As Democrats continue their search for a party leader, they’re turning to Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) to deliver the response to President Donald Trump’s joint address.
Slotkin is one of the party’s best electoral talents and has won competitive elections time after time in Trump country. A former CIA officer first elected to a battleground House seat in 2018, Slotkin won a Senate election in November even with Trump carrying the state.
Slotkin has consistently styled herself as a moderate Democrat with a national security background who’s willing to work in a bipartisan fashion to get results. That blueprint catapulted Democrats to success in the 2018 blue wave. The party is betting that eight years later, that center-left pragmatic approach can benefit Democrats in the midterms.
When reporters asked Slotkin last week what her speech would center on, Slotkin said she will stay true to her home-state roots.
“I’m from Michigan. I’m not going to suddenly pretend I’m from somewhere else,” Slotkin said. “I’m from a state that feels a lot of these economic issues pretty powerfully.”
The response to a high-profile presidential speech provides a chance to elevate a politician’s standing. Last time Trump was president, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer delivered the response.
But the speech also contains potential pitfalls. Just ask Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.), Secretary of State Marco Rubio and former Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal.
Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.), the chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, will deliver the Democratic Spanish-language response. Espaillat has urged his CHC members to move to the center on immigration following Trump’s victory.
What leadership is doing: House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries instructed his colleagues to show “a strong, determined and dignified Democratic presence” in the chamber. Rather than skip, Jeffries wants his caucus to illustrate they won’t “run off the block or be bullied.” We’re told in-speech disruptions have been discouraged by leadership.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is inviting guests affected by Trump and Elon Musk’s aggressive plan to overhaul the federal government. The guests include two Medicaid recipients, two recently fired federal workers and an individual who received life-saving care thanks to NIH funding.
At 12:30pm, Schumer and a group of Senate Democrats will go to the Senate steps and speak about their guests for the speech and how they’re being impacted by the cuts.
