22 April 4 • 2019
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effort from Martin Brook, a Birmingham attorney
who is the nephew of former Gov. James Blanchard.
In an odd twist, all the Democratic candidates live in
Oakland County, though two-thirds of the voters are in
Macomb.
Levin made a misstep or two, as when he said that
Lipton had been “in a safe seat in the legislature for a
few terms or whatever,
” which was angrily criticized by
some women.
“
Andy is going to be a superb congressman, but he
didn’
t run a superb campaign,
” a longtime friend said,
expressing a common sentiment. While the younger
Levin does have a track record of getting things done,
he can come across as arrogant; in his only previous
foray into elected politics, he lost a race for the state
senate in 2006, in what was an otherwise Democratic
year.
No one, however, seems to doubt his ability. “He’
s a
wise intentional bulldog, often for the voiceless,
” said
Laura Kohn, a longtime therapist from Huntington
Woods. “How lucky we are to have Andy in Congress
and in world.
”
In the end, Levin won his the primary easily, 52 per-
cent to 42 for Lipton. He lost Oakland County by 459
votes but carried Macomb by a landslide.
The November election was an anticlimax; the
district is solidly Democratic, and Levin buried
Republican businesswoman Candius Stearns, winning
almost 60 percent. Still, there were some disgruntled
murmurs about hereditary politicians, and two obscure
left-wing candidates got a surprising 11,000 votes
between them.
ELISSA SLOTKIN
Elissa Slotkin never saw herself as a political giant
killer — and neither did almost anyone else. Had
Congressman Mike Bishop been told a couple years
ago that his next re-election battle would be against
a young Jewish CIA analyst who had been living out
of state for years, he probably wouldn’
t have been too
worried.
But then came last year, and energized Democrats,
enraged in part by Bishop’
s opposition to the
Affordable Care Act, flooded the Eighth District with
attention — and cash.
The race became one of the most expensive in the
nation; more than $16.4 million in total, with about $9
million of that spent by the Democrats and their allies.
In the end, it was Slotkin 172,880 to 159,752 for the
incumbent congressman.
“This is what happens when you set a goal and stay
focused; you believe in this country and that people
love it more than anything else in the world,
” she said
the night she ran.
Slotkin, now 42, is best known for her service with
the CIA in Iraq (she was motivated to volunteer by
the September 2001 attacks.) She rose to become act-
ing assistant secretary of defense for national security
affairs in the Obama administration.
After she was elected, she was given a seat, as you
might expect, on the House Committee on Armed
Services, and its subcommittee on intelligence, and on
Homeland Security.
But as Slotkin has often said, she was motivated to
run for Congress by the need to ensure health care for
all and by her predecessor’
s vote to kill the Affordable
Care Act.
Though you might expect someone with her back-
ground to spend all her time in Washington, Slotkin
and her husband, retired Apache helicopter pilot Dave
Moore, insist that the Holly farm where she grew up
is her principal home. (Her parents were members of
Temple Israel; her grandparents, Temple Beth-El.)
She’
s also frequently held weekend meetings with
constituents, including a recent session in Clarkston
where she explained an amendment she had added to
the campaign finance reform “For the People Act” that
passed the House March 8.
Slotkin’
s amendment, among other things, is
designed to prevent foreign entities from buying TV
and digital ads in U.S. elections. Though the bill is
unlikely to pass in the Republican-controlled U.S.
Senate, retired advertising executive Bill Haney has
been deeply impressed by his new congresswoman.
“Elissa Slotkin has accomplished more in two
months than her predecessor did in his barren (four-
year) tenure,
” he said.
THE FUTURE
What nobody knows, however, is what the future holds
for either new representative. Levin currently has a safe
Democratic seat and should have no problems winning
re-election in 2020.
Slotkin, however, was an upset winner in a seat
drawn to favor Republicans. Will the GOP spend mil-
lions in an effort to take it back next year … or will
they wait until after redistricting?
Redistricting is, in fact, the biggest unknown.
Michigan’
s boundaries for the 2022 election and
beyond will be drawn for the first time by a citizens’
panel of four Republicans, four Democrats and five
independents. Some seats, like Andy Levin’
s, are likely
to be made more competitive. Additionally, Michigan
will lose another seat in Congress because of popula-
tion shifts.
Either Slotkin or Levin — or both — could end up
having to compete with a fellow Democratic incum-
bent in a primary.
Politics is a game of uncertainty. But for now, both
new congresspeople are working hard to try and do
a good job — and to persuade a shifting electorate to
keep hiring them. ■
continued from page 20
KUMBAYA? LEVIN, TLAIB AMONG THOSE
MEETING TO BUILD MUSLIM-JEWISH
RELATIONS IN CONGRESS
Michigan Reps. Andy Levin and Rashida Tlaib,
whose districts cover portions of Detroit and its
metropolitan area, were among a small group of
Jewish and Muslim Democrats who convened to
address accusations of anti-Semitism against fellow
Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar prior to the House vot-
ing overwhelmingly on March 7 to condemn expres-
sions of various forms of hate.
According to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
and reports March 17 in the Washington Post, two
Jewish Democrats, Levin and Rep. Jamie Raskin
of Maryland, arranged a series of meetings prior to
the vote that included all three Muslim members
of the House: Tlaib, Omar and Rep. Andre Carson
of Indiana. Bend the Arc, a liberal Jewish activist
group, facilitated the meetings.
Those who attended the meetings have since
informally convened on the House floor, according to
the JTA report, and more meetings are planned.
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