Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news. Michigan is a big, diverse,
Speaker 1: beautiful place that has given so much opportunity to so
Speaker 1: many people, and that is something that we should all
Speaker 1: be deeply proud of. If you can do big things
Speaker 1: in Michigan, you could do big things in the whole country,
Speaker 1: because we are a microcosm of the country here. We
Speaker 1: are home to Democrats, Republicans and independents and everything in between,
Speaker 1: and that's not going to change anytime too. We are
Speaker 1: on this boat together.
Speaker 2: Democratic Congresswoman Melissa Slotkin of Michigan, just one Michigan Senate
Speaker 2: seat now officially called by the Associated Press, urging unity
Speaker 2: within the state during a speech that we witnessed last night.
Speaker 2: Joining us now fresh from her own re election win,
Speaker 2: is Slotkin's colleague, Democratic Congresswoman Haley Stevens of Michigan. Congresswoman,
Speaker 2: thanks for being back on Bloomberg. Good to see you
Speaker 2: on balance of power, and congratulations on your win. How
Speaker 2: come that support for Democrats not bubble to the top
Speaker 2: of the ticket in your critical swing state.
Speaker 3: Well, look, I'm not here to armchair quarterback. Just as
Speaker 3: the data is fresh on the printing press age. Look
Speaker 3: there were a lot of things, and Kamala Harris reminded
Speaker 3: of the upper reminded of us of this every time
Speaker 3: she came to Michigan that were the underdogs. There were
Speaker 3: a lot of things that were in some ways inherently
Speaker 3: stacked against us. A late arrival to the ticket, a
Speaker 3: new ticket, some of the confusion surrounding that, and one
Speaker 3: thing with Alissa Sakin that she knows how to do.
Speaker 3: And she told me this morning at nearly three am,
Speaker 3: just because I had the chance to talk to her,
Speaker 3: and we're so close, that she had a really small
Speaker 3: margin of victory, but it was going to be a
Speaker 3: margin of victory, and she almost got it to the
Speaker 3: number before all the votes were in, but they were
Speaker 3: talking to clerks and getting the talent in and so
Speaker 3: these are just close elections and there's a lot to
Speaker 3: dissect on it.
Speaker 4: I'm here in Oakland County.
Speaker 3: You know, I don't want to be the highest vote
Speaker 3: get or necessarily in my congressional district, but I was.
Speaker 3: And in part we got to look at that what
Speaker 3: went wrong. We're going to be talking about that, but
Speaker 3: we also got to look to the future too. I mean,
Speaker 3: in many respects, this election just seems like a big
Speaker 3: wave in a lot of respects, and we've just.
Speaker 4: We've got to look forward.
Speaker 3: And not be sitting around talking about twenty sixteen, twenty twenty,
Speaker 3: twenty twenty four. I mean, we've been a governing party.
Speaker 3: We've done a lot of great things. Mike Johnson saying
Speaker 3: he wants to repeal the Chips Act, which is creating
Speaker 3: jobs in Michigan, manufacturing jobs.
Speaker 4: Allowing us to compete with China.
Speaker 3: Trump's tariff only policies and I gotta talk to his
Speaker 3: administration about.
Speaker 4: This at some point, they're not going to work.
Speaker 3: Tariff only policies will not work for my small business
Speaker 3: is in my manufacturers, and I remember having these conversations
Speaker 3: with the administration in twenty nineteen and twenty twenty. So
Speaker 3: we got to find consensus. People are sick of the
Speaker 3: personality wars. They're obviously tired about the high cost of
Speaker 3: food and groceries. And sometimes after six years, you know,
Speaker 3: Democrats took.
Speaker 4: The House, help the House lost the House. Biden is in.
Speaker 4: You know, they just make a little switch, and we'll
Speaker 4: obviously still see what will happen with the House of
Speaker 4: Representatives too.
Speaker 5: Well as we consider switches here. Congress women. We've been
Speaker 5: talking all cycle about the blue wall states that lit
Speaker 5: up on my electoral map. Right now are bright red,
Speaker 5: all three of them. So for those questioning whether Michigan
Speaker 5: is still a brick in the blue wall after this election,
Speaker 5: what would you say?
Speaker 3: You know, it's it's a big loss for us here
Speaker 3: and I was with our governor and the enthusiasm was up.
Speaker 3: There's a lot of organized Democrats. There's amazing grassroot things
Speaker 3: that happen at the local level. And it's a reminder
Speaker 3: as we'll head into other statewide elections in two years
Speaker 3: from now house seats that I still want to win
Speaker 3: here in Michigan, that we're going to have work to do.
Speaker 3: And we've got to recognize that we also had very
Speaker 3: high turnout in Michigan that was unique for us compared
Speaker 3: to other blue wall states in the frankly other states
Speaker 3: around the country. Our Secretary of State reported that we
Speaker 3: had our highest voter turnout in history in twenty twenty
Speaker 3: four and Trump won Michigan, So we got to reckon
Speaker 3: with that. I'm really proud of the people who worked
Speaker 3: in Michigan on the campaigns, these campaign staffers, I mean
Speaker 3: they just take on such unique positions. And I don't
Speaker 3: think there was any fault to theirs. I think Kamala
Speaker 3: Harrison rose to the occasion. Joe Biden conceded or suspended
Speaker 3: his campaign.
Speaker 2: She picked your governor, Wressian Whitmer. What would have been
Speaker 2: the outcome in Michigan.
Speaker 3: Now, our governor was playing a big role in her race,
Speaker 3: and it is looking at some of these dynamics.
Speaker 4: She was our governor played a big role rather and.
Speaker 3: Look, she remains very popular and a lot of times
Speaker 3: what people don't understand. You got people who you vote
Speaker 3: for Congress, people you vote for for governor, and it
Speaker 3: feels different for the presidency. I mean, we're federalist system.
Speaker 4: And you see that.
Speaker 3: I mean there were people who voted for Whitmer in
Speaker 3: Michigan and just two years ago, and I know they
Speaker 3: voted for for Trump.
Speaker 4: This last time.
Speaker 3: And we're going to sit here and agonize some great
Speaker 3: long form journalism pieces and all this and that. It's
Speaker 3: like I got to get back to Washington next week
Speaker 3: and get back to work for people. I mean, we
Speaker 3: got a budget to pass, We've got a ron to
Speaker 3: deal with. I'm certainly still going to work on my
Speaker 3: critical supply chain critical mineral bills that we'd like to
Speaker 3: get done before the end of the term. At least
Speaker 3: introduced something along those lines, and we we just got to.
Speaker 4: Keep moving forward.
Speaker 3: I look, I lived through the twenty twenty or excuse me,
Speaker 3: twenty ten election cycle. I was in Wisconsin and I
Speaker 3: was younger then, and I just remember feeling like, holy smokes.
Speaker 4: You know, Obama called it the Great Shalaki.
Speaker 3: I mean it's Ted Strickland lost Wisconsin and it was
Speaker 3: a bummer, and we lost governorships, we lost the House,
Speaker 3: and on and on.
Speaker 4: That's not what this is.
Speaker 3: Per se, but something that we just have to own
Speaker 3: up to that frankly, Donald Trump didn't do four years ago,
Speaker 3: is peaceful transfer of power. You see, President Biden already
Speaker 3: invited him to the White House. I expect President Biden
Speaker 3: to be at his inauguration, at Donald Trump's inauguration. You know,
Speaker 3: there is that graciousness. There are these personality factors. We
Speaker 3: spent a lot of time talking about personality, and look know,
Speaker 3: people know who this guy is. I'm gonna have to
Speaker 3: deal with him as a member of Congress and him
Speaker 3: as president, and together we've got to somehow figure it
Speaker 3: out for this country, and we lived through a nightmare
Speaker 3: scenario with COVID hitting our country. We obviously had the vaccine.
Speaker 3: We're really proud to produce that here in Michigan. I
Speaker 3: know manufacturing brings people together. I'm going to continue to
Speaker 3: serve my constituents, stand up for their freedoms, their values,
Speaker 3: and I'm going to continue to help people because that's
Speaker 3: what my job's all about.
Speaker 5: All Right, Congressoman, we will leave it on that note.
Speaker 5: Thank you so much for joining us. Democratic Congresswoman Haley
Speaker 5: Stevens of Michigan. We appreciate your time