Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Elissa Slotkin released two attack ads on Wednesday focusing on abortion and claiming that her Republican opponent Mike Rogers supports a federal abortion ban.
Slotkin’s campaign said the two 30-second spots will appear on broadcast, cable, and digital platforms and are part of a multimillion-dollar ad buy, The Detroit News reported. Slotkin, a current congresswoman, has been focusing on business and the economy throughout much of her campaign, but with fewer than 60 days until Election Day, she’s again playing up abortion.
Democrats in tight races across the country have been emphasizing their pro-abortion positions throughout the 2024 campaign, hoping to ride the Left’s recent electoral success on abortion amendments in red and blue states. Despite Michigan voters approving a constitutional amendment in 2022 to enshrine a “fundamental right” to abortion in state law, a woman in one of Slotkin’s ads says she is “scared that Mike Rogers will continue to take away my rights.”
“I had already had four miscarriages and in our fifth pregnancy, we were filled with so much hope. At 19 weeks, I received the most devastating phone call. I had a child dying inside of me. All of our options were terrible,” the woman, identified as Sarah from Byron Center, Michigan, says in the ad. “But Mike Rogers thinks it’s okay for politicians to make those medical decisions that saved my life.”
“Rogers even supported a nationwide ban on abortion. I’m scared that Mike Rogers will continue to take away my rights,” she continues.
The ad highlights Rogers, a former member of the U.S. House, supporting a constitutional amendment “to protect the right of unborn children” when he ran for Congress in 2000. Slotkin’s second attack ad on Rogers quotes the Republican saying in 1994 that he supports “all restrictions on abortion.”
“So if you believe Mike Rogers and anti-abortion activists will protect your rights, we got a bridge to sell you,” the ad continues.
Rogers said he does not support overhauling Michigan’s abortion law and addressed the issue in a video he released on Wednesday titled, “THE TRUTH.”
“I know that a decision about a pregnancy is one of the most difficult and personal decisions a woman will make,” Rogers says in the video, which he filmed alongside his wife Kristi. “Michigan voters have already decided the issue, and I respect that decision. In the Senate, I won’t do anything to change it.”
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has also vowed that he would not sign a federal abortion ban if it came to his desk, but his promise has not stopped Democrats from claiming that pro-abortion laws would be threatened if Republicans win the White House and gain control of the Senate in November.
Rogers represented Michigan’s 8th District in the U.S. House from 2001 to 2015 and Slotkin currently represents the state’s 7th District. Earlier this year, Slotkin slammed the Senate filibuster for preventing Democrats from ramming through “up-or-down” votes on issues such as abortion.
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“I am like loud and proud on reforming the filibuster, so we can vote on gun laws, voter access, women’s rights, all those things could be voted on tomorrow if we only needed 51 [senators] instead of 60 to get an up-or-down vote,” she told constituents in March.
Imagine a world where the Senate could actually vote on gun violence prevention, voting rights, and protecting abortion and IVF.
All of those critical issues could get an up-or-down vote if we reformed the filibuster. pic.twitter.com/AOwNGuEhEC
— Elissa Slotkin (@ElissaSlotkin) March 5, 2024
Slotkin leads Rogers in the latest polls. The most recent survey from CBS News shows Slotkin up by 7 points over Rogers, while the Republican-friendly Trafalgar Group’s latest poll has Slotkin leading by 4 points.