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Elissa Slotkin

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Official portrait, 2025

Elissa Blair Slotkin (born July 10, 1976) is an American politician, who is currently serving as Michigan's junior senator. She is also known for serving as the former representative for Michigan's 7th and 8th district in the United States House of Representatives; and as a former Central Intelligence Agency analyst and Department of Defense official.

Quotes

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"Elissa Slotkin: How Democrats Can Go on Offense Against Trump" (Apr. 17, 2025)

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as quoted by Charlotte Alter, Time Magazine article.
  • I'm a national-security person, so I made a quad chart. ...I decided to work on the issues that fell into the quadrant that was both strategic and irreversible.
  • In 2008, 2009, 2010, our recession was pretty close to a depression in Michigan. ...I'm not gonna stand silent while he threatens that in my state.
  • [W]e need to get back to... fundamentals. The middle class is... essential... We need to grow and expand it. ...[W]e need to focus on... economic security... national security, and... democracy.
  • I come from a world of war planning... of constant, prudent planning.... where you can't just play defense only. There's no such thing as winning, in any operation or in any war, by just playing defense. What we owe the country is a strategy that does more than play defense.

"Elissa Slotkin Wants Democrats to Reclaim Their 'Alpha Energy'" (Jul 17, 2025)

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as quoted by Katie Glueck, The New York Times article.
  • There’s a lot of leaders in the Democratic Party. I liken it to a solar system. We have stars, and we have planets with their own gravitational pull, but we don’t have a sun that we all center around.
  • I would push and prod for... [a] unified approach... I was going to take my best stab at it... We have lots of ideas, lots of different voices, and so in order to keep that coalition together, people have treated each other very carefully and run party offices and the party apparatus by consensus.
  • Kamala Harris had a very short time to formulate her campaign. ...Donald Trump, whether you believe him or not, prioritized the talking point of cost of living and the economy. Democrats have policy plans... about good things... I still think we have good ideas. But when you prioritize everything, you actually prioritize nothing.
  • In the Senate, we don’t... divide into progressive versus moderate... behind closed doors. The real debate... is: Do you believe that Trump’s second term is an existential threat to American democracy, or... like his first term, survivable if we... wait... and let his bad policies boomerang on him? ...[S]ome ...have been around and seen so many things ...in Washington that their approach... is just: wait. I do not fall in that camp.
    It’s not just about age. It’s approach. ...It is not like being in leadership means you’re automatically old guard and need to be booted out. But... leaders in the party are feeling upward pressure... [T]hat’s a good thing.

"Shrinking middle class threatens U.S. stability," (Sep. 11, 2025)

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" says Michigan Democrat Elissa Slotkin" NPR interview, Mary Louise Kelly, Erika Ryan, Courtney Dorning
  • If there's a threat coming from abroad or, you know, something happening, you have to call balls and strikes on that or else people can get, you know, deeply hurt.
  • The smell of that - the burning buildings and that very sort of toxic chemically smell that was just hanging over New York for weeks, if not months, and it completely changed my life.
  • I really believe that the existential threat to the country is not coming from abroad. It's the shrinking middle-class at home and what that does to our stability here.
  • They were decent to each other. We were all on the same team, and I'm so glad that I got to be there in that moment to see that. And I'm so concerned with how far we feel from that moment.
  • What gives me hope is that I go home every weekend, and the vast majority of Michiganders live in that 80% middle that don't scream on the internet, that don't, you know, want to hurt their neighbors when they happen to disagree. They just want team normal.

"Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin talks" (Sep. 29, 2025)

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"about the deadly attack on a Mormon church" NPR Morning Edition inteview, Michel Martin
  • It was not just the shooting. It was the fire, and the community is just trying to understand what happened. It is a testament to law enforcement.
  • There's plenty of time for us to figure out what happened and what the motive was for this man, but it just - it doesn't matter at this point. These people are victims and they're survivors and this community is going to have a long road back to healing.
  • I think we need to just grapple with the fact that we have people all over the country who are using violence as a way to convey how they feel, whether they're going through mental hardship or they've got an agenda, and it is just a real - just we have to grapple with it as a country.
  • Acknowledging you have a problem is the first step to recovery, and then we have to understand we've clearly got mental health issues.

Senator Slotkin Delivers Speech on Trump's Authoritarian Playbook (Oct. 29, 2025)

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Speech at the Brookings Institution, Strobe Talbott Center for Security, Strategy and Technology. A YouTube video source from Sen. Elissa Slotkin channel.
  • Trump has laid out a whole lot of enemies that are American citizens.
  • Trump is ready to bring the whole weight of the federal government against Americans he perceives as enemies. Why? Because he has one goal. Making sure that he and his ilk never have to give up power. ...I think between the strikes in the Caribbean, his efforts to identify domestic terrorists, and his deployment of force in American cities, that seems to be where we're headed.
  • The Trump administration notified Congress that we... are in armed conflict with a number of cartels... "designated terrorist organizations." ...But here's what's different about the strikes and what's precedent setting. The president and secretary Hegseth are refusing to tell the American people... the names, and they won't tell us why they're being targeted.
  • [T]he American people deserve to know who we are at war with, especially if people are being killed in our name.
  • Trump's full reorientation towards the "enemy within" ...has major implications for his use of force...
  • Trump plans to see how far he can stretch the law before someone tells him no, and if the administration won't publicly name drug cartels in the Caribbean, you can bet that they're not going to tell you the name of this new list of domestic terror organizations. Only this time... it will be Americans on American streets, and in American homes.
  • The next logical step... target American citizens. In theory, people... would be wiretapped, their homes could be searched or they could be arrested just for disagreeing with President Trump's agenda.
  • This is... fundamentally un-American and strikes at the heart of who we are as a people...
  • Turning the federal government against Trump's enemies goes hand in hand with his use of force in American cities, both federal law enforcement and the military. ...[T]he administration ordered the creation of two new National Guard units, a standing quick reaction force that can deploy anywhere in the country, and... separately, National Guard units in all 50 states focused on quelling so-called civil disturbances.
  • Trump has been very clear about his intent. At Quantico... he instructed his military brass to use cities as "training grounds" and many times he's floated the idea of using the Insurrection Act so that military units can raid, detain and arrest Americans.
  • The president has... deployed ICE and other federal law enforcement to these same cities... In some cases... federal officers are playing fast and loose with their tactics, which... could lead to a deadly escalation.
  • For those of us who served abroad, it feels like another country. ...[W]e're about two weeks away from a bloody incident that spirals out of control, and this is just the kind of incident that Trump wants, to justify more force coming in.
  • If the president is going to fundamentally redefine the use of force in America... I believe Trump is reshaping the country to hold on to power.
  • There comes a time in every authoritarian playbook... a tipping point. You accumulate so much power that you realize that if you ever lose... your opponent... can use that very power against you. So you hold on to it with everything you have.
  • The Caribbean strikes, the list of domestic terrorists, military and law enforcements across our American streets. He seems to be laying the groundwork to stay in power.
  • There are two ways... both out of the same authoritarian playbook. ...Trump finds a pretext, invokes the Insurrection Act and tries to impose martial law. Elections therefore could be cancelled, or if they happen, he could surround polling places with military and federal law enforcement to intimidate voters. The second option... could... swing an election. Labeling opposition groups, candidates and elected officials as terrorists or criminals and going after the infrastructure that allows for competitive elections.
  • Trump hasn't planned for... the will of the American people. Americans have an internal barometer for things that sound and smell authoritarian. ...[I]n Michigan ...even ardent Trump supporters don't like what they're seeing ...That should give us hope.
  • To my Republican colleagues... in the spirit of John McCain we need to start pushing back where we don't agree on how force is being used.
  • Leadership is about the actions you take, not the things you say behind closed doors.
  • I'm introducing a bill, the No Troops in Our Streets Act that gives Congress the ability to immediately end a military deployment in American cities.
  • To the military. You too have a critical role... According to law, there is such a thing as an illegal order. ...[I]n the choice between loyalty to the Constitution and loyalty to one man, there is only one right answer, and every one of you has taken that oath.
  • To our veterans. You can... exercise your political power to call out Trump's dangerous use of our military. ...Don't ever underestimate the power of your voice in how impactful it can be when you speak up. ...DM me. We're getting the band back together.
  • To our state leaders. You have a responsibility to hold the line, protect the integrity of our elections and withstand the pressure that the Trump administration is... starting to apply.
  • Ordinary citizens... can help stiffen the spines of people at home. ...[L]ocal elections are going to be more important than ever.
  • To regular Americans. You can... speak out about what you're seeing, and organize peacefully against it. Throughout history, grassroots movements have been the only thing that have pushed back on government overreach.
  • To everyone... Don't give up the ship! Generations of us have fought against impossible odds to build the country we have today. ...I would not be here if generations of women before me had not fought for... 100 years to get the right to vote. We don't have the luxury of deciding this is too hard!
  • This is the country we all love. Our country needs us right now. It is our moment to step up.
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