Michigan’s current junior U.S. senator may have ambitions for higher office after all.
In an interview with the Des Moines Register on Tuesday, U.S. Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Holly) said she “wouldn’t say no forever” if party fixtures encouraged her to run for the presidency in the 2028 cycle or beyond.
“I’m not so arrogant as to think it has to be me,” Slotkin told the Iowa-based newspaper. “Midterms is what I’m focused on right now, but if it comes to the point afterwards that I think there’s not anyone else who’s on the right path, I guess I wouldn’t say no forever.”
Slotkin told the newspaper that she was in Iowa to campaign with the state’s Democrats ahead of the midterm elections, but also said she would be in Ohio soon doing the same, signaling a tour that could lend itself to building a springboard for a presidential campaign.
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Slotkin’s name ID and congressional track record in a key swing state like Michigan could prove fruitful for a potential presidential campaign, and her stand against the policies of President Donald Trump in his second term in the White House has only increased her national profile.
The senator, who was first elected in 2018 to the U.S. House of Representatives, entered Congress by flipping a Republican-held seat in her contest against former Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Bishop. She then ran for the U.S. Senate in 2024 to replace the retiring former U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, a longtime fixture in Michigan politics. She beat former Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers in that contest, winning in a state that went for Trump in the same election cycle.
Slotkin is also just under 50 years old, and could be a standout among what is likely to be a crowded Democratic Party primary field in 2028. Trump will not be able to run for a third term, and it is likely that Vice President JD Vance, or someone in Trump’s cabinet, like U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. or U.S. Department of State Secretary Marco Rubio, will take a shot at the presidency in the next cycle.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s name continues to get thrown around in the conversation, and Whitmer hasn’t shied away from building a national profile despite her eschewing that she would seriously consider a run at the presidency come 2028.
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With two potential names in that hat from Michigan, the state could again garner the eyes of the nation, not just as an important battleground, but as a future home of a potential presidential nominee on the Democratic side of the aisle.
Despite the hype, the Des Moines Register noted that Slotkin, at a rally in Iowa, said she didn’t have anything to announce but still wanted to be a part of that national conversation regarding the future of the Democratic Party.
Slotkin also acknowledged that her visit to Iowa certainly had the appearance of someone testing for a presidential run due to its long history as an early voting state in the primary phase. That has since changed, giving the state less significance, but the old political guard still views visits to the state as a unique harbinger of forward looking political career goals.
In her interview with the newspaper, Slotkin also warned Democrats to not ignore a Midwestern state like Michigan as a potential early voting state, given its diverse electorate and bellwether purple state reputation.
“I would get in a cage match with Iowa versus Michigan in order to have that first,” Slotkin told the Des Moines Register. “I’m not going to lie and say, like, I’m going to give it over to Iowa when really I want it to be Michigan.”
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