Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin defeated former GOP Rep. Mike Rogers in the race for a key seat in Michigan’s open Senate seat, NBC News projects.
Slotkin defeated Rogers during a tight presidential campaign between President-elect Donald Trump, who carried Michigan, and Vice President Kamala Harris, who was running behind Slotkin.
While Democrats have only lost two Senate races in Michigan in 52 years, many of those races have been close, and it’s been a back-and-forth in recent presidential elections. Trump narrowly won there in 2016, and Joe Biden turned it blue again in 2020.
Slotkin will replace Senator Debbie Stabenow, who was first elected as a Democrat in 2000 and is retiring this year. In August, Slotkin thanked Stabenov for paving the way and making a conscious decision to “pass the torch.” The couple embraced on stage after Slotkin won the Democratic primary in August.
Slotkin, who has worked for the CIA and the Defense Department, often cites his mother’s battle with ovarian cancer, which drove him into politics to fight health care costs and lower prescription drug prices. After serving in the Obama administration, he moved to his home state of Michigan to run for Congress in 2018, narrowly winning Michigan’s middle congressional district in one of the closest battlegrounds that year.
Slotkin held the seat in two subsequent close elections before running for Senate this election cycle.
Rogers represented the same congressional district from 2001 to 2015 before retiring. He has previously been critical of Trump, but came out as he ran for Senate and received Trump’s endorsement in March. Rogers appeared in Big Rapids in late August during a campaign stop with Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio.
Trump was far from the only big name entering the Senate race. Slotkin received an endorsement from former President Barack Obama in early October, who starred in an ad highlighting his national security experience.