Look at the recent Daily Bits on the website. Summary of Politics through August, Corporations
2020 General Election
“Don’t get in a knife fight with Elissa.” That’s her brother talking. It makes you wonder. How much of their childhood did he spend getting out of her way?
After the 2018 election, Mike Bishop, the incumbent Republican Congressman with a few months left to his tenure, said he was surprised at the outcome. This had been the most expensive Congressional race in Michigan history. The incumbent was surprised to have been outspent. The incumbent was surprised to lose.
Elissa Slotkin https://elissaforcongress.com/ decries the vitriol of partisan politics. Retired from the CIA, she experienced the rancor in 2018. She was accused of having funded terrorism, of making bad deals for her country, of living away from the district for years. She was away serving her country, she explained. Supporters from the military and other government services backed her. So did Michael Bloomberg.
Elissa Slotkin as a knife fight kind of girl? Or a nice Jewish girl? Maybe she could be both since she was in the CIA. She was born in New York City. She grew up in Holly, half way between Flint and Detroit. On a family farm. She occasionally explained kibbutzim are not the only Jewish farmers. She went to the Cranbrook Kingswood boarding school in the tony Detroit suburb of Bloomfield Hills. On to Cornell (They have an Ag School, but that is not where she was going) and then the School for International Affairs at Columbia for her Master’s Degree.
In between Cornell and finishing at Columbia, there was 9/11 – while she was still in New York City. There was a course in Arabic at The American University of Cairo. There was work in Massachusetts – for an agency that helped formerly incarcerated young men get on track and for an East Boston early childhood center where she translated Swahili. There was work for an organization named Woman to Woman, but in Hebrew. There was an internship with the State Department. There was a developing conviction that her career would be serving her country.
After she graduated from the School of International and Public Affairs in 2003, she worked
- For the CIA as a political analyst from 2003-204
- For the CIA as an intelligence briefer from 2004—2005
- For the Director of National Intelligence as a senior assistant from 2005-2006
- For the CIA as a leader of an assessment team in Iraq from 2006-2007
- For the National Security Council as Staff Director for Iraq Policy from 2007-2009
- For the US State Department as a senior advisor on Iraq Policy from 2009-2011
- For the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy as an advisor on Middle East Policy in 2011
- For the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Policy initially as the Chief of Staff in 2012
- As the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Policy later in 2012
- As the Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Defense in 2013
- As the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Securities Affairs in 2014
- As the Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs from 2015 – 2017 after which she returned to Holly, Michigan
Elissa Slotkin’s family was conscious of success. She describes her father as an apolitical Republican. He was in the meat business. She calls it an apolitical business. These days, when discussing climate change, the meat business is political. But leave that aside.
The family business was a success. Their marketing guy takes some of the credit. More than some, maybe. A book title tells the story as his story: “Speaking Frankly: A Southern Boy’s Journey from Slaughterhouse to Creation of the World’s Top Hot Dog Brand.” Hugo (Can that really have been his name?) Slotkin’s business went from capturing the contract for hot dogs for the Detroit Tigers and the taste of Tigers’ fans to making Hygrade a national brand.
The Slotkins have not been patient. Not in business. Not in the CIA. Not in the Obama administration. Patience is a requirement in Congress. We’ll have to see how Elissa Slotkin does. She voted present rather than vote for Nancy Pelosi for Speaker, a vote that fulfilled a campaign promise. A present vote rather than a vote for an individual made it slightly easier for Pelosi to get a majority.
Elissa Slotkin has not been an obstacle to Pelosi. A member of the Armed Services Committee (Subcommittee on Intelligence, Subcommittee on Readiness) and a member of the Homeland Security Committee (Subcommittee on counterterrorism and intelligence, subcommittee on cybersecurity and infrastructure protection) she is where she is most knowledgeable.
A member of the New Democratic Caucus, Elaine Slotkin fits comfortably with the moderate Democrats. Like other moderates, she voted with Pelosi on a controversial bill providing funds to support better treatment for detained migrants. The progressive Democrats were willing to sacrifice passage while insisting on making protections for the migrants statutory.
Elissa Slotkin https://elissaforcongress.com/ intends to keep MI CD 08 Democratic. She expanded her role beyond national security. Recent press releases highlight her testimony supporting efforts to stop robocalls, her vote supporting raising the minimum wage, and passage of the bill funding treatment of detained migrants. Elissa Slotkin needs your support to keep her district Democratic. We don’t know her 2020 opponent. Her opponent would be smart to anticipate that she can be tough.
Don’t forget the special Congressional elections on September 10 in North Carolina. Last minute contributions help. Get out the vote volunteers help, too:
Allen Thomas NC 03 Local who became wealthy in the tech industry, returned to become mayor of Greenville.
Dan McCready NC 10 A combat vet in Iraq, a successful entrepreneur in solar energy, returned home to Charlotte.
For 2020: Vulnerable Congressional Democrats in order of their margin of victory – narrowest first. With the money they have raised date to date and their cash on hand at the end of the 2nd quarter of 2019. Figures below: $100 = $100,000; $1,000 = $1,000,000
- Ben McAdams UT 04 Elected by 694 votes $783/$484
- J. Cox CA 21 Elected by 862 votes $894/$644
- Kendra Horn OK 05 Elected by 3,338 votes $1,075/$795
- Jared Golden ME 02 Elected by 3,509 votes $623/$495
- Lucy McBath GA 06 Elected by 3,634 votes $1,294/$929
- Xochitil Torres Small NM 03 Elected by 3,722 votes $1,099/$1,012
- Andy Kim NJ 03 Elected by 3,973 votes $1,165/$970
- Joe Cunningham SC 01 Elected by 4,082 votes $1,353/$970
- Debbie Mucarsel-Powell FL 26 Elected by 4,119 votes $1,134/$934
- Anthony Brindisi NY 22 Elected by 4,373 votes $908/$771
- Gil Cisneros CA 39 Elected by 6,711 votes $593/$390
- Abigail Spanberger VA 07 Elected by 6,784 votes $1,153/$1,025
- Cynthia Axne IA 03 Elected by 7,709 votes $1,037/$841
- Josh Harder CA 10 Elected by 9,980 votes $1,702/$1,406
- Lizzie Fletcher TX 07 Elected by 12,317 votes $1,112/$945
- Max Rose NY 11 Elected by 12,382 votes $1,453/$1,216
- Elissa Slotkin MI 08 Elected by 13,098 votes $1,322/$1,085
- Lauren Underwood IL 14 Elected by 14,871 votes $1,105/$766
- Antonio Delgado NY 19 Elected by 15,000 votes $1,462/$1,088
Five from the Northeast.
Four from the Southeast.
Three from the Midwest.
Seven from the West.
