Elissa Slotkin picks side in Democratic primary for her former seat

Melissa Nann Burke and Beth LeBlanc, The Detroit News on Jul 15, 2026

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WASHINGTON ― Michigan U.S. Sen. Elissa Slotkin on Wednesday endorsed former Navy SEAL Matt Maasdam in the hotly contested Democratic primary battle for her former U.S. House seat in mid-Michigan, saying he's best positioned to flip control of the seat from Republicans this fall.

Maasdam of Genoa Township is vying for the party's nomination against former Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink and climate activist Will Lawrence, both of Lansing. The winner of the Aug. 4 primary election would face first-term Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Barrett of Charlotte in November.

"We need fighters, and whether it is standing up to President Trump's attacks on our democracy, taking on the corruption and special interests, or standing up for working people ― he knows what it means to fight," Slotkin said in a statement.

"I look forward to working alongside Matt to win the primary election in August, and then flip this seat in November to re-take the House majority."

Slotkin of Holly represented the Trump-won 7th District, now anchored by Lansing, for six years before her election to the Senate in 2024. She was the only Democrat to have won the seat since Debbie Stabenow in 1998.

The district now covers Ingham, Livingston, Clinton and Shiawassee counties, along with parts of Eaton, Oakland and Genesee counties. National Democrats and Republicans both are targeting the 7th in the 2026 midterm elections, with Democrats aiming to flip control of the seat.

Barrett, an Army veteran, reported Tuesday raising $1.1 million during the last quarter and has nearly $3 million in cash reserves. Barrett defeated Democrat Curtis Hertel in 2024 by 3.7 percentage points when the seat was open because Slotkin ran for the Senate.

Brink, in response to Slotkin's endorsement, said the race is about who will stand up to Trump and take on a "broken Washington" that works for corporate special interests.

"The truth is I’m the only one who has stood up to Trump and will fight like hell to take on his chaos and corruption in Congress. I’m also the only one who’s not backed by a corporate-backed, dark money super PAC ― nearly $3 million of which is pouring into MI-07 ― because no one will ever buy my voice or my vote," Brink said in a statement.

"When I win this race, I look forward to working with Senator Slotkin in Congress to protect American jobs and manufacturing, make life more affordable for Michigan families, and fight back against Trump’s chaos and corruption."

Slotkin and Maasdam both come from national security backgrounds, both deployed to Iraq and both moved back to Michigan before running for office after previously working in the Obama White House. They didn't know one another back then, however, not meeting until around 2020, a Slotkin spokesman said.

Slotkin noted that Maasdam, after retiring from the military and working in business, "could have chosen lots of other paths, but he believes that service to the people of Michigan is the most important path he can take."

Slotkin, who has flirted with a potential 2028 presidential run, has only endorsed one other U.S. House hopeful in Michigan this cycle ― state Sen. Sean McCann of Kalamazoo, who is seeking the Democratic nomination and aiming to challenge GOP Rep. Bill Huizenga of Holland.

Maasdam is originally from Nebraska, where he was a state champion swimmer and went on to play water polo at the University of Michigan before joining the Navy. He later was an executive at Under Armour in Baltimore, among other business ventures, moving back to Michigan in 2019, he has said.

Maasdam has support from some former staffers of Slotkin's, including Emma Grundhauser, who managed then-Rep. Slotkin's 2022 House campaign and was Slotkin's deputy campaign manager for her Senate race.

Slotkin's endorsement comes amid exchanges of attacks between Maasdam, Brink and their allies and a head-turning report Saturday about Lawrence highlighting a 2024 remark on his podcast about Black political leaders, as reported by HuffPost.

"The extent to which the older generation of Black political leadership are such a pillar, frankly, for establishment, capitalist, imperialist American power through their role as this kind of traditionalist, establishment-ist pillar of the Democratic Party, it’s a big problem,” Lawrence said on the podcast two years ago.

“It’s a big problem for left politics in this country. And it gets us every single time. It really defangs the white left and puts us in impossible positions, really.”

Lawrence told The Detroit News on Monday that he regretted the comments and takes responsibility for them.

"I regret my choice of words, which did not accurately convey the point that I was intending to make, which is about the need for a strong, multiracial, progressive, antiwar movement that we all build from the bottom up in order to change our country’s disastrous foreign policy and bring our money home to invest in housing and healthcare for everybody in mid-Michigan," Lawrence said.

"That requires the diligent work of having conversations across race and thinking about how we can all come together and be united in the cause of peace."

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