Ahead of a competitive election season this fall, Democratic U.S. Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan said Democrats in Iowa need to go on “offense” to win races in November.
Slotkin was the keynote speaker at the Polk County Democrats Spring Dinner Tuesday night in Des Moines. Her visit to the state comes as Iowans prepare to head to the polls in November to elect a new U.S. senator and representatives, along with a new governor. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee currently lists three of Iowa’s four congressional seats as targets in this year’s midterm elections.
Slotkin told the crowd that Democrats need to be honest about the direction of the party ahead of the midterms and 2028, and should focus on economic and affordability issues. She contends differences in the party don't revolve around political leanings, like progressive or moderate, but instead "fight or flight."
"Do you believe that if we do not fight for the values of this country, it's going to go away?" she said. "Or do you believe that if we just wait, if we bide our time, eventually, what Trump does will piss people off and they will boomerang on him?"
Slotkin has been traveling to purple and red states in the Midwest, including Wisconsin and Kansas, and soon heads to Ohio.
“My theory of the case is that if we can figure out how to win in the middle of the country, we can work that out on the coast,” she said. “But what works on the coast does not necessarily work in the middle of the country, right?”
In November, Slotkin was one of six lawmakers to appear in a video telling members of the military and intelligence community to refuse illegal orders.
President Donald Trump called the lawmakers in the video “traitors," accused them of seditious behavior and reposted a social media post calling for the lawmakers to be hanged. The video also sparked an investigation by the Justice Department.
Slotkin was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2024, replacing former Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow. Slotkin is a former CIA analyst also served three terms in the U.S. House.
Her visit to Iowa prompted speculation of a possible presidential run. Ahead of the dinner, The Des Moines Register reported Slotkin said she would consider running for president in 2028.
The Michigan senator spent part of Tuesday meeting with Trump voters in a focus group in Indianola that was organized by the political action committee Majority Democrats, according to The Associated Press. Earlier in the afternoon, Slotkin hosted a health care focused town hall with Iowa's 3rd District congressional candidate and state Sen. Sarah Trone Garriott in Des Moines.
Trone Garriott, who is running against Republican incumbent Rep. Zach Nunn, is currently serving her second term in the Iowa Senate. She flipped a state Senate district in 2020. Then, after redistricting in 2022, she defeated then-Senate President Jake Chapman.
“It is nice to watch another Midwestern bada-- woman in action,” Slotkin said.
As she closed her speech, Slotkin asked Iowa Democrats and other party members in conservative areas to “nurse the country back to health.”
“If we can flip these seats, if we can make gains in a place like Iowa, we send a shock wave through the whole country that all is not lost, that actually, people do understand the value of this place and that it is worth fighting for,” she said.
