Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., rehearses her Democratic response to President Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress on March 4 in Wyandotte, Mich., a part of the state she and Trump both won in 2024.
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Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin acknowledged what she called a “fraught election season” as she delivered the Democrats’ rebuttal to President Trump’s first address in his second term to a joint session of Congress.
“I won’t take it personally if you’ve never heard of me,” the first term senator said at the start of her 10-minute speech. (Read her speech here.)
“America wants change, but there’s a responsible way to make change and a reckless way,” Slotkin said.
After spending three terms in the House, Slotkin’s Senate win in November was a rare bright spot for Democrats. During her speech, she described how she was inspired to make a life in national security after being in New York City on 9/11.
“I was recruited by the CIA and did three tours in Iraq alongside the military,” she said. “In between, I worked at the White House under President Bush and President Obama — two very different leaders who both believed that America is exceptional.”
She highlighted themes of bipartisanship, describing growing up in a split-party household.
“My dad was a lifelong Republican, my mom a lifelong Democrat – but it was never a big deal, because we had shared values that were bigger than any one party,” she said.
Throughout her speech, which she made from Wyandotte, Mich. — a place both she and President Trump won in November — Slotkin stressed the importance of a strong middle class, national security and the value of democracy, calling those the “three core beliefs” that most Americans value.
Slotkin made the case that despite campaigning on the economy, the president has not taken steps to address lowering consumer costs and argued his tariffs on Mexico and Canada will cause prices to go up.
“Premiums and prescriptions will cost more because the math on his proposals doesn’t work without going after your health care,” she said.
House Republicans recently passed a budget resolution aimed at implementing much of Trump’s agenda. To pay for it, they’ll need large cuts, a big chunk of which is expected to come from Medicaid, something that has already raised concerns from some GOP members.
Slotkin said popular government programs like Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security could be on the chopping block — a theme congressional Democrats are expected to continue hammering in the coming weeks.
Slotkin also referenced unease over Elon Musk’s role in the slash-and-burn remake of the federal government with concerns over limited oversight.
“We need a more efficient government,” she said. “You want to cut waste? I’ll help you do it. But change doesn’t need to be chaotic or make us less safe.”
“The mindless firing of people who work to protect our nuclear weapons, keep our planes from crashing, and conduct the research that finds the cure for cancer – only to rehire them two days later, no CEO in America could do that without being summarily fired.”
‘Reagan must be rolling in his grave’
Slotkin spent time talking about former President Ronald Reagan – someone Trump himself is fond of quoting. She pointed to the contentious meeting between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as a sign of failed diplomacy.
Saying it “wasn’t just a bad episode of reality TV,” Slotkin said the scene in the Oval Office showed Trump’s approach to American leadership is “a series of real estate transactions.”
Slotkin’s speech comes at a time when Democratic voters and grassroots supporters have been clamoring for the party in the minority to do moreto combat the Trump administration.
She instructed those watching to find issues they care about and get involved.
“Hold your elected officials, including me, accountable,” she said. “Watch how they’re voting. Go to town halls to demand they take action.”
The challenges of the rebuttal speech
Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) rehearses the Democratic response to President Donald Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress on March 4, 2025 in Wyandotte, Mich.
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The rebuttal speech is a way for the minority party to highlight someone it sees as a rising star, according to Matt Grossman, a political scientist at Michigan State University.
Grossman cautioned ahead of the speech that there’s some risk that it could come across “as strained or small next to the pomp of the presidency.”
It’s a problem every speaker who’s taken on this task has faced. Plus, Grossman says, Democrats who are ready for a fight with Trump likely don’t want to hear talk of reaching across the aisle.
“Slotkin won an open seat in a [state Trump won]. From the beginning, she ran as someone who worked with presidents of both parties and put national security before party. But the Democratic base is looking for signs of aggressive fighting,” he said. “It will be a difficult line to tread.”
Read a transcript of Slotkin’s speech:
Hi everyone. I’m Elissa Slotkin. I’m honored to have the opportunity to speak tonight. It’s late — so I promise to be a lot shorter than what you just watched.
I won’t take it personally if you’ve never heard of me. I’m the new senator from the great state of Michigan, where I grew up. I’ve been in public service my entire life, because I happened to be in New York City on 9/11 when the Twin Towers came down. Before the smoke cleared, I knew I wanted a life in national security.
I was recruited by the CIA and did three tours in Iraq, alongside the military. In between, I worked at the White House under President Bush and President Obama, two very different leaders who both believed that America is exceptional.
You can find that same sense of patriotism here in Wyandotte, Michigan, where I am speaking from tonight. It’s a working-class town just south of Detroit. President Trump and I both won here in November. It might not seem like it, but plenty of places like this still exist all across the United States — places where people believe that if you work hard, and play by the rules, you should do well and your kids do better.
It reminds me of how I grew up. My dad was a lifelong Republican, my mom a lifelong Democrat. But it was never a big deal. Because we had shared values that were bigger than any one party.
We just went through another fraught election season. Americans made it clear that prices are too high and that government needs to be more responsive to their needs. America wants change. 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.
So that’s what I’m going to lay out tonight.
Because whether you’re in Wyandotte or Wichita, most Americans share three core beliefs: That the Middle Class is the engine of our country. That strong national security protects us from harm. And that our democracy, no matter how messy, is unparalleled and worth fighting for.
Let’s start with the economy.
Michigan literally invented the middle class: the revolutionary idea that you could work at an auto plant and afford the car you were building. That’s the American Dream. And in order to expand and protect the middle class, we have to do a few, basic things:
We need to bring down the price of things we spend the most money on: Groceries. Housing. Healthcare.
We need to make more things in America with good-paying, union jobs — and bring our supply chains back home from places like China.
We need to give American businesses the certainty they need to invest and create the jobs of the future.
And we need a tax system that’s fair for people who don’t happen to make a billion dollars.
Look, the president talked a big game on the economy, but it’s always important to read the fine print. So, do his plans actually help Americans get ahead?
Not even close.
President Trump is trying to deliver an unprecedented giveaway to his billionaire friends. He’s on the hunt to find trillions of dollars to pass along to the wealthiest in America. And to do that, he’s going to make you pay in every part of your life.
Grocery and home prices are going up, not down and he hasn’t laid out a credible plan to deal with either.
His tariffs on allies like Canada will raise prices on energy, lumber, cars and start a trade war that will hurt manufacturing and farmers.
Your premiums and prescriptions will cost more because the math on his proposals doesn’t work without going after your health care.
Meanwhile, for those keeping score, the national debt is going up, not down. And if he’s not careful, he could walk us right into a recession.
And one more thing: In order to pay for his plan, he could very well come after your retirement — the Social Security, Medicare and VA benefits you worked your whole life to earn. The president claims he won’t, but Elon Musk just called Social Security “the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time.”
While we’re on the subject of Elon Musk, is there anyone in America who is comfortable with him and his gang of 20 year olds using their own computer servers to poke through your tax returns, your health information, and your bank accounts? No oversight. No protections against cyberattack. No guardrails on what they do with your private data.
We need more efficient government. You want to cut waste, I’ll help you do it. But change doesn’t need to be chaotic or make us less safe.
The mindless firing of people who work to protect our nuclear weapons, keep our planes from crashing and conduct the research that finds the cure for cancer — only to re-hire them two days later? No CEO in America could do that without being summarily fired.
OK, so we’ve talked about our economic security. How about national security?
Let’s start with the border. As someone who spent my whole career protecting our homeland, every country deserves to know who and what is coming across its border. Period. Democrats and Republicans should all be for that.
But securing the border without actually fixing our broken immigration system is dealing with the symptom and not the disease. America is a nation of immigrants. We need a functional system, keyed to the needs of our economy, that allows vetted people to come and work here legally. So I look forward to the president’s plan on that.
Because here’s the thing: Today’s world is deeply interconnected. Migration, cyber threats, AI, environmental destruction, terrorism. One nation cannot face these issues alone. We need friends in all corners — and our safety depends on it.
President Trump loves to promise “peace through strength.” That’s actually a line he stole from Ronald Reagan. But let me tell you, after the spectacle that just took place in the Oval Office last week, Reagan must be rolling in his grave. We all want an end to the war in Ukraine, but Reagan understood that true strength required America to combine our military and economic might with moral clarity.
And 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. He believes in cozying up to dictators like Vladimir Putin and kicking our friends, like Canada, in the teeth. He sees American leadership as merely a series of real estate transactions.
As a Cold War kid, I’m thankful it was Reagan and not Trump in office in the 1980s. Trump would have lost us the Cold War.
Donald Trump’s actions suggest that, in his heart, he doesn’t believe we are an exceptional nation. He clearly doesn’t think we should lead the world.
Look, America is not perfect. But I stand with most Americans who believe we are still exceptional. Unparalleled. And I would rather have American leadership over Chinese or Russian leadership any day of the week.
Because for generations, America has offered something better.
Our security and our prosperity, yes. But our democracy, our very system of government, has been the aspiration of the world. And right now, it’s at risk.
It’s at risk when a president decides he can pick and choose what rules you want to follow, when he ignores court orders or the Constitution itself or when elected leaders stand by and just let it happen.
But it’s also at risk when the president pits Americans against each other, when he demonizes those who are different and tells certain people they shouldn’t be included.
Because America is not just a patch of land between two oceans. We are more than that. Generations have fought and died to secure the fundamental rights that define us. Those rights and the fight for them make us who we are.
We are a nation of strivers. Risk takers. Innovators. And we are never satisfied.
That is America’s superpower.
And look, I’ve lived and worked in many countries. I’ve seen democracies flicker out. I’ve seen what life is like when a government is rigged. You can’t open a business without paying off a corrupt official. You can’t criticize the guys in charge without getting a knock at the door in the middle of the night.
So as much as we need to make our government more responsive to our lives today, don’t for one moment fool yourself that democracy isn’t precious and worth saving.
But how do we actually do that? I know a lot of you have been asking that question.
First, don’t tune out. It’s easy to be exhausted, but America needs you now more than ever. If previous generations had not fought for democracy, where would we be today?
Second, hold your elected officials, including me, accountable. Watch how they’re voting. Go to town halls and demand they take action. That’s as American as apple pie.
Third, organize. Pick just one issue you’re passionate about and engage. And doom scrolling doesn’t count. Join a group that cares about your issue, and act. And if you can’t find one, start one.
Some of the most important movements in our history have come from the bottom up.
In closing, we all know that our country is going through something right now. We’re not sure what the next day is going to hold, let alone the next decade.
But this isn’t the first time we’ve experienced significant and tumultuous change as a country. I’m a student of history, and we’ve gone through periods of political instability before. And ultimately, we’ve chosen to keep changing this country for the better.
But every single time we’ve only gotten through those moments because of two things: Engaged citizens and principled leaders.
Engaged citizens who do a little bit more than they’re used to doing to fight for the things they care about, and principled leaders who are ready to receive the ball and do something about it.
So thank you tonight for caring about your country. Just by watching, you qualify as engaged citizens. And I promise that I, and my fellow Democrats, will do everything in our power to be the principled leaders that you deserve.
Goodnight everyone.
