Slotkin has an early lead over Rogers for Michigan's open U.S. Senate seat

In the race for Michigan's open U.S. Senate seat, Democratic U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin of Holly took an early lead over Republican former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers of White Lake, although the outcome remained uncertain.

With only 15% of ballots counted as of 10 p.m., Slotkin was in the lead with 52% of the vote while Rogers had 45%, according to unofficial results obtained by the Associated Press. Visit freep.com for updated results.

The race between Slotkin, a three-term congresswoman, former acting deputy secretary of defense and former intelligence officer; and Rogers, a former FBI agent and Army officer who served as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee before resigning in 2015 after seven two-year terms, was seen as a national indicator of how successful Republicans could be in this year's elections.

Michigan hasn't elected a Republican U.S. senator since Spencer Abraham won a single six-year term in 1994. And since the 1970s, not a single Republican has been elected to state office in Michigan.

But the GOP believed it had a good chance this year as Democratic President Joe Biden faced low popularity ratings, at least in part due to a surge in illegal immigration along the southern border and the high inflation that has fueled it in recent months . has subsided somewhat. Added to this was the fact that former Republican President Donald Trump, who was running for re-election, placed particular emphasis on winning Michigan, as he did in 2016, and the belief that this appealed to Rogers, a former critic of Trump has now joined, could give him a boost and won his support.

But in Slotkin, the Democrats also chose a candidate known for her tenacity in the campaign and ability to stay ahead of her party's competition. She is also known as an outstanding fundraiser and was considered throughout the election as the likely favorite to win the seat being vacated by Democratic U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow after four six-year terms.

In the latest Free Press poll, Slotkin had a 47% to 42% lead over Rogers, just outside the poll's margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points. However, in some other polls the race was closer.

According to Open Secrets, a website that tracks political spending, Slotkin has already spent nearly $44 million of her own campaign funds on the race, compared to $8.6 million for Rogers. But given that the race could help decide which party gets the majority in the Senate — and how big that majority is — a staggering amount of independent spending flowed into the race, including more to elect either party than $78 million from conservative groups that opposed Slotkin and supported Rogers. Another nearly $63 million supports Slotkin and aims to defeat Rogers.

The race largely revolved around Rogers' attempts to characterize Slotkin as an ally of the Biden administration and Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, by saying Slotkin did nothing while both consumer prices and illegal immigration rose. He also described her as a supporter of what Republicans are calling an electric vehicle mandate that would force automakers to build and consumers to buy electric-powered cars and trucks.

There's no mandate — although tougher emissions rules could mean automakers would have to sell many more electric vehicles by 2032 or face steep penalties if those rules aren't changed — but Detroit automakers were involved in crafting those standards. Slotkin, who has presented herself as a moderate and bipartisan consensus builder throughout her political career, also said that she does not support any regulation that would force anyone to make or buy an electric vehicle, but that she supports standards that would improve electric vehicle technology so they can be built in the USA

Slotkin, meanwhile, pushed back by saying that Rogers lived out of state most of the time after leaving office, returning only to run for the Senate seat, and that he could not be trusted on the issue of abortion rights. Rogers, like other Republicans, has promised that he would not vote for a statewide ban or other restriction that would run counter to abortion protections now enshrined in the state constitution. But Slotkin rightly points out that Rogers was a staunch anti-abortion activist throughout his political career. She has also criticized him for being too friendly to corporations, protecting the pharmaceutical industry from price controls and voting against health care reforms like the Affordable Care Act.

Contact Todd Spangler: [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter@tsspangler

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