Swing State Democrat Calls for ‘Significant New Leadership’ in Democratic Party

Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), a swing-state Democrat who won her seat in 2024 and is sometimes floated as a potential 2028 contender, has called for “significant new leadership” across the Democratic Party and, when pressed, made clear she was including the party’s two top congressional leaders.

The remarks, made during a June 24 appearance on SiriusXM’s “Straight Shooter with Stephen A.,” hosted by Stephen A. Smith, drew a sharp response by the weekend from House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and the Congressional Black Caucus, the latest clash in the party’s post-2024 argument over who should lead it into the midterms and beyond.

Slotkin framed her critique around message discipline rather than ideology. 

“Our political system is ill and both parties are just unwell,” she said before turning to her own. Democrats “had a million priorities,” she said of the 2024 election, and “when you prioritize nothing, no one knows what you stand for.” 

She contrasted that with President Donald Trump, who she said won in 2024 by keeping his message simple and focused on affordability. Democrats, she added, “got shellacked, and we haven’t fully gotten back on our feet since then.”

“This is why I’m a big believer in just new leadership, significant change,” Slotkin said. “The old models do not work for people, and that includes in the Democratic Party.”

Asked by Smith whether she meant new leadership within her own party, Slotkin said, “Absolutely.” New leaders were needed “in the White House, the House, and the Senate, and on both sides of the aisle,” she said. 

Pressed on whether that meant replacing Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), she did not name them but said: “If people can’t understand that the game has fundamentally changed and they can’t adapt, then they need to let others lead.”

Smith—a longtime ESPN host and television personality—has also been floated as a potential outsider 2028 candidate. Smith ruled out the idea of running for office earlier this year in an interview with Sean Hannity, saying he did not want to ‘give up’ his money. He said in the same interview that he would support candidates such as Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, a Democrat, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, also a Democrat, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio in 2028. 

Slotkin declined to cast the change she was calling for as a move toward the party’s left or its center. 

When Smith said he hoped new leadership would not pull Democrats toward democratic socialists such as New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Slotkin did not endorse the contrast. The recent insurgent wins, she said, reflected “a public that’s desperate for something new,” and “it does not have to all look like what we just saw, let’s say, in the New York primaries.”

“I’m very different than the folks who got elected last night in New York City. We can disagree about the policies,” she said, adding that “what works in Manhattan doesn’t always work in a place like Michigan.”

She described herself as “kind of a pragmatist” who nonetheless believed Democrats had “to be big and bold,” calling that combination “the sweet spot.”

Her comments followed a round of New York City primaries in which three candidates backed by Mamdani won, depriving two incumbent House Democrats of their party’s nomination and unsettling party leaders who had campaigned against the new nominees.

The pushback from party leaders came quickly. In a Friday interview on CNN, Jeffries was played a clip of Slotkin’s remarks and asked whether he was the right person to continue leading House Democrats. 

“I have no idea what Elissa Slotkin was talking about there,” he said.

The immediate task, he said, was winning back the House, and he pointed to the caucus’s focus on the cost of living, healthcare, and “corruption.”

“What happens in a handful of primaries in one of the bluest cities in the country is not in any way indicative of what needs to happen in November,” Jeffries said, noting that House Democrats number about 215 members “representing districts of all types.”

The Congressional Black Caucus was more pointed. In a Friday-evening statement, CBC Chair Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.) and former chairs Steven Horsford (D-Nev.) and Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio) said House Democrats did not ‘need a lesson on reading the political moment’ from Slotkin, and pointed to her votes to confirm several of Trump’s Cabinet nominees, including former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. 

The caucus said Slotkin should account for her own record before weighing in on House leadership, and called the caucus “united behind Leader Jeffries.”

Slotkin’s comments come as Democrats continue to argue over the party’s direction and leadership heading into the midterms and the 2028 presidential race. Senate Democrats will choose their leader after November in a secret-ballot vote.

The argument is also simultaneously playing out in Slotkin’s own state, where the retirement of Sen. Gary Peters has drawn a Democratic primary that splits the party’s wings, with progressive Abdul El-Sayed, Rep. Haley Stevens, and state Sen. Mallory McMorrow each backed by different slates of current Democratic senators. Slotkin has not endorsed in that race.

Slotkin did not name a preferred successor for overall party leadership or endorse a direction. Asked whether the New York results would help or hurt Democrats in the midterms, she said it “depends on where you’re running,” and pointed to New York’s 17th District—a competitive seat where an Army veteran won the Democratic primary.

“I care about flipping seats,” she said. “I care about actually winning.”