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.

Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin faced off Tuesday night against former Congressman Mike Rogers in their first debate in the race to fill Michigan’s open U-S Senate seat.

The candidates clashed over electric vehicles, abortion rights and their political loyalties.

Rogers, the Republican nominee who served in the House from 2001 to 2015, described Slotkin as a Democrat too aligned with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.

“My opponent has voted 100 percent with the Biden-Harris agenda,” he said during the one-hour faceoff hosted by WOOD-TV in Grand Rapids.

Slotkin, who’s been in Congress since 2019, invited Republicans disenchanted with the GOP under former President Donald Trump to cross over and vote for her.

“For Republicans who feel like their party has left them over the past couple of years,” she said, “you will always have an open door in my office.”

The candidates argued over electric vehicle incentives supported by Slotkin.

“It’s either going to be us or China,” she said. “Right now, China is eating our lunch on these types of vehicles and Michigan has had the experience of missing these trends, right? In the 70s and 80s, we said, oh everyone loves their big cars, no one’s ever going to buy a fuel-efficient vehicle and then the Japanese and the Koreans came in and ate our lunch and we’ve never made up that market share.”

Rogers said that is the wrong approach.

“Why that is a good plan when there are other things we can do?” he said. “The electric grid isn’t even ready to handle it. We’ve got to fix that. We’ve got to make sure that hybrids is an interim step here before you get to the next one. You beat China by selling Americans cars they want to buy.”

Rogers and Slotkin agreed that U.S. energy policy should include wind, solar, fossil fuels and nuclear. They both support re-starting the Palisades nuclear plant in southwest Michigan. It would be the first mothballed nuclear plant in the U.S. to resume operations if that happens.

One issue they disagreed on was abortion rights. Slotkin said she would vote for a federal law to restore in law the Roe v. Wade decision guaranteeing abortion rights that was reversed by the U.S. Supreme Court. She noted Rogers has a record of supporting abortion restrictions throughout his political career.

“Every single time he was casting one of those votes, he was saying something very particular,” she said. “He was saying to women he does not trust you to make your own decisions about your own family planning. Every single time.”

But Rogers said the Supreme Court properly put the question back to states. Rogers said he would not support national laws that interfere with Michigan’s reproductive rights amendment that was adopted by voters in 2022.

Polls show the Senate race in Michigan is within the margin of error. It is one of a handful of races that could determine control of the Senate. There is a second debate scheduled for next week in Detroit.