban of 2022.[102][103] 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 the2021 Oxford High School shooting[104] and passed by the House as part of the Protecting Our Kids Act.[105]
After the2023 Michigan State University shooting in her district, Slotkin and SenatorEd Markey introduced the Gun Violence Prevention Research Act.[106][107] The bill would provide $50 million each year for the next five years for research on firearms safety and gun violence prevention by theCenters for Disease Control and Prevention.[108]
Slotkin supports theAffordable Care Act. During her 2020 campaign, she said the protection of health care coverage for people with preexisting conditions was the most important issue in her district. She supports allowingMedicare to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies for lower drug prices for those it insures.[109]
Slotkin opposesMedicare for All but supportsPete Buttigieg's so-called "Medicare for All Who Want It" plan. She has criticized Medicare for All, saying that "no one can explain" how to fund it. Instead, she says she is a "big believer" in a Medicare buy-in option available to people of any age.[110]
In both the 116th and 117th Congresses, Slotkin received a 100% rating from Human Rights Campaign's (HRC) Congressional Scorecard, which measures "support for equality" among members of Congress based on their voting record.[111][112] HRC endorsed her in each of her campaigns for the House.[113][114]
In 2020, during theTrump administration, Slotkin voted against an amendment, supported by 93% of the Democratic caucus, that would provide $10,000 debt relief forstudent loan borrowers.[115][116] She also pushed theDepartment of Education to assist federal employees with student loan payments during the partial government shutdown.[117] Slotkin voted twice against a Republican-led measure that would have overturned the Biden administration's student debt forgiveness initiative.[118][119][120] In 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down that initiative.[121]
After the 2024 presidential election, Slotkin said thatidentity politics "needs to go the way of thedodo", adding that "people need to be looked at as independent Americans, whatever group they're from, whatever party they may be from."[122]
At a July 2025Axios event in Washington, D.C., Slotkin addressed Republican-led mid-decade redistricting efforts in Texas backed by Donald Trump, saying she would not "fight with one arm tied behind my back" if Republicans pursued what she called an aggressive partisan strategy. "If they're going to go nuclear in Texas, I'm going to go nuclear in other places. I don't want to do that, but if they're proposing to rig the game ... we're going to get in that game and fight." Her remarks came amid broader Democratic retaliatory planning and concerns about redistricting nationwide.[123]
Slotkin married Dave Moore, a retired Army colonel andApache helicopter pilot, in 2011.[124][125] They had met inBaghdad during Slotkin's third tour inIraq and lived in Holly.[124][125] The two filed for divorce in 2023.[125] Slotkin had two stepdaughters while married to Moore.[126] She isJewish.[6]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Elissa Slotkin | 2,706,037 | 48.67% | −3.59% | |
| Republican | Mike Rogers | 2,684,312 | 48.29% | +2.53% | |
| Natural Law | Doug Dern | 41,243 | 0.70% | N/A | |
| Green | Douglas Marsh | 53,838 | 0.98% | N/A | |
| Libertarian | Joseph Solis-Mullen | 56,489 | 1.04% | N/A | |
| Constitution | Dave Stein | 49,673 | 0.87% | N/A | |
| Write-in | 0 | 0.00% | |||
| Total votes | 5,560,647 | 100.0% | |||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Elissa Slotkin (incumbent) | 192,809 | 51.7 | |
| Republican | Tom Barrett | 172,624 | 46.3 | |
| Libertarian | Leah Dailey | 7,275 | 1.9 | |
| Total votes | 372,708 | 100.0 | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Elissa Slotkin (incumbent) | 217,929 | 50.9 | |
| Republican | Paul Junge | 202,519 | 47.3 | |
| Libertarian | Joe Hartman | 7,896 | 1.8 | |
| Total votes | 428,344 | 98 | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Elissa Slotkin | 172,880 | 50.6 | |
| Republican | Mike Bishop (incumbent) | 159,782 | 46.8 | |
| Libertarian | Brian Ellison | 6,302 | 1.8 | |
| Constitution | David Lillis | 2,629 | 0.8 | |
| Total votes | 341,593 | 100.0 | ||
| Democraticgain fromRepublican | ||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Elissa Slotkin | 57,819 | 70.7 | |
| Democratic | Christopher E. Smith | 23,996 | 29.3 | |
| Total votes | 81,815 | 100.0 | ||
Ranked 9th in the 2021 House Scores.
This article incorporatespublic domain material from the US Department of Defense
Metadata
Media
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromMichigan's 8th congressional district 2019–2023 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromMichigan's 7th congressional district 2023–2025 | Succeeded by |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Democratic nominee forU.S. Senator fromMichigan (Class 1) 2024 | Most recent |
| Preceded by | Response to the State of the Union address 2025 | |
| U.S. Senate | ||
| Preceded by | U.S. Senator (Class 1) from Michigan 2025–present Served alongside:Gary Peters | Incumbent |
| U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial) | ||
| Preceded by | Order of precedence of the United States as United States Senator | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | United States senators by seniority 93rd | Succeeded by |
Statewide political officials ofMichigan | ||
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