Slotkin and Rogers clash in second and final senate debate

Content Warning: This article contains mentions of gun violence.

At the WXYZ-TV station in Southfield Monday night, U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin and former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers held their second and final debate before Michigan voters send one candidate to represent the state in the U.S. Senate in November. Many of the questions asked focused on issues the candidates discussed at their last debate — the ongoing Israeli military campaign in Gaza, the economy, electric vehicles and Michigan manufacturing jobs. The candidates also discussed gun violence, student loan forgiveness and funding for public education, giving voters a fuller picture of both candidates with fewer than three weeks until Election Day.

In her opening statement, Slotkin said her campaign has been motivated by a desire to improve the lives of the middle class. 

“I’m really, at the end of the day, running for Senate because I believe in my bones that we need a strong and growing middle class,” Slotkin said. “That means jobs with dignity, and that means making sure we attack the costs that are eating a hole in your pocket.”

In his opening statement, Rogers urged voters to think back to where they were at the beginning of the Biden administration when deciding whether to vote for a Democrat or a Republican.

“We have to answer one question, this is the most important question we will ask during this campaign: Are you better off than you were four years ago?” Rogers said. “I traveled the state, talked to a lot of people. The simple answer is ‘Absolutely not.’”

The candidates began by discussing gun violence, which was not brought up in their first debate. Firearms are the leading cause of death among children and adolescents in the United States, killing more than 1,100 children and teens since the beginning of 2024. Slotkin, whose congressional district has been the site of two school shootings in recent years, said she believes leaders are responsible for protecting children from gun violence. 

“This idea that we can’t go after the number one killer of children in America is broken,” Slotkin said. “While Mr. Rogers was off in Florida, I was representing this district where we had not one but two school shootings in my district: Oxford High School and Michigan State University. … To me, we have to, as Democrats and Republicans, gun owners and nongun owners, go after the number one killer of our children in our communities, in our schools, by suicide, by accident”

Rogers recognized the impacts of gun violence, and said he would focus on addressing what he sees as its root cause — teen mental health — instead of pushing for stricter gun control policies.

“We need to enforce the gun laws that we have, (but) we also need to deal with mental health issues that are happening in our schools,” Rogers said. “This generation of Americans is under mental duress and distress like I have never seen before, and it means that we’re going to have to come together on how we get ahead of these problems. Banning guns is not going to do it.”

The candidates also discussed education. In 2023, Michigan was ranked 41st in the country for education. Rogers said he believes childhood literacy rates are a pressing problem for Michigan students and proposed more intensive educational options for students who are struggling.

“This, to me, may be the biggest civil rights issue of our generation,” Rogers said. “Our kids are not learning how to read. Here in Michigan, 39.6% of third-graders could read at grade level.”  

Slotkin emphasized her support for public education and criticized Rogers for his ties to Betsy DeVos, former U.S. Secretary of Education under President Donald Trump.

“We have a whole generational problem with our education system, but for me, I am a believer in public education,” Slotkin said. “Mr. Rogers and I may differ on this. One of his biggest supporters is Betsy DeVos. She is very, very clear about her theory of education that she literally wants to defund public schools. She was our Secretary of Education, but now wants to get rid of the Secretary of Education position. For me, I believe in strong public schools.”

Both candidates oppose widespread student loan forgiveness, an issue President Joe Biden has continued to push for despite ongoing legal battles. Rogers said he supports forgiving student loans for people who fill certain hard-to-fill professions in the state.

“I don’t believe that your neighbor should write you a check for your school debt, but I do believe that you can provide a service to the country of which we need to work it off,” Rogers said. “We have desperate need for school counselors. Let’s make sure that if you have that debt and you spend some time in a public school doing school counseling, you get the relief on your student debt.”

Slotkin said she does not approve of forgiving all student loans, as Biden proposes, because it does not address the root of the issue. She instead proposes limiting the interest rate on student loans to 2.5% in order to reduce debt.

“For me, I don’t think that doing debt relief all in one fell swoop for one group of young people solves the underlying problem,” Slotkin said. “There’s just a bunch of different ways to do it, and for me, capping student loans (interest) at 2.5% is the way that I would propose. But we need to do something on this issue, because this generation is not facing the same sort of even playing field the last generations have had.”

Speaking to reporters after the debate, Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., said Rogers’ previous attacks against Slotkin for supporting electric vehicle mandates are inaccurate, and distract from her plans to bring manufacturing jobs back to Michigan from China. 

“There is no EV mandate,” Stabenow said. “That was something made up by the oil companies that are supporting Mike Rogers and supporting the Republicans. There is no EV mandate. What we have is an opportunity to beat China, and the folks that really are worried about that are the oil companies, because we won’t have to go and stop at the gas station anymore.”

Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II applauded Slotkin’s response to questions on gun control.

“Congresswoman Slotkin actually has a solution and response to, as she put, the number one killer of children,” Gilchrist said. “Mike Rogers accepts that children should just die of gun violence, he had nothing to say and no plan and no response. He thought we should just have a stern conversation — that is ridiculous and offensive to me as a parent and to everyone who believes that children should be able to live free from the fear of gun violence.” 

Rogers focused his discussion with reporters on the country’s southern border, blaming Democrats and the Biden administration for the recent influx of migrants into the country. According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, border agents have arrested 15,608 noncitizens in fiscal year 2024 who had a criminal conviction prior to interdiction by U.S. Border Patrol.

“We’re bringing criminals in,” Rogers said. “There’s 400,000 now criminals walking around the country somewhere. Our FBI doesn’t know exactly where they are. This is nuts. You wouldn’t write the script anywhere else, but it’s happening here in America.”

Daily News Editor Mary Corey can be reached at mocrey@umich.edu.

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