Political ads and mailbox flyers have boasted Elissa Slotkin’s re-election campaign, but what does she stand for, and why is she running? 

   “Representative Elissa Slotkin is honored to serve the residents of Michigan’s 8th Congressional District, a district that includes Ingham, Livingston, and North Oakland Counties,” Slotkin’s website says. She has been a representative of the state of Michigan since 2019, and is running for re-election this November.

  Representative Slotkin’s main focus is the development of the middle class. 

  “The most important thing to me.. Is building the middle class… we invented that idea that you could negotiate for a reasonable workweek, and we see people who cannot reach that,” Slotkin stated.

  In the current political climate, nearly every issue is highly polarized due to the stark differences between the two parties. Representative Slotkin is famously bipartisan, and votes for issues not commonly supported by the Democratic party despite being a member of the Democratic party. 

  One example of a highly controversial issue is policing. 

  “I brought in 1.3 million dollars to the Lansing Police force so they could hire three or four social workers for crisis response. I co-sponsored a bill to get more money into our smaller rural police forces because places like Grand Ledge and DeWitt and, you know, Eaton Rapids they cannot hire enough police… the police officers… they got real holes in their staffing and we’d help him with that so that we can manage the crime that is presenting itself.”

  WILX reports that Lansing has the 9th highest crime rates in the country. When asked about the correlation between rising poverty rates as well as the rising crime rate, Slotkin said, “I think to me it’s impossible to disconnect poverty from crime.” 

  “If you’re a 17 year old man in Lansing and you have no hope for your future and you’ve been raised in poverty and you’re looking at a life of poverty then you’re much more willing to use violence or any means necessary to duke it out on the streets instead of shying away,” Slotkin remarked.

  Proposal three, a proposal stating rules and regulations on how and when abortions can be performed, as well as hormonal gender reassignment therapy, is one of the most highly debated issues on the ballot this election season. 

  Representative Slotkin wants people to know that “What it does is codify the rights that we lost in Roe v. Wade. The right to make a decision about terminating a pregnancy up to the point of viability and then afterwards if a medical professional says the mother is at risk. It’s not radical. It doesn’t say abortion is allowed in the ninth month, it’s not abortion-on-demand and we wouldn’t even be talking about this if Roe v. Wade hadn’t been overturned by the Supreme Court this summer, so I think it’s an important proposition. I will be voting for it and it’s certainly a difference between myself and my opponent.”

  “That to me is a real threat to women, to families, to young people and we need to do everything in our power to preserve the right to make our own choices in Michigan but that we don’t allow that right to be taken away at the federal level.”

  Unemployment is a huge crisis in Michigan, and Slotkin has plans to solve it. “President Biden’s plan was like a Band-Aid on a gaping wound. It was a one-time thing and I’m happy for the people who will benefit from that… there’s specific jobs in tech that we desperately need where we cannot hire, there would be a list of desperately needed professions and kids going into those programs at college or university would get free education, but they would sign a continuing service agreement that they would… serve in those jobs for  five years in the state of Michigan after graduation, right they would serve their communities as a mental health professional… any of these highly demand for high-demand feel and it would it would be a win.”

  Representative Elissa Slotkin wants young people to know “I’m a big believer in leadership and part of leadership is learning how to lead a team of really diverse viewpoints.”