By Katharine Jackson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Democratic U.S. Representative Elissa Slotkin of Michigan on Monday said she will run for the Senate seat being left open by Debbie Stabenow in 2024.
Slotkin, 46, won her seat in Congress in 2018 after working as a CIA Middle East analyst and Department of Defense official during the Obama and George W. Bush administrations.
She announced her candidacy on Twitter, saying in a campaign video “we need a new generation of leaders that thinks differently, works harder and never forgets that we are public servants”.
Slotkin decided to pursue a career in public service after experiencing the Sept. 11, 2001 attack as a graduate student in New York City, she said in the video.
Stabenow, 72, a Democrat serving a fourth term in the U.S. Senate, said in January she would not seek re-election.
Keeping the seat in Democrats’ hands could be vital for the party to maintain control of the Senate in 2025.
Democrats currently control the Senate by a narrow 51-49 majority but must defend 23 seats in the 2024 election, including seats of three independents who caucus with Democrats, while Republicans have 10 seats to defend.
No widely known Republicans have entered the race for Stabenow’s seat so far.
The state could also play a key role in the race for the White House in 2024. Michigan Republicans earlier in February selected Trump loyalist Kristina Karamo to be their next state chair, elevating an election denier as far-right members gain clout in the battleground state.
(Reporting by Katharine Jackson, editing by Ed Osmond)
