Feb. 27 (UPI) — The Democratic Party has chosen Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin to provide the party’s response to President Donald Trump‘s joint address to Congress on Tuesday evening.
Slotkin is a freshman senator after winning election in November and someone whom Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., called “nothing short of a rising star in our party.”
Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., on Thursday announced Slotkin would deliver the rebuttal to Trump’s address.
“She will offer a bold vision of hope, unity and a brighter future for everyone, not just the wealthy few at the top,” Schumer said in a statement.
“Elissa Slotkin will lay out the fight to tackle the deep challenges we face today, chart a path forward and shape the future of our nation.”
Jeffries said that path forward will include lowering the cost of living and protecting federal entitlement programs.
Jeffries said Slotkin will “communicate that Democrats are fighting to lower the cost of living and protect Social Security and Medicaid while Republicans cut taxes for their billionaire donors and Elon Musk.”
Slotkin narrowly defeated challenger and former Rep. Mike Rogers in November to fill the Senate vacancy created when Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow retired from politics last year.
Slotkin outperformed former Vice President Kamala Harris in Michigan, which Trump won by a narrow margin with 49.7% of votes to Harris’ 48.3%.
Michigan was one of seven battleground states, all of which Trump won over Harris.
Trump’s prime-time address on Tuesday will be his first to the nation after winning his second term in office, making him the second president to win two non-consecutive terms in the White House.
Former President Grover Cleveland was a Democrat and the nation’s 22nd and 24th president after winning terms from 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897.