Campaign claims fly as Slotkin, Rogers take debate stage in Michigan's US Senate race

In the race for Michigan's open U.S. Senate seat, Democratic U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin and Republican former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers and their allies have spent months trading barbs over who is weaker on China, abortion, immigration, pharmaceuticals, taxes, the auto industry.

Those attacks are likely to get sharpened this week, as WOOD-TV in west Michigan airs live the first of two debates between them at 7 p.m. Tuesday. A second debate at Detroit's WXYZ-TV Channel 7 is scheduled for next Monday.

Polls have generally shown Slotkin to be ahead by 3 to 5 points on average. In recent weeks, Rogers has gotten good news — an endorsement from the Michigan Farm Bureau's political action committee and a $22 million investment in his race by the conservative Senate Leadership Fund. Slotkin, meanwhile, announced an endorsement from former President Barack Obama and an ad of her own countering claims that she supports requiring people to purchase electric vehicles. "No one should tell us what to buy," she says.

But Rogers has also gone on radio and talked about containing Democratic "shenanigans" in southeast Michigan recently, a comment which seems to bolster false claims from former President Donald Trump — who has endorsed Rogers — that fraud and corruption cost him the election in Michigan to President Joe Biden in 2020. It did not and Rogers said as much at the time.

"I appreciated that he was a voice who pushed back on Donald Trump and his false claims," said Slotkin, who, in earlier years was complimentary about Rogers' record of service, including as House Intelligence chair. "Now he talks about election fraud all the time and (undocumented immigrants) voting, even though that's against Michigan law. ... It's painful to watch."

Rogers counters that it's Slotkin who isn't the independent voice she presents herself to be, embracing Biden administration policies that have driven up consumer prices as well as the EV mandate.

"Slotkin's trying to hide that she's everything that is wrong with Washington," he says in one of his ads.

How they got here, who they are

Slotkin and Rogers are running to replace U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, a Democrat who served four six-year terms and announced early last year she would step down at the end of the current one. Slotkin, a three-term U.S. House member, former intelligence officer and former acting assistant Defense Department secretary, announced almost immediately, ultimately winning a Democratic primary against Detroit actor Hill Harper. Rogers, who served seven congressional terms from 2001-15, is a former Army officer and FBI agent, who ultimately beat former U.S. Rep. Justin Amash, of Cascade Township, and west Michigan Dr. Sherry O'Donnell in the Republican primary.

There have been questions raised about Rogers' White Lake Township residence, though he maintains he is a resident. Both have histories of being raised in Michigan even if they also spent years living away from it. Rogers moved back from Florida to run for the Senate seat; Slotkin has been back in the state since running for her first term in the U.S. House in 2018. (For the record, the U.S. Constitution only requires a senator be an inhabitant of his or her state at the time of the election.)

Both also have a history of being strong supporters of the military and intelligence community and have been widely perceived as pragmatic, serious legislators. Slotkin cultivated that reputation by being a strong voice on foreign policy matters and taking votes independent of her party on some occasions, including some recent votes on restricting funds for cities that don't cooperate with immigration authorities and cracking down on Chinese authoritarianism. She also has a deserved reputation as working with Republicans.

But Slotkin is also a reliable Democratic vote, especially when it comes to issues of health care, abortion and environmental protections; she may break with her party more than some but she still does so rarely.

Rogers also worked in a bipartisan fashion as head of the House Intelligence Committee and on Michigan issues, such as the Great Lakes. But he has been a strong conservative throughout his career, with a lifetime rating of 86 out of 100 from the American Conservative Union. He has been a reliable GOP vote for business interests, defense spending, smaller government, lower taxes, and limiting abortion rights.

No Republican has won a U.S. Senate election in Michigan since former U.S. Sen. Spencer Abraham did in 1994.

Drilling down into some of the claims

As noted above, the claims and counterclaims in this race have been flying, which is no surprise given that it's an open seat in a swing state that could help determine which party controls the U.S. Senate next year. (The Democrats currently have a one-seat majority.)

Some of these attacks have been debunked: Slotkin never voted to allow immigrants in the U.S. illegally to vote or supported cutting Medicare benefits. There is no evidence Rogers tried to give Chinese tech firms access to U.S. markets.

And while Rogers has been supportive of the pharmaceutical industry, voting to protect it, claims that link Rogers' support of bipartisan legislation to reduce barriers to pain management with opioid abuse fail to mention that the bill ultimately passed on a voice vote in the House (which had a Democratic majority) and much of it was included in the Affordable Care Act (which Rogers voted against).

More context is needed on several of the other claims that have been made as well:

GOTION: Throughout the campaign, Rogers and his Republican allies have claimed that Slotkin signed a nondisclosure agreement with Gotion, a Chinese-linked company that has received $175 million in state assistance to build a battery plant in Big Rapids. The GOP has argued that the company is a security threat and that Democrats are essentially giving money to the Chinese Communist Party. Slotkin says she never signed any such agreement with state officials regarding Gotion, though she did on other projects; Republican critics seem to be trying to use nondisclosure agreements on other projects in her district (which are signed to protect businesses' proprietary information) that barred disclosure on other undisclosed projects. But Bridge Michigan, which got the document through a Freedom of Information Act request, noted that by the time the NDA Slotkin had signed was amended to include "any potential Development Project identified as confidential," the Gotion project had already been made public. It's also worth noting that Gotion agreed to a financial review but the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States reportedly said it was outside its purview. Slotkin has since cosponsored legislation that would expand reviews of deals like Gotion's and specifically said she doesn't favor it moving forward without such a review. Rogers argues she should have done so sooner.

ABORTION: This has been one of the major lines of attack against Rogers, who has been a staunch abortion opponent, supporting legislation that would have put severe restrictions in place in the past but now claiming he wouldn't vote for anything that runs counter to abortion protections that were made part of the Michigan constitution. Democrats say he isn't to be trusted and that the turnabout is a politically convenient one, given how the issue helped fuel Democratic gains in the midterm election two years ago. "He voted 15 times to ban abortion in some form or fashion ... now suddenly he’s supposed to be the champion who is going to protect our rights in the Senate?" Slotkin said. Given his record, it's difficult to see Rogers supporting any effort to protect abortion rights nationally, as Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, says she wants, and it's true that in many other states, women have far less access now to the procedure than they do in Michigan. It is also questionable whether Rogers would move to block the confirmation of any Supreme Court nominee, should Trump win, who might support further restricting abortion rights. Rogers says he would not vote for any abortion ban that violated the Michigan constitution and that state "voters have already decided the issue." But make no mistake, a vote against a ban would endanger his standing with conservative abortion opponents and could result in a primary challenge; similarly, a vote against his promise would absolutely fuel Democratic efforts to kick him out.

BORDER: Rogers insists Slotkin shares blame for high levels of illegal immigration along the southern border in the years since Biden took office and he's not interested in criticizing Trump for repeating claims for which there is no evidence — such as saying falsely that other countries are emptying prisons to send immigrants into the U.S. — or taking issue with Trump's calls for "mass deportations." Rogers said, "We must control our border. … I don't think this is the time to get into the semantics of style. I think this is the time to get into security." Slotkin, however, says she has proposed and supported "more border legislation than anyone," including bills to strengthen border security, deal with surges of illegal immigration, and provide a process by which undocumented immigrants could become U.S. citizens after proper vetting. Republicans have said she's not serious, in part, noting her votes against bills to return to stricter Trump-era return policies and construction of more border wall. Slotkin notes Republicans rejected a bipartisan deal crafted by a conservative senator to reform border security because Trump thought it would benefit Democrats. After that, the Biden administration enacted stricter rules on asylum claims this year and saw the number of encounters with undocumented immigrants tumble. Rogers says the proposed bill was weaker than characterized, even though Border Patrol helped craft it and endorsed it.

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Much of the recent back-and-forth between the campaigns has been on whether Slotkin is flip-flopping on support for what Rogers calls the Biden administration's "mandate" that people be forced to purchase EVs they don't want. "It may be the dumbest idea I've ever heard," Rogers said. "My argument is if you want to get to electrification, you have to start by upgrading the electric grid. ... Hybrids (which run on both gas and electricity) are a much better option." But as noted earlier, Slotkin has said she would not support any effort to force people to buy EVs and that she doesn't have one. This issue does require more context, however. First, the Biden administration did enact emissions standards in March that, taken at face value, would virtually require two-thirds of all new cars and light-duty trucks to be sold in the U.S. by 2032 to be zero emission — in other words, EVs. The only other options would be that they pay hefty fines or come up with some other technology. But the standards were developed in concert with the automakers, not in opposition to them, and, if anything, the Biden administration eased up on the standards in the first few years. The rules could always be rewritten if need be (each of the last three administrations has changed them at least once) and nowhere do the rules require buyers to do anything. Slotkin, for the record, did react generally favorably when the standards were finalized but says she would support rewriting them if they turned out to hurt American automakers. "Someone is buying these things and I would rather it was us making them than the Chinese," she said. "I want us to be able to compete."

Finally, the race may come down — as is true with many races this year — to what happens in the contest between Harris and Trump and how much either of the Senate candidates is linked, or not, to those top-of-the-ticket nominees.

For her part, Slotkin has typically fared better than her party's presidential candidates have in her House district. It's unclear how that will play out in a statewide race but the polls show her with a bigger lead generally than Harris has over Trump in Michigan.

But that certainly didn't stop Slotkin from appearing at a rally with Harris in Flint last Friday.

Rogers' close association with Trump and his agenda, such as suggesting aid to Ukraine should be reduced and huge tariffs be put in place to cut imports, presents a different question, especially since they seem to cut against Rogers' earlier positions as being strong on America acting against foreign aggression and embracing free market economies.

The Detroit Regional Chamber's political action committee declined to endorse either, saying that both share similarities when it comes to protecting the business community. "Slotkin or Rogers? Either way, Michigan wins,” Chamber CEO Sandy Baruah said.

For now, Slotkin looks to have the edge. But the debates could change that.

"She has done a good job of positioning herself as someone not from the progressive wing of her party and that plays well in a state like Michigan," said David Dulio, director of the Center for Civic Engagement and a political science professor at Oakland University. "She's a tough campaigner."

Contact Todd Spangler: [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter@tsspangler.

This story was updated because an earlier version included an inaccuracy. The next debate between Slotkin and Rogers is Monday, Oct. 14.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Slotkin vs Rogers: Ahead of debate, an analysis of claims being made