GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. \u2014 Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin and GOP former Rep. Mike Rogers clashed repeatedly here Tuesday over who would best represent their purple state in the first debate of their hotly contested Senate race.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The tone during their hourlong debate, hosted by NBC affiliate WOOD, was mostly civil. But there were several hostile moments, with both candidates accusing the other of lying about and misrepresenting their records. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rogers, noting Slotkin\u2019s background as a CIA analyst, said he was \u201cnot even sure she could pass the polygraph test [for] the CIA anymore.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And after Rogers accused Slotkin of \u201chuffing at the microphone\u201d during a particularly contentious exchange about China, she fired back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just sad that a guy who considers himself a national security guy can\u2019t see that we need to work together on this issue \u2014 not lie, repeatedly,\u201d Slotkin said. \u201cLet\u2019s get to work, man.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The debate, the first of two scheduled in the final weeks of the race, comes as mail-in balloting is underway in Michigan. Slotkin and Rogers are competing for the seat opening with the retirement of longtime Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow. Recent polls<\/a> have found Slotkin leading, but within the margin of error.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Both candidates cast themselves Tuesday as sufficiently bipartisan for a swing state that is one of the premier battlegrounds in this year’s race for the presidency and control of the Senate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe\u2019re a very purple state \u2014 lots of Democrats, lots of Republicans,\u201d Slotkin said. \u201cI was voted the 14th most bipartisan member of Congress<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rogers, who served in the House for 14 years, said he \u201cwill look for every opportunity to be bipartisan.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Their sharpest disagreements centered on matters of foreign policy and national security, economics and abortion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHe was the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee in the run-up to the Iraq War,\u201d Slotkin said of Rogers. \u201cThere was no greater supporter. There was no greater fist-pumper than Mike Rogers in leading us into that war.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rogers responded by questioning Slotkin\u2019s integrity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThat information that was given to Congress was based on the CIA at the time that my opponent was in the CIA doing analytical work,\u201d Rogers said. \u201cAnd listen, I get it, the CIA has deception training. My opponent clearly went through that. But you\u2019re supposed to use that against your adversaries, not Michigan voters.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Slotkin, according to her campaign, did not join the CIA until late 2003, after the Iraq invasion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Asked whether she would support Vice President Kamala Harris\u2019 proposal to offer $25,000 in down payment assistance for first-time homebuyers, Slotkin punted, saying she would \u201clike to see the details of that program.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rogers turned her answer into an opportunity to question her bipartisan bona fides, noting how frequently she has voted in accordance with President Joe Biden and Harris\u2019 agenda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMy opponent has voted 100%<\/a> with the Biden-Harris agenda \u2014 100% \u2014 and if you think about what that means, that means that she\u2019s likely to go in and vote for this $25,000 <\/strong>[proposal] and every other scheme that will only increase the cost of housing,\u201d Rogers said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another tense moment came during an exchange about Medicare and Social Security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHe voted to raise the retirement age,\u201d Slotkin said, referring to Rogers\u2019 votes on conservative House budgets. \u201cThat\u2019s in his record. It\u2019s public. I\u2019m not sure he remembers. He\u2019s been down in Florida for a few years, but your record when you vote in Congress is public.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rogers responded with a shot at Slotkin\u2019s \u201cvery wealthy family.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe came from a middle-class family here in Michigan,\u201d he said. \u201cWe counted on Social Security. We count on Medicare. My father had cancer. I had cancer when I was 19. These issues are big and they\u2019re personal, and I will do everything to protect Medicare and Social Security.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Both Slotkin and Rogers have sought to frame the other as a carpetbagger<\/a> out of touch with Michigan values. Democrats highlight how Rogers, after he left Congress a decade ago, moved to Cape Coral, Florida, where, until he returned to Michigan to prepare his Senate bid, he lived in a home valued at nearly $1.7 million. More recently, local media coverage<\/a> has focused on how Rogers isn\u2019t living at the address where he is registered to vote \u2014 a situation that his campaign attributes to a township\u2019s delay in connecting his newly built home to a municipal sewer system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Republicans note that Slotkin returned to Michigan seven years ago \u2014 after jobs in the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations \u2014 to run for office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Slotkin made another Florida-related jab toward the end of the debate, when both candidates were asked about how Michigan voters in 2022 codified abortion rights<\/a> in the state constitution. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Rogers acknowledged that Michiganders \u201cvoted overwhelmingly to make abortion legal and a part of the state constitution of Michigan\u201d and vowed he would \u201cdo nothing when I go back to Washington, D.C. \u2026 that would change\u201d that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n