US Rep. and candidate for US Senator Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) looks on near a polling station in the 2024 US presidential election on Election Day in Detroit, Michigan, US, Nov. 5, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Rebecca Cook

US Rep. Elissa Slotkin, a Jewish lawmaker from Michigan, prevailed in her Senate race in the Mitten State, representing a bright spot for Democrats in an election cycle characterized by the defeat of presidential hopeful Kamala Harris and landslide losses in congressional elections across the country.

Slotkin, a moderate Democrat and former CIA analyst, narrowly defeated former Michigan Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI) on Wednesday by a margin of 48.6 percent to 48.3 percent. Slotkin will replace Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), who announced she would not seek a new term in 2023. 

“THANK YOU, MICHIGAN! I am so honored to be the next Senator from the great state of Michigan and to follow in the footsteps of the great [Debbie Stabenow],” Slotkin wrote on X/Twitter.

“This would not have happened without the hard work and support of so many: my family, our volunteers, donors, and of course — everyone who voted in this election. I promise I will do everything in my power to be the principled leader you deserve,” Slotkin continued. 

Slotkin’s victory came as Harris was defeated in the traditionally liberal state by Republican nominee Donald Trump. In an election season animated by public furor over inflation, migration, and the economy, many observers perceived Slotkin’s electoral odds as uncertain. 

Moreover, Slotkin faced intense criticism within the state over her support for Israel. Pro-Palestinian activists have pressured politicians within Michigan — a state with a large Arab American community — to adopt more adversarial positions against the Jewish state. 

Slotkin has accepted donations from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the foremost pro-Israel lobbying group in the United States. The lawmaker has also voted in favor of providing military aid to Israel, sanctioning the International Criminal Court (ICC) over its prosecutor’s decision to request arrest warrants for Israeli leaders, and banning the State Department from citing casualty figures provided by the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.

Slotkin has also condemned Hamas’s massacre across southern Israel last Oct. 7, calling the attacks “an indiscriminate massacre defined by sheer hate.”

The lawmaker’s stridently pro-Israel voting record and public support for the Jewish state rankled many members of Michigan’s Arab American community. 

“This year, I’m not going to be voting,” an Arab American citizen of Dearborn, Michigan told the New York Times last month. “Everybody’s taking the wrong position on what’s going on overseas.”

In the year following the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, Arab American communities within Michigan have transformed into a launching pad of protests against the Jewish state. Many of these protests have openly endorsed the Hamas massacre of Israeli civilians as legitimate “resistance” and called for the destruction of the Jewish state altogether. Anti-Israel activists within Michigan have also organized demonstrations to show support for terrorist groups such as Hezbollah and mourn the death of terrorist kingpins such as Hassan Nasrallah.

Dearborn Mayor Mayor Abdullah Hammoud (D-MI) cautioned that Slotkin’s chances in her Senate race were jeopardized by her position on the ongoing war in Gaza. Hammoud suggested that frustration over Israel’s defensive military campaign could deflate voter enthusiasm among the Arab American community.  

“Apathy is obviously growing, and apathy is very dangerous for down-ballot seats,” Hammoud told the Times. “For the control of the US Senate and for the White House, it’s the people who sit at home who more than likely will determine the outcome of this election.”

In the final weeks of the campaign, Slotkin appeared to temper her support of Israel, citing “deep concerns” over its military operations against Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah Lebanon. 

“It is not hard for me as someone who’s served three tours in Iraq, who watched the American military fail in places like Anbar Province and Ramadi and Falluja, to have deep concerns about what’s going on with the Israeli military campaign in Gaza and now in Lebanon,” Slotkin said. “You can express empathy and concern and nuance, even when conversations are difficult.”

Despite outsized media attention on the Israel-Hamas war, few Michigan voters cited foreign policy as a top concern. Around 40 percent of Michigan voters indicated jobs and the economy as their most important issues, according to AP VoteCast. The same poll showed that around 20 percent and 10 percent of voters cited immigration and abortion as their top issues, respectively.