Elissa Slotkin wins Democratic primary for US Senate seat

SOUTHFIELD, Mich. (FOX 2) - Michigan Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin is one step closer to the U.S. Senate seat after she toppled Hill Harper for the Democratic nomination during the Michigan Primary on Tuesday, Aug. 6.

With 75 % of the vote, Slotkin beat out Harper for the nomination as she battles for the seat vacated by retiring Senator Debbie Stabenow.

Slotkin will go up against former Congressman Mike Rogers, who won with 70% of the vote on the Republican side.

In a speech to supporters, Slotkin said she's stepping into ‘enormous shoes' occupied by Stabenow.

"As I embark on the next 90 days ahead in the general election, I am doing so only because she made this incredibly courageous decision to pass the torch deliberately," Slotkin said.

The Congresswoman thanked her family and campaign team for their commitment and dedication.

Stabenow endorses Slotkin

Just moments after Slotkin won the Democratic primary, she earned an endorsement from Stabenow.

"I strongly endorse Elissa Slotkin to be Michigan's next United States Senator. Elissa has dedicated the last five and a half years to creating a better life for families in her district. It's clear she knows what it takes to be a great legislator. She understands the skills you need in the Senate -- not just to give speeches -- but to actually get things done. From her leadership on the House Agriculture Committee during Farm Bill negotiations to securing millions of dollars for affordable child care, I've seen her in action," Stabenow said in a statement.

Stabenow said Slotkin was ‘grounded in her communities’ and was ‘engaged, accessible and present’ throughout her district.

"I have the honor of being the first woman from Michigan elected to the U.S. Senate. But I have always believed it’s not enough to be the first, unless there is a second and a third. I’m excited to pass the torch at the end of the year and see Elissa Slotkin represent Michigan in the halls of the U.S. Senate."

Slotkin credited Stabenow for making it possible for her to run.

"I would not be here were it not for her leadership in breaking the ceiling and being the first woman to ever represent Michigan at the federal level," Slotkin said.

"We don't boo. We win"

During her speech to supporters, she brought up her November opponent – Rogers. 

Supporters started boo when she brought up his name and she immediately shook them off.

"No, no. We don't boo. We win," she said, to an eruption from her supporters.

Slotkin's decision to run for Senate

The three-term congresswoman from Holly was one of the first to announce she was running for the seat in January 2023. She was first asked about running in late January 2023, just days after Stabenow announced she would be retiring in 2024.

"She knows what it takes to win and she is not going to let her seat flip when she leaves," Slotkin said of Stabenow in an interview that year. "She feels, I think, very connected to making sure her legacy is upheld by passing the torch to someone who can win it."

The open Senate seat will be one of the most-watched races in the country by November with Republicans believing that it could be flipped in their favor.

Slotkin ultimately announced she was running in February 2023. 

Slotkin, first elected to Congress in 2018 when she flipped a traditionally Republican district, has consistently won close races in the battleground state and has proved herself to be an effective fundraiser.

WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 29: Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) speaks about the need for further gun control research during a press conference at the U.S. Capitol on March 29, 2023 in Washington, DC. A shooting at a Nashville elementary school over the weeke

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After narrowly winning reelection in 2020, she was targeted by Republicans in 2022's midterms after new congressional maps divided her home district. She was forced to run in Michigan's new 7th Congressional District, where she was a new face for about a third of the district's voters, many in rural GOP-leaning counties north of Lansing.

Throughout the campaign, Slotkin touted herself as a Democrat representing a Trump-voting district, emphasizing to voters her pragmatism and highlighting her role on the House's bipartisan Problem-Solvers Caucus.

She has represented two congressional districts that experienced mass shootings, and she has called for stronger gun laws. Now a congresswoman for the Lansing area, she represents an area that includes Michigan State University, where a gunman killed three people and injured five others this month. She previously represented Oxford, where a school shooter killed four students and injured seven others at Oxford High School in 2021.

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.