U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Holly) and former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers at the Grand Rapids debate, Oct. 8, 2024 | Michael Buck/WOOD TV8
With less than a month left before Election Day, U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Holly) and former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers (R-White Lake) took the debate stage to make their case for succeeding U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Lansing) as Michigan’s next senator.
The race is among the most consequential races in the nation, with the potential to determine which party controls the Senate. The nonpartisan Cook Political Report has rated it a “toss-up” as it continues to look like a tight race.
The candidates met at WOOD-TV in Grand Rapids Tuesday night, answering questions on the cost of living, federal disaster funding, U.S. support for Israel, electric vehicles (EVs), abortion and undocumented immigration, while taking occasional jabs at their opponent.
A small crowd of Slotkin’s and Rogers’ supporters gathered outside the building about an hour ahead of the 7 p.m. debate, waving signs and leading opposing chants in support of their candidate, although Rogers’ supporters dispersed around 6:10 p.m.
In their opening statements both candidates highlighted concerns about the cost of living with Slotkin pushing for “jobs with dignity” and bringing down costs and Rogers centering action on the southern Border, gas prices and “EV mandates.”
Slotkin, who is serving her third term in the U.S. House, previously worked in national security, including three tours in Iraq as an analyst for the CIA, a member of Republican President George W. Bush’s national security staff and assistant secretary of Defense under Democratic President Barack Obama.
Rogers served in the U.S. House from 2001 to 2015, following a five-year career with the FBI and a stint in the Michigan State Senate, in which he was majority floor leader from 1999 through 2000.
The first question of the evening centered on support for the Federal Emergency Management agency as Hurricane Milton approaches Florida, as WOOD-TV political reporter Rick Albin asked the candidates how they would ensure the agency has the funding it needs to respond to disasters nationwide.
While Slotkin noted her previous work on the Homeland Security Committee to increase funding to FEMA, Rogers echoed claims similar to those pushed by former President Donald Trump saying $700 million in disaster relief funding had been spent on housing undocumented immigrants over the last six years.
The agency responded to the claim on its hurricane rumor response page, stating “No money is being diverted from disaster response needs. FEMA’s disaster response efforts and individual assistance is funded through the Disaster Relief Fund, which is a dedicated fund for disaster efforts.”
It also emphasized that it “has enough money right now for immediate response and recovery needs,” for those impacted by Hurricane Helene in Florida, Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.
The candidates were also questioned on their support for Israel amid its continued war against Hamas, attacks on the Hamas-allied militant group Hezbollah and Iran’s missile attack on the nation, with Albin asking the candidates if there was a line Israel could cross that would cause them to drop their support.
Rogers said the U.S. should work on organizing a ceasefire beginning with the release of Israeli and American hostages, repeatedly emphasizing that Israel has to be able to defend itself and calling on the government to contain Iran to prevent further conflict.
Slotkin offered a similar answer, calling for a ceasefire with the release of the Hostages and stating Israel has a right to defend itself from its enemies. However, Slotkin also said she would not support another land war in the Middle East before slamming Rogers, saying he was one of the leaders that brought the U.S. into the Iraq war, later noting his role as chair of the House Intelligence Committee in the build up to the war.
“We spent 20 years in Iraq and I served three tours there alongside the military. For me, I am not interested in having another 20-year war in the Middle East,” Slotkin said.
Rogers hit back, later arguing Slotkin and her Democratic colleagues backed policies that would draw the U.S. into a wider conflict.
The candidates were also asked about their plan to bring down the cost of basic needs, with Rogers saying the country needs to take control of government spending, achieve energy independence from other nations through an all of the above approach to energy sources and stop new regulations on businesses. Slotkin called for onshoring the country’s supply chain by building up American manufacturing; go after the costs of things like prescription drugs, housing and childcare and ensuring the country’s tax policy benefits middle class families.
In his response, Rogers went after Slotkin on manufacturing, saying the state had lost 29,000 jobs since Slotkin was elected.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Michigan boasted 628,800 manufacturing jobs when Slotkin first took office in January of 2019. According to preliminary data from August, the state now holds 604,800 jobs, a loss of 24,000 jobs over the past five years.
In turn, Slotkin blasted Rogers on drug costs, pointing to his 2007 vote against allowing Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices with manufacturers, which was later approved for certain drugs as part of the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022.
Slotkin and Rogers also sparred over electric vehicles, with each accusing the other of ceding American jobs to China. While Slotkin cautioned that if Michigan doesn’t seize control of the electric vehicle market, China will, Rogers accused Slotkin of supporting “EV mandates” that would kill thousands of auto jobs.
Republicans have repeatedly slammed President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on electric vehicles, arguing Democrats are working to ban gas-powered cars.
While the Biden administration has not issued a mandate on electric vehicles, instead setting a goal for 50% of all new vehicles sold in the U.S. to be electric by 2030, Republicans have argued that new vehicle emissions standards finalized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency earlier this year would serve as an effective ban on gas-powered vehicles. However, policy experts told FactCheck.org that automakers would have flexibility in how they meet the new standards, with the option to make internal combustion engines more efficient.
Following the debate, Rogers spoke out against the Biden administration’s $500 million grant to help convert GM’s Lansing Grand River Assembly plant to produce electric vehicles.
“I think if the federal government’s going to spend money they ought to spend on something that builds, something that people want to buy,” he said.
When asked about abortion, Rogers said he would honor Michigan voters’ decision to protect reproductive health care at the state level — Proposal 3 of 2022. But Slotkin called Rogers’ answer into question, calling out his record of supporting restrictions on abortion, contraception and in vitro fertilization while in Congress.
In response, Rogers said he was 100% in support of making sure families had access to fertility treatments. Slotkin responded that Rogers had never broken with the GOP on abortion.
“It is not a talking point to women. It’s our lives. It’s whether we bleed to death in a parking lot. It’s who and when gets to decide who and when we get to have a family. Do not trust him,” she said.
In answering the final question of the evening, Slotkin and Rogers each attacked the other for failing to act on border security.
“We absolutely need to do more at the southern border, and we were working on a deal to actually provide more resources to our border agents to deal with that bleeding ulcer that we have down there,” Slotkin said, referencing the defunct bipartisan border deal negotiated in the Senate earlier this year.
Slotkin pointed to a need for legal immigration to support industries like agriculture, but said the current immigration system would continue to be a problem without a fix.
In his response, Rogers slammed Slotkin her vote against legislation to resume construction of the wall at the southern border.
While Slotkin responded by blaming Republicans for killing the border deal so they could campaign on the issue, with former President Donald Trump speaking out in opposition to the bill before it ever came to a vote, Rogers said the deal also had members from both parties opposing it.
“That was not a bill to solve the problem. It was a bill to exacerbate and make permanent the problem. It was really a disaster of a bill,” Rogers said.
The candidates will face off once more in less than a week with WXYZ-TV hosting another debate at its Southfield studios on Monday.
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