Elissa Slotkin, the first-term Democratic senator from Michigan, will deliver her party’s response to President Donald Trump’s joint address to Congress next Tuesday.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) described Slotkin as “a rising star” in the Democratic Party, announcing on Thursday that the Michigan senator “will layout [sic] the fight to tackle the deep challenges we face and chart a path forward.” Slotkin narrowly won the 2024 Senate election in Michigan, a state that went for Trump over Democratic nominee Kamala Harris. The Democrat served six years in the House before running for former Sen. Debbie Stabenow’s seat last year.
“I’m looking forward to speaking directly to the American people next week. The public expects leaders to level with them on what’s actually happening in our country,” Slotkin said. “From our economic security to our national security, we’ve got to chart a way forward that improves people’s lives in the country we all love, I look forward to laying that out. Tune in.”
The Democrats’ selection of Slotkin for the response puts forward a new voice for a party that is desperately seeking ways to resonate with Americans after Republicans won the White House, Senate, and House in 2024. Slotkin has pushed for Democrats to move away from “identity politics” and “focus on the things that keep people up at night,” which she said are “their pocketbooks and their kids.”
“I personally think that identity politics needs to go the way of the dodo,” she said two weeks after her election victory in November.
“We gotta stay away … we don’t need to obsess about identity politics,” she added. “And by the way, this last election demonstrated very clearly that they don’t stand up.”
Slotkin, however, criticized Trump’s plans to remove diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in military recruitment and fire generals who pushed DEI policies. During her first weeks in the Senate, Slotkin has joined Democrats in raging against the Trump administration’s cuts to federal spending and argued that billionaires, such as Trump’s senior adviser Elon Musk, are “leading around this administration by the nose.”