22 April 4 • 2019 jn 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. GETTY IMAGES jews d in the