The real voice of America

Elissa Slotkin is a natural for the response to the president's address to Congress.

This evening, President Trump will address Congress for the first time since his reelection. He is expected to address his foreign and domestic policy plans, from his tariffs on goods from Mexico, Canada, and China to his recent pause on aid to Ukraine. His barrage of executive orders has included sweeping changes to our federal government, for which he’ll likely make his case both to Congress and the American public. Typically, an address like this one would include an assurance to the American people that though his changes sound drastic, Americans will not be negatively affected, and in fact that their impacts will be positively transformative for all. But it’s difficult to predict what tone Trump will take in this address, given the week he’s had.

As announced by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan will deliver the Democratic response to Trump this evening. Unlike with Trump, the American people know what they can expect from Slotkin, who is planning to paint a “bold vision of hope, unity, and a brighter future for everyone, not just the wealthy few at the top,” according to Schumer.

Slotkin is a clear choice to present such a vision, not just for her winning record or career of public service, but also for the many attributes that distinguish her from Trump. Slotkin is a former CIA analyst who worked in national security (under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama). Slotkin won her seat in the Senate in November, one of only four Democrats to win Senate races in states that Trump also won.

Slotkin represents the people of Michigan, a diverse, competitive state that has proved crucial to winning the White House. Key groups Democrats need to win national elections are well-represented in Michigan: Black voters, Muslim voters, white working-class voters, labor unions, college students, and educated suburban voters, to name a few. Additionally, Michigan has both industrial urban centers with manufacturing and more rural agricultural areas than many other states, making Michigan one of the most diverse battleground states and a microcosm of America. In Michigan, you see the diversity and breadth of lived experiences across America: racial diversity, political diversity, geographic diversity, diversity of crops, diversity of industries, and diversity of workforce.

All roads to victory on the national level run through Michigan. And, when words like “diversity” are seen as frivolous and even antithetical to economic progress, it’s more important than ever that Democrats reassert the value of the variety of perspectives in a consequential state like Michigan. Michigan is made up of people who make things and grow things, and people who innovate and build things --and that is the core of our nation’s economy. Diversity is one of our greatest economic engines, and Michigan is proof of this.

Giving Slotkin the platform to respond to Trump’s address tonight sends a clear message: Democrats remain invested in their duty to the American people, regardless of their backgrounds. Further, Slotkin might be representative of the party’s vision of an effective candidate: a qualified, capable public servant from a battleground state who has won consistently with a diverse constituency regardless of the presidential outcome.

It doesn’t feel coincidental that Michigan’s governor, Gretchen Whitmer, delivered the response to Trump’s final State of the Union in his first term. Democrats are looking to Michigan to set the tone tonight, as they have so many times before. Slotkin is more than up to the task.

Lavora Barnes is the former chair of the Michigan Democratic Party.

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