Slotkin Won’t Appear With Biden in Detroit: Report

Rep. Elissa Slotkin is the latest swing-state Democrat to ditch the president

Rep. Elissa Slotkin, the Democratic Senate candidate in Michigan, will not appear with President Joe Biden when he visits Detroit on Friday, according to CNN.

Slotkin, who has been ducking questions about whether she supports Biden staying in the race, is the latest vulnerable Democratic Senate candidate to distance herself from the president in recent days.

Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D., Wis.) was a no-show when Biden visited her hometown of Madison last Friday. And Sen. Jon Tester (D., Mont.), who is trailing his Republican challenger in the polls, said on Monday that Biden has to “prove to the American people—including me—that he’s up to the job for another four years.”

The news comes after Slotkin warned donors in a private call that her internal campaign polling showed Donald Trump leading Biden in Michigan, the New York Times reported on Wednesday.

“Right now, President Biden is behind Trump in all of our polling and this Senate race is in a dead heat,” said Slotkin in a Tuesday call with donors, according to the Times.

Winning Michigan is crucial for Biden’s reelection bid, and Slotkin’s comments signal deeper trouble for Democrats in the state.

Slotkin has not responded to questions from the Washington Free Beacon and other news outlets about whether she supports Biden’s continued candidacy.

The Michigan Senate race is one of the most competitive in the country and could determine party control of the upper chamber next year. Slotkin is the frontrunner in the Democratic primary, which will take place on Aug. 6. Former Rep. Mike Rogers is the frontrunner in the Republican primary.

Rogers’s spokesman Chris Gustafson told the Free Beacon that Slotkin “knows Joe Biden represents the end of her political career, of course she’s refusing to go to Detroit with him.”

Biden’s visit to Detroit on Friday will be his fourth trip to Michigan this year.