Elissa Slotkin, a Senate Democrat, responded to Trump’s congressional address, criticizing the new administration for introducing chaos and recklessness.
At the beginning of her address, she questioned the White House on the economy, warning that if Trump is “not careful, he could walk us right into a recession”.
Ms Slotkin also commented on the Department of Government Efficiency, the cost-cutting project led by Elon Musk. She stated that while change is necessary, it should not be chaotic or compromise safety.
Speaking from Michigan with American flags as a backdrop, Slotkin was more concise and less expressive than the president, who spoke to Republicans for an hour and 40 minutes.
She briefly mentioned the Democrats’ election loss in November, but quickly turned her attention to Trump.
“Americans made it clear that prices are too high and that government needs to be more responsive to their needs. America wants change,” she said.
“But there is a responsible way to make change, and a reckless way. And, we can make that change without forgetting who we are as a country, and as a democracy.”
During the election, voters often expressed that the economy was their top concern, and Democrats’ loss was attributed to not addressing it sufficiently.
Weeks into Trump’s presidency, economic concerns persist, with prices of goods not dropping and prices on some items, like eggs, rising.
“Grocery and home prices are going up, not down – and he hasn’t laid out a credible plan to deal with either,” she said.
Ms Slotkin also addressed immigration, another topic on which Democrats poll worse than Republicans. She highlighted the Trump administration’s lack of empathy towards undocumented immigrants.
“The border without actually fixing our broken immigration system is dealing with the symptom not the disease. America is a nation of immigrants,” she said.
She also criticized the public rebuke of Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky by Trump and Vice-President JD Vance during a meeting.
“That scene in the Oval Office wasn’t just a bad episode of reality TV. It summed up Trump’s whole approach to the world,” she said.
“He believes in cozying up to dictators like Vladimir Putin and kicking our friends, like Canada, in the teeth.”
For many, Tuesday night was their first time meeting Ms Slotkin, who won the US Senate seat in the swing state of Michigan last year.
A former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) analyst, Slotkin is the youngest Democratic woman elected to the Senate at 48.
Slotkin delivered her speech after Trump’s, which, although not a traditional State of the Union address, served the same purpose.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer recently called Slotkin a “rising star” in the party as he announced her as the chosen representative for the Democratic Party’s rebuttal, commending her for being “great on both economic and national security” issues.
Slotkin is a newcomer to the US Senate, but has experience serving in Congress as a member of Michigan’s delegation to the House of Representatives. She was initially elected in 2018, flipping a Republican seat, as part of a wave of Democratic victories.
Before her political career, she held various government positions. She served in the National Security Council during President George W Bush’s administration and held roles in the State Department and as the acting assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs under President Barack Obama.
The CIA, for which Slotkin holds fluency in Arabic and Swahili, recruited her following her graduate degree in international affairs at Columbia University in New York City. She completed three tours in Iraq as a CIA analyst.
The moderate Democrat focused her 2024 Senate campaign on lowering costs for Americans, a stance that contributed to her narrow victory over former Congressman Mike Rogers, even as Trump won the state.
Slotkin is a member of the Senate’s committees on Armed Forces; Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs; Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry; and Veterans Affairs.
