Slotkin was recruited by the
Central Intelligence Agency after graduate school. Fluent in
Arabic and
Swahili, she served three tours in Iraq as a CIA analyst. During the
George W. Bush administration, she worked on the Iraq portfolio for the
National Security Council. During
Barack Obama's
presidency, she worked for the State Department and the Department of Defense.[7] Slotkin was acting assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs from 2015 to 2017.[9]
After leaving the Defense Department in January 2017, Slotkin moved back to her family's farm in Holly, where she owned and operated Pinpoint Consulting.[6]
In November 2018, Slotkin defeated Bishop with 50.6% of the vote.[1][14] She is the first Democrat to represent Michigan's 8th district since 2001,[14] when
Debbie Stabenow gave up the seat to run for the U. S. Senate.
Slotkin won reelection in 2020 with 50.9% of the vote, defeating Republican Paul Junge.[15]
In 2019, Slotkin held several town halls about her decision to vote in favor of President
Donald Trump's
impeachment. The meetings drew hundreds of protestors and received nationwide media coverage.[16]
Slotkin adapted to campaigning during the COVID-19 pandemic by holding campaign events both virtually and socially distanced, with contactless door canvassing, and by running advertisements on gas pumps.[17]
She defeated Republican nominee
Tom Barrett with 51.5% of the vote to Barrett's 46.5%.[18] The general election was the most expensive U.S. House race of 2022 with Slotkin raising $9.8 million.[19][20]
Slotkin criticized Barrett's stance on abortion, specifically his statement that he is "100% pro-life, no exceptions".[21] She also criticized his multiple votes against incentives for a new
General Motors electric vehicle battery plant in
Delta Township.[22]
She was endorsed by Republican Congresswoman
Liz Cheney.[23]
During the campaign, Slotkin signed a seven-month lease on a condominium in
Lansing, Michigan. The owner of the condominium was a donor to Slotkin's campaign, although her campaign stated that the lease was at a fair market rate.[24][25] After the election and prior to her February 2023 divorce, Slotkin moved back to her family farm in
Holly, which is in
Michigan's 9th congressional district.[26][27]
Slotkin attributed her victory to "losing better" in the district's Republican-leaning areas.[20] Her win defied trends in other states that resulted in Democrats narrowly losing control of the House of Representatives for the
118th Congress.[20]
On February 27, 2023, Slotkin announced her candidacy for the
U.S. Senate seat being vacated by
Debbie Stabenow in 2024.[31] As of April 2024, Slotkin had raised nearly $16 million for her Senate campaign leading the field in fundraising.[32]
In 2022, Slotkin co-sponsored the Ban Corporate PACs Act, which if enacted would prevent corporations from operating a
political action committee.[39]
Criminal justice
Following the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25, 2020, Slotkin co-sponsored and voted for the
George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2020.[40][41][42] She voted in favor of the bill again in 2021.[43][44] Slotkin was the only House Democrat in Michigan who voted for a bill to overturn DC criminal code modernization.[45][46]
In 2023, Slotkin was one of two House Democrats who voted for a Republican-backed amendment which prevented Department of Defense facilities from displaying non-official flags, including the
pride flag. After facing criticism for the vote, Slotkin said that it was intended to prevent the flying of "hateful flags [...] particularly the
Confederate flag", adding that she would "rather support a no-flag policy than allow hateful imagery above U.S. military bases."[53][54][55]
Foreign policy
Slotkin is one of five Democratic House members who voted against an amendment to prohibit support to and participation in the Saudi-led coalition's military operations against the Houthis in Yemen.[56][57][58] Slotkin was the main sponsor of the 2020
Iran War Powers Resolution which sought to restrict President Donald Trump's ability to commit the United States to a war with Iran without a Congressional Declaration of War.[59] Slotkin voted against H.Con.Res. 21, which directed President
Joe Biden to remove U.S. troops from
Syria within 180 days.[60][61]
In 2022, Slotkin voted for H.R. 1808, the Assault Weapons Ban of 2022.[63][64] She also introduced H.R. 6370, the Safe Guns, Safe Kids Act, which would require secure firearm storage in the presence of children. The bill was introduced after the
2021 Oxford High School shooting,[65] and passed by the House as part of the Protecting Our Kids Act.[66]
In 2023, following a mass shooting at
Michigan State University in her district, she introduced the Gun Violence Research Prevention Act with Sen.
Ed Markey.[67][68] The bill would provide $50 million each year for the next five years towards the research on firearms safety and gun violence prevention by the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.[69]
Health care
Slotkin supports the
Affordable Care Act. During her 2020 campaign, she described the protection of health care coverage for individuals with preexisting conditions as the most important issue for her district. She supports allowing
Medicare to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies for lower drug prices for those it insures.[70]
Impeachment
In September 2019, Slotkin and six other freshman House Democrats authored an opinion piece in The Washington Post calling for an impeachment inquiry into President
Donald Trump. Its publication led to widespread Democratic support for an impeachment inquiry.[33][71] Slotkin voted in favor of impeaching Trump in both his
first and
second impeachments.[72][73]
LGBT rights
In both the 116th and 117th Congresses, Slotkin received a 100% rating from the
Human Rights Campaign's (HRC) Congressional Scorecard, which measures "support for equality" among members of Congress based on their voting record.[74][75] She was endorsed by the HRC in each of her campaigns for the House.[76][77]
Student debt
During the Trump administration in 2020, Slotkin voted against one amendment, supported by 93% of the Democratic caucus, that would provide $10,000 debt relief for student loan borrowers.[78][79] Slotkin also pushed the Department of Education to assist federal employees with student loan payments during the partial government shutdown.[80] Slotkin voted twice against a Republican-led measure that would have overturned the Biden administration's student debt forgiveness initiative.[81][82][83] In 2023, that initiative was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court.[84]
Slotkin married Dave Moore, a retired Army colonel and
Apache helicopter pilot, in 2011.[86][87] They met in
Baghdad during Slotkin's third tour in
Iraq and lived in Holly.[86][87] The two filed for divorce in 2023.[87] Slotkin had two stepdaughters while married to Moore.[88]