Proactively inviting her eventual Republican nominee to face-to-face debate in each county in her district, sets the bar for debates

COMMENTARY: Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin (D, MI-08) is serving her first term and first crossed McHenry County Blog radar when she was the lone Democrat who voted with Republicans on the House Homeland Security Committee in May of last year, and struck Congresswoman Lauren Underwood’s statement from the record of intentional deaths of children in border detention.

Later in 2019, Slotkin, as a member of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus, visited the southern border near McAllen, TX, with her fellow caucus members, both Democrats and Republicans alike, and effectively used her own border state experience to get to the bottom of issues at the border.

While several of her votes I don’t agree with, the metrics kept by UCLA Voteview shows she’s smack in the middle of a real centrist voting record, and she ranks in the top quarter of the Lugar Center’s 2019 Bipartisan Ratings. Underwood, by contrast, ranked #344 out of 437, in the bottom quarter in bipartisanship and has consistently been in the top 20 of most liberal House voting record in the 116th Congress.

Two weeks ago, Republican nominee Jeanne Ives extended to Congressman Sean Casten a proposed debate schedule for the fall campaign, a series of 5 head-to-head debates, one in each county of the 6th district.

Two days later, Ives’ campaign learned through a published report in Crain’s Chicago Business of Congressman Sean Casten’s response to the Ives proposed debate schedule, which was “Casten says he’s interested in only one showdown, a televised League of Women Voters event the campaign says will include groups from all five counties in the district….“

Ives issued the quote from Crain’s and a full response to Casten’s “debate dodge” in a press release on July 22 which included the following:

“We are asking for – as stated in our press release and in our email to the Casten campaign – a fair and open debate to give voters a chance ‘to get past the headlines, media spin and :60-second soundbites to hear a full vetting of the candidates’ records and ideas.'”

Jeanne Ives for Congress campaign, 7/22/20
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Right now, it is unknown what, if any, debate negotiations have taken place between the campaigns of Congresswoman Lauren Underwood and 14th district Republican nominee Jim Oberweis. Nothing public has been posted, and one can only assume negotiations are taking place privately.

Back to Congresswoman Slotkin, yesterday (8/4) was the Michigan primary for downballot offices, including Congress. Four Republicans ran for the opportunity to challenge Slotkin in the fall in a district similar to IL-06 and IL-14. Little after 10PM local time, Slotkin’s campaign Twitter ID tweeted the following statement:

Slotkin’s proactive approach in and of itself must be admired, but this section in the 3rd paragraph stands out:

“Voters deserve to hear directly from those who seek to represent them, and head-to-head debates, broadcast as widely as possible for the COVID era, are the best way to give voters an opportunity to see the clear differences between us.”

Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin, 8/4/20
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Given Slotkin is one of the more bipartisan freshmen in Congress, and the fact Ives offered a similar approach does demonstrate “great minds think alike”. As the Left tries to paint Ives as a right-wing ideologue, her similarity to Slotkin’s statement proves those critics wrong.

Some may be thinking, “Casten and Underwood both had $3 million cash on hand at the end of June, and don’t need to debate their Republican opponents except on their schedule”.

Slotkin’s pre-primary FEC filing 2 weeks ago showed her cash on hand, through July 15, was over $5 million. She led all frontline Democrats in cash on hand for her reelection.

Slotkin demonstrates how a member of Congress rises above political party and campaign strategy to be a true statesperson. Ives appears cut from the same cloth.

It’s time Casten gets with it and show he can be a statesman himself, and negotiate the 5-debate series that both Ives, and Slotkin, have proposed for the fall campaign.

And may both Underwood and Oberweis do the same and have 7 debates, one in each county of the 14th district.