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Rising Dem Star Overheard Dropping Relatable Voting Fear

Michigan Democrat Elissa Slotkin was overheard voicing concerns about the Texas Senate race.

Sen. Elissa Slotkin, a Michigan Democrat, was spotted voicing concerns about some Democrats’ electability ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.

Slotkin was seen speaking with Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, a Nevada Democrat, over lunch in Las Vegas on Tuesday. During the lunch, Politico overheard Slotkin say she was confident about Democrats’ chances in Senate races in her native Michigan and Ohio, but that she had concerns about Texas Senate Democratic nominee James Talarico.

Politico reported that Slotkin said she was skeptical about Talarico’s chances as she “didn’t want to get her heart broken again.”

In both 2018 and 2024, Democrats were hopeful that they could flip a Texas Senate seat blue, though both times they were unsuccessful.

Texas Democrats believe that this election cycle could finally be the year they flip the seat blue, given how the overall political environment is very favorable for them and that the Republican nominee, Ken Paxton, is likely to turn off some voters with scandals ranging from an extramarital affair to corruption allegations.

Polling also suggests that Talarico has a real chance at beating Paxton on Nov. 3, as some polls have put him just a few points behind.

Still, as Slotkin said, Democrats have had their hearts broken in the Lone Star State before, particularly in 2018 with nominee Beto O’Rourke, as he wound up losing to Sen. Ted Cruz by about three points even in an election cycle that was favorable to Democrats.

Slotkin, a freshman senator elected to the upper chamber in 2024, has been making the rounds campaigning as she tries to grow the Democratic Party’s coalition ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.

She most recently appeared alongside Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed in an attempt to bridge the divide between moderates and progressives ahead of November.

“We have this fight over moderate versus progressive, or young versus old. And I want to tell you, being your senator for over 18 months, sitting in those rooms, that debate of moderate versus progressive is not the real debate,” Slotkin told voters.

“The real debate among Democrats right now is fight versus flight. It is: Do you believe that in order to have the country we believe in, we got to fight for it? Or do you believe that if you just wait, Elissa — and I’ve had someone tell me this, ‘Elissa, politics is a long game. It’s cyclical. If you just wait, we don’t have any good tools right now. If you just wait, people will come back to us, and it’ll all be okay.’”

To that, she said, “I am on Team Fight. And I need someone with me who is on Team Fight,” noting that she believed that person was El-Sayed.

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Annabella RosciglioneReporter

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