Hill Democrats on Thursday named Sen. Elissa Slotkin to deliver their response to President Donald Trump’s joint address next week.
It’s a high-profile platform for the first-term senator and an early indication that Democrats are looking to emphasize kitchen-table issues after their drubbing in the last election.
“I’m looking forward to speaking directly to the American people next week. The public expects leaders to level with them on what’s actually happening in our country,” Slotkin said in a statement. “From our economic security to our national security, we’ve got to chart a way forward that actually improves people’s lives in the country we all love, and I’m looking forward to laying that out.”
Democratic leaders signaled Slotkin’s speech could focus on economic issues, with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries saying in a statement she’d communicate about the cost of living and protecting Medicaid and Medicare — as GOP lawmakers mull cuts to certain safety-net programs in their planned party-line budget bill. Polling showed that voter discontent about the economy and rising inflation, as well as immigration, were significant factors in Republicans winning unified control of government last fall.
Slotkin, who’d previously served in the House and flipped a red district in 2018, narrowly won her Senate seat last fall to succeed retiring Sen. Debbie Stabenow. She’d carved out a centrist lane in the House and had been among a group of House Democrats who focused on national security.
Democrats also named Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.), the chair of the Hispanic Caucus, to give a Spanish-language response to Trump’s speech. Some Democrats have worried about Hispanic voters drifting to the right, especially in working-class districts across the country.
The minority party generally uses the speech as a launching pad for a rising star to spotlight a specific issue. Former Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear gave a health care-centered speech as a response to Trump’s first address in 2017, and that issue became central to Democrats’ efforts to recapture the majority in the midterms the next year.
Progressives in the Working Families Party also named Rep. Lateefah Simon (D-Calif.) to deliver their own response to the president.
