Democrat Haley Stevens will continue representing Michigan’s 11th Congressional District in Congress for the next two years. The incumbent candidate decisively beat Republican Nick Somberg at the polls this week.

Stevens acknowledges that strong Election Day results for Republicans could make things more difficult for Democrats in Washington. She says Tuesday’s outcome represents a tipping point in U.S. politics.

Listen: Haley Stevens talks Democrat outlook in Washington

“We’re heading into the year 2025,” says Stevens. “It’s a new marker in time, and we have to continue to ensure and embrace American leadership.”

Stevens warns against Capitol Hill losing sight of America’s interests abroad, saying Russia and China are waiting to capitalize on U.S. weakness. She adds that passing legislation to bolster American manufacturing will be one of her top priorities.

“We want to make sure that we have secure supply chains, I want to deliver on that,” Stevens said. “I’m also going to continue working on our education system, standing up for those who are seeking higher education.”

Despite strong election day results for the Republican Party, Stevens says she’s optimistic Democrats can accomplish some of their legislative goals in Congress.

Speaking with WDET on election night, Stevens’ opponent Nick Somberg acknowledged the loss. He says he’ll return to his day job as an attorney — where he is currently defending Meshawn Maddock in the Republican fake electors case — and hopes to run for office again in the future.

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DETROIT (AP) — Democratic U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin has won Michigan’s open U.S. Senate seat, giving Democrats a bittersweet victory in a swing state that also backed Republican President-elect Donald Trump in his successful bid to return to the White House.

Slotkin, a third-term representative, defeated former Republican congressman Mike Rogers. Democrats have held both Senate seats in Michigan for decades, but were left without retiring incumbent Sen. Debbie Stabenow this year.

Michigan’s was among a handful of Senate races Democrats struggled to defend. They lost their U.S. Senate majority despite Slotkin’s narrow win.

The race was incredibly close. Just minutes before it was called for Slotkin, she addressed supporters in Detroit, acknowledging that many voters may have cast their ballots for her while also supporting Trump, who won the state’s electoral votes over Democrat Kamala Harris.

“It’s my responsibility to get things done for Michiganders. No matter who’s in office, just as I did in President Trump’s first term,” said Slotkin. “I’m a problem solver and I will work with anyone who is actually here to work.”

Slotkin’s win provides some solace for Democrats in the state, many of whom entered Election Day with high confidence following sweeping victories in the 2022 midterms. Democrat Gov. Gretchen Whitmer still controls the executive branch and Democrats held onto the Senate, but Republicans won a majority of state House seats this election.

And Republicans also captured a mid-Michigan seat vacated by Slotkin, considered one of the most competitive races in the country.

The presidential race at the top of the ticket was expected to heavily influence the outcome, but Slotkin became the second Democrat to win a U.S. Senate race in a battleground state that also backed Trump for president, following Wisconsin incumbent Sen. Tammy Baldwin earlier Wednesday.

Trump won Michigan in 2016 by just over 10,000 votes, marking the first time a Republican presidential candidate had secured the state in nearly three decades. This time, he expanded that margin to about 80,000 votes.

Slotkin, a former CIA analyst, launched her Senate campaign shortly after Stabenow announced her retirement in early 2023. With a largely uncontested primary, Slotkin built a significant fundraising advantage and poured it into advertising. Her high-profile supporters included former President Barack Obama and Stabenow, who helped her on the campaign trail.

On the Republican side, Rogers faced multiple challengers for the party’s nomination, including former Reps. Justin Amash and Peter Meijer, the latter of whom withdrew before the Aug. 6 primary. Rogers served in the U.S. House from 2001 to 2015 and chaired the House Intelligence Committee.

Rogers called Slotkin to concede soon after The Associated Press called the race, both campaigns confirmed.

“Congratulations to Congresswoman Slotkin on her victory, I wish her the best as she serves the people of Michigan in the Senate,” Rogers said in a statement.

Slotkin’s victory extends the Republicans’ losing streak in Michigan U.S. Senate races, where no GOP candidate has won since 1994. Michigan’s other Democratic senator, Gary Peters, is serving a term that ends in 2027.

Slotkin and other Michigan Democrats focused much of their campaigns on reproductive rights, arguing that Republican opponents would back a national abortion ban, although Rogers said he wouldn’t. How effectively the issue motivated voting in a state where reproductive rights were enshrined in the constitution by Michigan voters in 2022 remained to be seen.

About 4 in 10 Michigan voters said the economy and jobs is the top issue facing the country, according to AP VoteCast, a sweeping survey of more than 110,000 voters nationally, including about 3,700 voters in Michigan. About 2 in 10 Michigan voters said immigration is the most pressing issue, and roughly 1 in 10 named abortion.

Slotkin used her funding advantage to establish her narrative early, aiming to connect both with her base and disillusioned Republicans.

“We all know that it’s been a tough election season,” Slotkin said Wednesday in Detroit. “I believe in my bones that America is at its best when we have two healthy parties that push and pull and debate on issues of policy and substance and make our laws better.”

She added, “That’s what our founding fathers intended, and it’s what makes our country great.”

Reporting by Joey Cappelletti, Associated Press

In 2022, the election in Michigan’s 10th Congressional District — which includes southern Macomb County, Rochester and Rochester Hills — was the third-closest U.S. House race in the nation.

This year features a rematch between first-term Republican Congressman John James and Democratic challenger Carl Marlinga.

But the big difference this time is that the contest is taking place during an extremely tight presidential election.

Related: Michigan’s 10th Congressional District candidates answer questions about their political priorities

Incumbent James says he’s fighting for manufacturing

At a recent meeting of the Detroit Economic Club, the conversation centered on the candidates for the White House. And the announcers brought up an unusual choice for a potential future presidential contender.

“There is a guy in the audience who maybe should take it. And his name’s John James. Ready for that John?”

From the audience, a lone voice said definitively, “No!”

James is already busy on the campaign trail — defending the U.S. House seat he won by only 0.5 percentage points two years ago.

He says he’s doing it by supporting the major manufacturing base in his district, where a majority of voters twice chose Donald Trump. And on the House floor, James echoed the former president’s charge that Democrats are pushing regulations that would force automakers to build electric vehicles — a market they say is already dominated by China.

“I’d like to remind my colleagues that you don’t fight communism with communism,” James said. “And that’s exactly what this government takeover of our American automotive industry is. Nobody here is against battery electric vehicles. But we are against telling the American people what they can do with their money and when they can do it.”

James led the House effort to block the new standards.

The former combat pilot, who features an attack helicopter on his campaign logo, says he’s also done battle to protect two of the district’s mainstays: Selfridge Air National Guard Base and the U.S. Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM).

“I’m doing everything I can to make sure that we not only get a fighter mission here but we also get future missions here,” James said. “The economic impact that would happen from the closure of Selfridge would be devastating to the region. I got $75 million back in investment for TACOM just this past year. And so, I have been busy.”

James also delivered a speech at the Republican National Convention that criticized transgender women playing in women’s sports.

He’s leaned into a controversial campaign ad that ties James’ congressional opponent to a legal requirement that the government provide gender-affirming care to prisoners, as well as possibly provide information to children who want to know more about transitioning.

“No approaching children with gender-changing medication or inappropriate sexual material in the first, second and third grade, right? If you’re an adult in a free country and you’re not hurting anybody else, do you. But if you are talking about the children, we have a duty to make sure we protect the rights of parents and be pro-family.”

Challenger Marlinga says he knows the law and the district

Marlinga says he has no idea why the issue is even a topic in the 10th Congressional District campaign.

“It sounds like a bad Saturday Night Live spoof. If you’re a teacher, you know that you can’t give an aspirin to a child without the parent’s consent.”

As a former judge and prosecutor, Marlinga says he knows the law.

And he says Macomb County voters know him and his record, even if national Democratic Party officials did not when they basically ignored his congressional run two years ago.

Former Congressman Andy Levin declined to seek reelection in the newly redrawn district.

Marlinga says party officials believed if someone with the beloved name “Levin” thought they couldn’t win there, no Democrat could.

That changed after Marlinga almost won in 2022. Now, Democrats are pouring millions of dollars into the race.

That includes distributing flyers daily that counter one of James’ arguments against Marlinga that the former prosecutor once called the district’s auto plants part of a “dying industry.”

Marlinga says he was calling for car companies and parts suppliers to reinvent themselves for the 21st century.

“The auto supply business is decreased because of the way that cars are made nowadays,” he said. “The little dials and things that you would put on your dashboard, all of those are gone. It’s replaced by chips and computer screens. And so I would want to see more and more chip business here.”

Marlinga maintains he’s also a firm believer in electric vehicles and using clean energy sources.

He calls it a far better way to help the economy than trying to, as Trump often says, “Drill baby drill” for more fossil fuels.

“If the price of oil and gas goes up, the price of everything else goes up. We have to diversify our energy sources so that there’s enough of a threat from electric power to cause the oil and gas companies to finally realize that they can’t set the price wherever they want,” Marlinga said.

Voters’ views reveal a very tight contest

The Democratic challenger’s argument resonates with autoworker Eric McCrary.

He says he works at an electric vehicle plant, though he prefers hybrids himself.

But McCrary adds that after 30 years in the car industry, he also prefers Marlinga’s take on the district’s signature business.

“He already had my vote before I met him,” McCrary said. “I know John James. And every time there’s a Republican in the government I lose money. For some reason there’s not a whole lot of overtime, there’s not a lot of things going on in the plant. They run straight 40 hours.”

But there’s a much more mixed reaction in other parts of Macomb, like at the Dodge Park Coney Island in Sterling Heights, where political conversation almost comes with the menu.

Sitting in a booth with her husband, long-time voter Penny Dobbs says she and the rest of her half-dozen family members support James.

Dobbs says she worries about automakers making a major move towards electric vehicles.

“At first I was excited about it because I thought ‘jobs.’ We’re gonna get a lot more factories to build these batteries. But then I thought about power outages. Where you gonna go if you run out of energy in your car? So I am surprised at Marlinga’s view. And because of it he’s losing six votes,” Dobbs said.

A few tables away, Tracy Daniel says she’s always had concerns about excessive government spending.

And then, Daniel says, she saw James’ TV advertisements linking Marlinga to gender-change operations.

“I believe our medical insurance coverage will end up being affected in a really big way as cost if we start paying for transgender surgeries and things like that,” Daniel said. “That’s gonna affect people as a whole. If this stuff is true, that they will pay for it for people in prison and what have you, than that means taxpayers again have to pay for that. It’s all a trickle-down effect for me.”

But across the aisle, diner John Zuzga says he simply does not trust Republicans.

And he says he knows Marlinga very well.

“Carl Marlinga put me in jail. But I still like him, I’ll still vote for him,” Zuzga said.

Which side the rest of the electorate will support remains uncertain.

Just like the presidential election it often echoes, surveys show the race in the 10th Congressional District is still too close to call.

Coming into 2024, Democrats already had an uphill climb in their attempt to keep control of the U.S. Senate.

A climb that got steeper when Michigan U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow announced she would not be seeking reelection.

Now, Republican Mike Rogers and Democratic Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin are vying for the seat. 

Quick facts

Mike Rogers:

• Served in the U.S. Army
• Spent five years as an FBI Agent
• Served in the Michigan Senate for six years 
• Seven-term U.S Congressman, including four years as chair of the House Intelligence Committee

Elissa Slotkin:

• Served three tours in Iraq as an intelligence analyst for the CIA
• Fluent in Arabic and Swahili
• Worked in intelligence for both the Bush and Obama administrations
• Left the Department of Defense in 2017 and has served in the U.S. House since 2019

With their backgrounds in intelligence, both candidates are keeping an eye on Israel’s attacks in Gaza and Lebanon.

“Israel has, again, the right to respond to that.” Slotkin said. “But for me, what I won’t do is I won’t say that the United States should get back into a big land war in the Middle East.”

Rogers says Iran is the main problem. 

“So if we don’t contain Tehran, I’m telling you what, we’ll have more trouble,” Rogers said. “We’ll be more engulfed in the Middle East.”

Something else that’s national security adjacent — Rogers has expressed concern about a battery plant, owned by a Chinese company, being built near Big Rapids. Slotkin doesn’t like it either.

“Not only do I share [the same concerns], I’ve legislated on them. I mean the bill in Congress, a bipartisan bill to ban China from buying our farmland, is my bill,” she said. “The bill in Congress that allows us to ban Chinese companies and also other companies of countries of concern from buying our manufacturing sites. That’s my bill.”

Rogers however goes a bit further accusing Slotkin of working with Chinese officials.

“She signed a non-disclosure agreement to facilitate a Chinese Communist Party company going up near Big Rapids,” Rogers said.

The NDA Slotkin signed was with the Michigan Economic Development Corporation. She did so with a few other Democrats and seven Republicans. But the Gotion Plant Rogers is referring to isn’t listed on the agreement.

Rogers maintains he does want to create more opportunities for factory jobs.

“Since my opponent has been elected, we have lost in this state, 29,000 manufacturing jobs. I worked in an assembly plant in Michigan,” Rogers said. “These jobs are critical.”

It should be noted those job losses came during the Trump Administration. The former President has endorsed Rogers for Senate.

Earlier this year, Trump had Congressional Republicans scuttle a bipartisan immigration bill because he wanted to use the issue as a wedge during his Presidential campaign. Rogers says it was a bad bill anyway.

“You can’t make legal two million illegal immigrants every single year. Look at the crime. Look at the problems that it creates. That was not a bill to solve the problem,” Rogers said. “It was a bill to exasperate and make permanent the problem. It was really a disaster of a bill.”

Crime has been going down, and studies show immigrants commit crimes at a lower rate than U.S. citizens.

Slotkin says a well-funded system for immigration is good for the economy.

“We need legal, vetted immigration. Our farmers need it. Our folks in Mackinac need it for their hotels and their fudge shops,” Slotkin said. “Until we get our immigration system right, we’re going to have a big problem at the border.”

That’s right in-line with her priorities.

“I focus on policies that are about pro-good jobs and then lowering the cost of things like prescription drugs, health care, you know, post secondary education, child care,” said Slotkin.

Rogers has been campaigning a lot in Detroit. He says Black voters are coming around to the message of the GOP.

“What they’re finding out we’re not bad people,” Rogers said. “We actually have unique solutions for their problems, including literacy, including criminal justice reform, including block grants that actually go to communities versus what’s been happening over the years is going, they pour money into the top of the funnel in these cities, and it doesn’t quite get to the people who need it most.”

Michigan voters put abortion rights into the state constitution two years ago. However, the overturning of the Roe vs. Wade precedent by the U.S. Supreme Court keeps the issue top of mind.

Mike Rogers says it’s a settled issue and claims he wouldn’t vote for a nationwide abortion ban. However, that’s in conflict with his past statements of being against abortion except in instances to save the life of a mother.

Elissa Slotkin supports nationwide reproductive rights.

The general election is taking place on Tuesday, Nov. 5. Five third party candidates will also be on the ballot for Michigan’s U.S. Senate seat, including Douglas Marsh (Green Party), Joseph Solis-Mullen (Libertarian), Doug Dern (Natural Law Party), Dave Stein (U.S. Taxpayers Party), and James Frizzell (Independent).

For the latest election information, visit WDET’s Voter Guide at wdet.org/voterguide.

The two major-party candidates for Michigan’s open U.S. Senate seat faced off in a substantive, sometimes combative debate hosted by WXYZ-TV on Monday.

Subscribe to Created Equal on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

Democratic congresswoman Elissa Slotkin and former Republican congressman Mike Rogers debated issues including education, immigration, abortion and electric vehicles. It was the final scheduled U.S. Senate debate of the election season.

Dennis Darnoi, a political consultant, says this election is uniquely focused on the two candidates’ principles instead of their party affiliations with President Joe Biden or former President Donald Trump. 

“Both of them have long records upon which to run, they have reputations within the party and within the state. So, it’s not as if they are new candidates that no one’s ever heard of,” Darnoi said.

Slotkin and Rogers are vying for the open seat to replace longtime Michigan U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, who is retiring at the end of her fourth term.

Guests: 

• Dennis Darnoi is a political consultant for Densar Consulting. 

• Zoe Clark is the political director at Michigan Public. 

Listen to Created Equal with host Stephen Henderson weekdays from 9-10 a.m. ET on 101.9 WDET and streaming on-demand.

Democratic Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin faced off tonight against former Republican Congressman Mike Rogers in Michigan’s final scheduled U.S. Senate debate of the election season.

The seat is open with the retirement of Democratic U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow and the race will help determine the make-up of the Senate next year. Polling shows the race is tight.

During the hour-long debate held at the WXYZ-TV studios in Southfield, the candidates were asked about the economy, immigration and the cost of health care.

Gun control was a big difference between the candidates. Slotkin said she supports tougher federal gun laws.

“To me, we have to, as Democrats and Republicans, as gun owners and non-gun owners, go after the No.1 killer of our children in our communities and in our schools, by suicide and by accident, and it is the responsibility of our leaders to protect children,” she said.

Slotkin’s House district includes Oxford, the site of a mass school shooting in 2021.

Rogers said he does not want new gun laws and instead supports better enforcement of existing gun laws and improved mental health services for children.

“We need to enforce the gun laws that we have. We also need to deal with mental health issues that are happening in our schools,” he said. “This generation of Americans is under mental duress and distress like I have never seen before.”

The candidates were also asked about their stances on abortion.

Slotkin said she would support setting in law the standard that existed before the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision that ended federal protections of abortion rights.

“If codifying Roe v. Wade came before the U.S. Senate, I would vote for it,” Slotkin said.

Rogers, who has a long record of supporting abortion restrictions, said he would not go against the wishes of voters who adopted a state reproductive rights amendment in 2022.

“I will respect the vote of the people of Michigan that they put as part of the Michigan Constitution,” Rogers said.

On student loan debt, the candidates agreed that a national service program might be an option for dealing with the increasing burden of educational costs and interest on loans. Slotkin also endorsed a 2.5% interest rate cap on student loans.

Absentee voting is already underway in Michigan so this debate could be the closing argument for many voters. Election Day is Nov. 5.

U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell is running for reelection in Michigan’s 6th Congressional District.

The Democratic incumbent currently serves on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce and House Committee on Natural Resources, and formerly served as a U.S. Representative for Michigan’s 12th Congressional District from 2015-2023. Prior to that, she worked in the auto industry for three decades, and served on the Wayne State University Board of Governors from 2007-2014.

Dingell says as someone who’s been in politics for nearly a decade, she wants to continue bringing diverse perspectives to the table to get things done.

“I want to be out there and listening and hearing what’s on your mind and making sure that your voices are heard,” she said. “I believe in the importance of building coalitions and trying to find the common ground at that table, and I also believe in solving problems.”

Listen: U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell on the economy, gun control and election security

Her Republican challenger, retired Ford employee Heather Smiley, says she hopes to bring a fresh perspective to Congress by curbing government spending, protecting voter integrity and preserving the borders.

“I’m not happy with the direction that the country is heading in,” Smiley said. “Our civil rights have been infringed upon. The economy is not doing well, and our national sovereignty is really at risk.”

Smiley says she is a first-generation American from a legal immigrant who was the first to attend college in her family. She says she worked multiple jobs and took out loans to pay for college, including working as a press operator and an automotive parts supplier.

“I can enable the government to function more efficiently, to improve and reduce costs, and I can restore the opportunities that we’ve historically had so that people can truly live the American dream, rather than worry about how they’re going to pay their bills or put food on the table for their family,” she said.

Listen: Republican Heather Smiley on bringing jobs to Michigan, voter integrity

Jobs and the economy

Dingell says the No. 1 issue on people’s minds is the economy, adding that she’s working with Congress to bring down everyday costs for working families.

“People are struggling to make ends meet,” she said. “I’m always at Kroger on Sunday mornings, and people come to meet me there now and they say, ‘Look at my grocery cart. I used to be able to buy a lot more.'”

Smiley says lots of people are losing their jobs, and she wants to prioritize bringing jobs back to Michigan.

“The companies are not willing to invest in their businesses, quite frankly, because a lot of the work is going overseas,” she said. “Mexico now looks like what Michigan used to look like. It’s a mecca for industry, both in terms of the automotive industry [and] all of the suppliers.”

However, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday that U.S. employers added an estimated 254,000 jobs in September, and after rising for most of 2024, the unemployment rate dropped for a second straight month from 4.2% in August to 4.1% in September.

She also noted that government spending is on the rise, saying that she’d like to reduce spending using her skills as a Ford employee who managed budgets.

“At Ford Motor Company where I worked, just one example of a project that I initiated and led, I saved the company over $290 million, and year-over-year, I saved the company $10 million just by working smarter,” she said.

Smiley says her experience as someone who has worked her way from the bottom up makes her a better candidate for her district.

“I have a lifetime of experiences working in the proverbial trenches, and I can leverage and apply my common sense and direct knowledge of how things work, both domestically and using my international business experience,” she said.

Gun safety

While school shootings are on the rise in the U.S., Dingell says she believes in gun control laws that protect people.

“I think we need to support and make sure [gun legislation] is being implemented that has comprehensive background checks. People who shouldn’t have guns shouldn’t have access to them,” said Dingell.

Dingell says assault weapons should also be banned, and safe storage of firearms should be mandated.

“Our children need to be able to go to school and not worry if someone is going to shoot them, what would happen to them. We need to be addressing the mental health issues associated with that,” she said.

Dingell says along with the economy, child care and senior care are pressing issues.

Voter integrity

During her campaign, Smiley has alleged that voter integrity in the U.S. is being jeopardized by illegal immigrants who are being encouraged to sign up to vote.

CNN fact-checked this claim, saying that it is unlikely non-citizens are registering to vote.

“The penalties are high, and the payoff is low,” Rick Hasen, an election law expert at the UCLA School of Law, told CNN. “If you aren’t a citizen and you vote, and you’re caught, you can face deportation and criminal penalties. And your chances of affecting an election outcome are small. It’s very unlikely someone would purposely choose to vote as a noncitizen.”

While Dingell says comprehensive immigration is needed, she says numerous studies have debunked the claim that non-citizens are voting.

“We have very strong systems in this country, in each state, to keep non-American citizens from voting, and no one has found [evidence of that],” she said. “[There have been] independent studies on both sides [that show no] problem related to that,” she said.

Dingell also suggested that measures to address border security have been blocked by Republicans.

“Democrats have been pushing for a lot more investment in Homeland Security for hiring additional border patrol agents to investigate and disrupt the transnational criminal organizations and the drug traffickers and Republicans keep blocking it,” she said.

The general election is taking place on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. For the latest election information, visit WDET’s Voter Guide at wdet.org/voterguide.