Through two debates over less than a week, the major party nominees for Michigan's open U.S. Senate seat showed themselves to be serious candidates and able campaigners, deftly hitting each other's records and trading sharp blows while also avoiding any marked descent into incivility.
Democratic U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin of Holly and Republican former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers of White Lake, in a debate last Tuesday at WOOD-TV in Grand Rapids a nd again Monday at WXYZ-TV's Southfield studio, both landed zingers and parried attacks as they entered the final three weeks of their campaign to see which succeeds Democratic U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, who is not running for a fifth six-year term.
More: Campaign claims fly as Slotkin, Rogers take debate stage in Michigan's US Senate race
That both brought a level of seriousness to the campaign debates isn't surprising, given their accomplishments: Slotkin is a three-term House member known as a pragmatic Democrat able to win in Republican-leaning districts and who served three tours as a CIA analyst in Iraq before becoming an acting assistant Defense secretary. Rogers, a former Army officer and FBI agent, served 14 years in Congress as a conservative House member, rising to become chairman of the House Intelligence Committee before leaving in 2015.
Here's some takeaways from their two debates, which could help decide which party controls the Senate next year:
Rogers hammered away at Slotkin on electric vehicles
Having taken up the line repeated by Republicans and former President Donald Trump that President Joe Biden and the Democrats embraced an "EV mandate" that would require people to buy electric vehicles, Rogers did his best through two debates to hang it around Slotkin's neck. "It's ruining our car industry," he said in Monday's debate . "You're promoting Chinese technology in America." He also claimed Slotkin had voted in favor of the so-called mandate on a couple of occasions.
The truth of the issue is that there is no mandate but the Biden administration did finalize emissions standards that, absent a change in the rules or some other technology being adopted, automakers could have to make sure two-thirds of all new cars sold by 2032 are zero-emission (i.e., EVs) or face hefty fines. Slotkin did vote against legislation that would have blocked implementation of those standards − it wasn't clear what they would have been replaced with − but she has also said she would support rewriting those rules if they hurt U.S. automakers (who helped develop them) and that she's against anyone being told what car to buy. But she also defended the rules as a way for U.S. technology to catch up with China's lead in making and selling EVs worldwide. "I want that manufacturing here. I don't care what you drive, I want to build them," she said Monday.
Slotkin never let up on Rogers' record on abortion
Rogers has said repeatedly throughout the campaign that he will not support any federal legislation that would preempt the abortion protections written into Michigan's constitution two years ago in an overwhelmingly supported voter referendum passed after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe vs. Wade. "I won't do anything when I go back to the United States Senate to undo the vote of the people," he said on Monday. But during Rogers' tenure in Congress, he was a fervent abortion opponent, supporting legislation that would have put extreme restrictions in place.
Slotkin argued through two debates that Rogers has already shown Michigan voters where he stands on the question of abortion rights and that they shouldn't listen to him now just because the issue has been one that Democrats have successfully used against Republicans. "He has shown us who he is, don’t trust him on this issue," she said Monday, virtually repeating the line of attack she used on him the previous Tuesday. Rogers, similarly, worked to make himself appear sympathetic to the "most heart-wrenching decision a woman would ever have to make," though that is clearly contradictory to his previous statements regarding the procedure.
Both recognize inflation is a key with voters
Increases in inflation are down somewhat in recent months from where they were a year or so ago but it was clear that neither candidate was taking the issue for granted. As was expected, Rogers continuously went after Slotkin on high prices for groceries, gas and housing, placing the blame squarely on spending authorized by Democrats in Congress and the Biden administration. "Are you better off than you were four years ago?" Rogers asked Monday. "My opponent voted 100% with Biden-Harris (Vice President Kamala Harris, who is the Democratic presidential nominee) on all of the things that have raised your prices."
Inflation went up pretty much everywhere worldwide after the supply chain crunch caused by the COVID-19 pandemic shutdowns and government stimulus plans, so it's misleading to lay blame for that solely on the Democrats (and it's also worth noting that job growth and wages were up considerably too). But Slotkin argued she is taking the need to bring prices down seriously, calling for bringing more supply chains back into the U.S. and lowering costs (and using the latter to go after Rogers for past votes against government moving to negotiate lower pharmaceutical prices).
One thing that didn't really come up...
There were, of course, many more issues the two sparred over and will continue to do so leading up to the Nov. 5 election in TV ads and mail fliers. Such as whether Slotkin deserves blame for what had been a surge in illegal immigration along the southern border. (She says she's proposed numerous bills to help address it; he says she's done nothing to solve it.) And whether Rogers can be trusted having previously denounced Trump's false claims that he won the 2020 election (he didn't) but for corruption and recently speaking of being on guard against Democratic "shenanigans" in this year's voting. (He says he's the same old Mike Rogers and suggests Slotkin's trying to deflect from Democratic failures.)
One issue that didn't really come up in either debate, however, was Rogers' residence. Earlier this month, a Free Press column raised questions about where Rogers was living , since no certificate of occupancy had been issued for the house he and his wife rebuilt in White Lake Township, even though he used that address to register to vote. On several occasions in both debates − and at least three times on Monday − Slotkin made oblique mentions of the fact that Rogers had been living in Florida prior to running for the open Senate seat but at no point did she or any of the moderators bring up the White Lake property. A lawyer for Rogers' campaign told the Detroit News last week that Rogers has been staying with his in-laws − who also live in White Lake − while the certificate of occupancy gets worked out.
Contact Todd Spangler: tspangler@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter@tsspangler.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: 4 takeaways from the Elissa Slotkin-Mike Rogers US Senate debates
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