GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — It’s the final stretch on the campaign trail for Elissa Slotkin.
“So the election can be won or lost by, as we saw in 2016 by 11,000 votes,” Democratic U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin said.
“So you can't just reach out to one group.”
With November 5th nearing, every stop, speech, and post is critical for her camp.
Fresh off her first debate with Mike Rogers, we met with a sleep-deprived but motivated Elissa Slotkin.
“There's not a lot of sleeping, but it's part of it, and I've done it before, and people are really engaged this year, which helps,” Slotkin said.
She’s referring to people like Mandice, sitting in the audience
“Housing is on the top of my list,” Mandice McAllister said.
“Economic equality is on the top of my list for a candidate.”
Today’s stop is a more intimate prayer breakfast in Southeast Grand Rapids, area religious leaders making their case for Slotkin to a crowd of roughly 100.
It’s stop one of several for the day.
“I drive myself, and I do that because that's my time to catch up with my family, with my friends,” Slotkin said.
“I'll listen to a book on tape while I'm driving.”
We got a first-hand look at the time crunch she’s under in these final weeks.
“Let's do one more, really quick,” Slotkin said.
Our sit-down was cut short just a few questions in.
We did get to press her on some of the more contentious moments from the previous night’s first debate, take the Gotion Electric Vehicle Plant, planned to be built around Big Rapids.
“I have written into bills, and mostly in a bipartisan way, is before any Chinese entity at all, or Iranian or Russian or North Korean can ever even think about buying a piece of land or a manufacturing facility, they have to go through a formal national security vetting process, including classified information in Washington before that sale could ever happen,” Slotkin said.
“And they have the ability to say, ‘No, I know we're a capitalist country, but we're not going to sell you that farmland,’”
She clarified her stance on the Biden Administration’s robust plans to limit carbon emissions and alter standards for Detroit’s Big Three Automakers.
“You can't make standards for the car companies without them telling you that they can actually meet those standards,”Slotkin said.
“And if GM and Ford and others came back and said, ‘This is just not doable for a whole bunch of reasons,’ then I'm going to go and advocate and say, look, we got to find a middle ground here.”
Barely a week later, it was back to the debate stage. Slotkin again took time with us minutes after her closing statements, clarifying her stances on topics not discussed in the first round, starting with loan forgiveness.
“So I have nothing against people getting some of that money back, but I want something systemic,” Slotkin said.
“I personally believe that capping loans at 2.5% so if you get a student loan, that's the max you're going to pay on the interest, as opposed to 11, 12, 13% that our students are being charged.”
In a heated exchange, gun control took center stage. Candidates were asked if the U.S. needs stricter gun control measures. It was a quick yes from Slotkin after both the shootings at Oxford and Michigan State happened in her district.
“Because he has a 100% rating with the gun lobby and they give him campaign donations, it's really, really easy to understand why politicians, in the face of murdered children, don't do anything,” Slotkin said.
“It is the number one killer of children in America under 21.”
Slotkin reminded viewers of her stance despite carrying a Glock and an M4 on three tours in Iraq.
“I know in my bones that 80% of Michiganders just want normal people who make their government work,” Slotkin said.
The debates may be over, but from now until November 5th, it's back behind the wheel, campaigning for Slotkin.
FULL INTERVIEW CAN BE FOUND HERE:
We also spent some time on the trail with Former Republican Congressman Mike Rogers, who's running against Rep. Slotkin.
You can see our story with him below.
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