Hi, hi! It’s the second week of the new It’s Just Politics newsletter (so glad you’re here!) and we’re kinda feeling like we started this thing at exactly the right time.
In just the last 72 hours, we found out how 2 million Michiganders voted in the primary and had visits from Vice President Kamala Harris and her newly-announced VP pick Tim Walz (yes, that was just this week) as well as Republican VP candidate JD Vance. (More on these dueling visits below!)
As we talked about last week, it was no surprise (in fact, the races were called pretty darn close to when the polls closed) that current Democratic Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin and former Republican Congressman Mike Rogers won their respective races to be the major party nominees for Michigan’s open U.S. Senate seat (quick reminder: long-time Democratic Senator Debbie Stabenow announced she was not running again after more than 20 years in the Senate.)
Winning the primary was the easy part for Slotkin and Rogers. (Lots of money and big endorsements sure helped.) Now they race towards the general and try to define themselves and each other. Both candidates have serious national security bona fides (Slotkin was a CIA analyst; Rogers was an FBI special agent and chair of the U.S. House Intelligence Committee) but it’s unlikely that’s what either will really be talking about over the next dozen weeks. Rogers wants the campaign to be about Republican talking-points (immigration, crime, inflation) while Slotkin will lean into abortion rights and her work as a centrist problem-solver in Congress.
Deeper dive: Take a listen to our conversation this week with pollster Richard Czuba (basically one of the smartest minds focusing on Michigan politics) on this week’s It’s Just Politics pod about how Slotkin and Rogers will position themselves from now until November.
Because this seat is seen as a toss-up (and will help determine the make-up of the U.S. Senate come 2025) this is going to be an absolute barnstormer; so, apologies if you’re a television watcher but you are going to be absolutely inundated with campaign ads (it’s why we highly recommend sticking with public radio).
Got specific questions you want answered about Slotkin and Rogers or the U.S. Senate campaign? We’re all ears! Shoot us an email at politics@michiganpublic.org! And find full election results from across the state here!
Get Caught Up
Ottawa Impact Loses County Board Majority
Rick’s take: It’s not just that I went to high school in Ottawa County (Go West Ottawa Panthers!) But this is one of the most conservative/Republican counties in the state, if not the country. Ottawa Impact started out as an opposition group to COVID-19 restrictions and grew into a local conservative culture wars movement that drew national attention. Props to journalist Sarah Leach who stuck with the story even after getting fired from her job with The Holland Sentinel.
Harris and Walz continue their introductory tour of the Democratic ticket
Zoe’s take: In case you missed it (unlikely), NPR’s Tamara Keith was traveling with Harris and Walz in Detroit (yes, yes we know it was actually outside Detroit Metro Airport in Romulus… but, come on) for the massive rally the two held on Wednesday. Pro-Palestinian protestors showed up, as well.
Vance pushes immigration and crime heavy message in Macomb County
As we mentioned above, Vance was also in Michigan on Wednesday. Colin Jackson covered the visit and notes that campaign officials say Vance’s press conference in Shelby Township “marked the first open-air event for the campaign since the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump.”
IJP On The Road:
50th Anniversary of only Michigander, Gerald R. Ford, to become President
Today, August 9th, marks the 50th anniversary of Gerald R. Ford becoming President of the United States. It was, of course, an incredibly turbulent time in American history after the resignation of President Richard Nixon in the summer of 1974. Ford was - and is - the only President from Michigan and in Ann Arbor the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan is named for him. Zoe sat down with Ford School Dean Celeste Watkins-Hayes and Jenna Bednar, Professor of Political Science and Public Policy to talk about Ford’s legacy fifty years on.
What we’re talking about at the dinner table:
- We know Governor Gretchen Whitmer likes to swear. But, we weren’t so aware that hot-dish-loving, state-fair-ride-enthusiast VP-pick (and fellow Democratic Governor) Tim Walz also had those proclivities. We’ll let Whitmer explain.
- This piece by The Detroit News’ indomitable Craig Mauger about county canvassing boards. This signals that big fights over vote-counting may not be relegated to the past. We will absolutely be watching this now through November and you should too.
- The presidential debate between Trump and Harris is back on. But this doesn’t mean that the all-consuming debate about debates has ended. We know what we’re going to be doing September 10th. You’ll be watching too, yes?
Yours in political nerdiness,
Rick Pluta & Zoe Clark
Co-hosts, It’s Just Politics
P.S. We want to hear from you! Email us with what you want more of (or less of) and what questions you want answered about election 2024! Drop us a note at politics@michiganpublic.org
