Who is Elissa Slotkin, the Democrat chosen to rebut Trump’s speech?
Elissa Slotkin, a Senate Democrat, gave her party’s response to Trump’s congressional address, taking the new Trump administration to task for bringing with it chaos and recklessness.
Early in her remarks, she attacked the White House on the economy and warned that if Trump is “not careful, he could walk us right into a recession”.
Ms Slotkin also took a shot at the Department of Government Efficiency, the cost-cutting project led by Elon Musk, saying change is needed “but doesn’t need to be chaotic or make us less safe”.
Speaking from Michigan before a backdrop of American flags, Slotkin was much more concise and much less animated than the president, who regaled Republicans on the House floor for an hour and 40 minutes.
She made a quick reference to Democrats’ stinging election defeat in November, but then quickly pivoted to Trump.
“Americans made it clear that prices are too high and that government needs to be more responsive to their needs. America wants change,” she said.
“But there is a responsible way to make change, and a reckless way. And, we can make that change without forgetting who we are as a country, and as a democracy.”
Throughout the election, voters frequently said the economy was their number one concern, and Democrats’ defeat was blamed on not addressing it sufficiently.
Weeks into Trump’s presidency, economic concerns remain high, as prices of a number of goods have not dropped, and prices on some items, like eggs, have risen.
“Grocery and home prices are going up, not down – and he hasn’t laid out a credible plan to deal with either,” she said.
Ms Slotkin also talked about immigration, another topic where Democrats poll worse than Republicans, highlighting a lack of empathy by the Trump administration toward undocumented immigrants.
“The border without actually fixing our broken immigration system is dealing with the symptom not the disease. America is a nation of immigrants,” she said.
She cited the public berating of Ukraine President Vlodomyr Zelensky on Friday during a meeting withTrump and Vice-President JD Vance, too.
“That scene in the Oval Office wasn’t just a bad episode of reality TV. It summed up Trump’s whole approach to the world,” she said.
“He believes in cozying up to dictators like Vladimir Putin and kicking our friends, like Canada, in the teeth.”
For many, Tuesday night was their first time meeting Ms Slotkin, who won the US Senate seat in the swing state of Michigan last year.
A former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) analyst, Slotkin became the youngest Democratic woman elected to the Senate at 48 when she won her seat in a state that former Vice-President Kamala Harris lost last November.
Slotkin gave her speech after Trump’s, which is not a traditional State of the Union address but was expected to serve the same purpose.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer called Slotkin a “rising star” in the party last week as he announced her as the pick to provide the Democratic Party’s rebuttal. He said she was “great on both economic and national security” topics.
Slotkin is new to the US Senate, but she served in Congress as a member of Michigan’s delegation to the House of Representatives. She was first elected in Democrats’ 2018 wave of success, flipping a Republican seat.
Prior to her political career, she held a variety of government jobs. She held national security positions in Presidents George W Bush and Barack Obama’s administrations.
She served in Bush’s National Security Council, and, under Obama, she served as acting assistant secretary of defence for international security affairs and in the State Department.
The CIA recruited Slotkin, who is fluent in Arabic and Swahili, shortly after she earned a graduate degree in international affairs at Columbia University in New York City. She served three tours in Iraq as a CIA analyst.
The moderate Democrat focused her 2024 Senate campaign on lowering costs for Americans, a move that helped propel her to a narrow victory over former Congressman Mike Rogers, even as Trump won the state.
Slotkin is a member of the committees on Armed Forces; Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs; Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry; and Veterans Affairs.
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Elissa Slotkin assails Trump’s early actions, offers Democrats a way to fight back
First-term Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan delivered the Democratic response to President Donald Trump’s joint congressional address. Slotkin told Americans that Trump’s policies would make them pay “in every part of your life,” and blasted Elon Musk’s DOGE cost-cutting initiative.
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — First-term Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin accused President Donald Trump of driving up costs while pushing for an “unprecedented giveaway to his billionaire friends” in Tuesday night’s Democratic response to his first joint congressional address of his second term.
Slotkin, just months into her first term in the U.S. Senate after winning an open Michigan seat despite Trump carrying the state, said Trump “has not laid out a credible plan” to address rising everyday expenses for Americans. She said tariffs that went into effect early Tuesday would only worsen the economy.
Slotkin spoke from Wyandotte, Michigan, a working-class community south of Detroit, after Trump delivered the longest address to Congress by a president in U.S. history. In her opening, Slotkin acknowledged that “America wants change. But there is a responsible way to make change, and a reckless way.”
“We can make that change without forgetting who we are as a country and as a democracy,” said Slotkin.
In a speech that lasted an hour and 40 minutes, Trump claimed credit for “swift and unrelenting action” in reshaping the nation’s economy, immigration and foreign policy within his first weeks in office. The Republican-controlled House and Senate have done little to check the president’s agenda.
In her rebuttal, which lasted a little more than 10 minutes, Slotkin told Americans that “change doesn’t need to be chaotic or make us less safe” and warned of the dangers of Trump’s economic approach.
In her Democratic response to Donald Trump’s Joint Address to Congress, freshman representative Melissa Slotkin of Michigan says that Elon Musk misfires would be a fireable offense.
“For those keeping score, the national debt is going up, not down,” Slotkin said. “And if he’s not careful, he could walk us right into a recession.”
What to know
Slotkin, a former CIA analyst with an extensive background in national security, said the meeting between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last week must have had former President Ronald Reagan “rolling in his grave.”
Her remarks came as Democrats struggle to find a unified message to counter Trump. That was evident Tuesday night in the House chamber, where some Democratic members held placards with various messages. Some Democrats chose not to attend the speech at all while others sat in silence. Some shouted criticism at Trump, and one House member, Texas Rep. Al Green, was escorted from the chamber after repeatedly interrupting him.
Slotkin focused on economic issues after Trump’s Monday announcement that 25% tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada would begin Tuesday reignited fears of a North American trade war, which has already shown signs of driving up inflation and stalling growth.
“President Trump is trying to deliver an unprecedented giveaway to his billionaire friends,” she said. “He’s on the hunt to find trillions of dollars to pass along to the wealthiest in America. And to do that, he’s going to make you pay in every part of your life.
“Grocery and home prices are going up, not down — and he hasn’t laid out a credible plan to deal with either.”
She also warned that democracy, which “has been the aspiration of the world,” is at risk.
“It’s at risk when the president decides to pick and choose what rules you want to follow, when he ignores court orders and the Constitution itself, or when elected leaders stand by and just let it happen,” Slotkin said.
Her team said her guest for the Trump address was Marine veteran Andrew Lennox, who recently spoke out after losing his job at a Veterans Affairs hospital in Ann Arbor due to cuts implemented by the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, led by billionaire Elon Musk.
The 48-year-old Slotkin is seen as a leading figure in the party’s next generation. She first ran for office in 2018, defeating a two-term incumbent Republican. After redistricting, she consistently won one of the nation’s most competitive House seats, earning a reputation as one of the party’s top fundraisers. In 2023, she announced a run for Michigan’s open Senate seat after Sen. Debbie Stabenow announced she would not seek a fifth term.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Warning That Trump Will ‘Make You Pay,’ Slotkin Gives Democratic Response
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