Democratic U.S. Senator Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, a moderate elected in a state carried by Donald Trump last year, made a case for bipartisan values and invoked former Republican president Ronald Reagan in her party's rebuttal to Trump's address to Congress.
Slotkin, a former CIA analyst, steered clear of inflammatory rhetoric and sought to relate to Americans on both sides of the political aisle by claiming "shared values" like bolstering national security and fighting for democracy.
Her party is grappling with how to respond to Trump's return to power, tensions illustrated by its leadership's choice of a moderate to deliver the rebuttal even as members further to the left heckled Trump and walked out during his prime time address.
In her criticism of Trump's handling of Russia's war in Ukraine, Slotkin invoked one of the most storied Republican presidents of the last generation - Ronald Reagan - to argue that Trump has ditched the values that Republicans of yesterday would have stood for.
"After the spectacle that just took place in the Oval Office last week, Reagan must be rolling over in his grave," Slotkin said, referring to Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's contentious conversation last week that prompted Trump to pause all aid to the U.S. ally. "We all want an end to the war in Ukraine, but Reagan understood that true strength required America to combine our military and economic might with moral clarity."
Slotkin argued that Trump's policies were raising prices and hurting the middle class, a group that shifted away from supporting Democrats to backing Trump in the November election.
It echoed a Democratic talking point since the start of Trump's second term, born out of regret that the party failed to focus enough on the economy in last year's election even though it topped the list of priorities for voters.
"Do his plans actually help Americans get ahead? Not even close," she said.
She sympathized with voters worried about immigration and government waste, two areas where Trump boasted in his speech he has brought needed reform. But she argued that his approach to both was wrong.
She wrapped up by asking voters to consider trusting her party again over Trump's Republicans.
"I promise that I, and my fellow Democrats, will do everything in our power to be the principled leaders that you deserve," she said.
(This story has been refiled to edit the wording in paragraph 9)
