On the stump for Elissa Slotkin, Liz Cheney calls for new era of bipartisanship

EAST LANSING − Two U.S. lawmakers from different sides of the aisle shared a stage on Tuesday, stumping for a new era of bipartisanship in an increasingly polarized political environment.

A week after endorsing Democrat Elissa Slotkin for the 7th Congressional District seat in next week's election, Wyoming Republican Liz Cheney joined Slotkin at a rally at East Lansing High School, saying Americans need to look beyond partisan politics and negotiate solutions to the nation's problems.

"We have to stand up, every one of us, and say, 'We're going to do what's right for this country,'" Cheney told an enthusiastic crowd of hundreds in the school gym. That includes electing leaders such as Slotkin, she said.

"You want somebody who has the expertise, that skill set, that work ethic, because that person becomes one that other members go to," Cheney said.

Slotkin is battling Republican state Sen. Tom Barrett in the newly drawn 7th Congressional District, which spans a swath of south-central Michigan and includes the Lansing area.

Once the third-ranking Republican in the House, Cheney rankled many in the GOP with her sharp criticism of former President Donald Trump and his role in instigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. She is vice chair of the House Select Committee on the Jan. 6 attack.

Slotkin and Cheney sit on the House Armed Services Committee, and Cheney last week said she endorsed Slotkin partly because they forged a good working relationship on the committee.

The two lawmakers "differ on a lot of substantive policy issues," Slotkin said Tuesday, lauding Cheney for her "bravery and fortitude" in speaking out about Trump and the Jan. 6 attack.

"But there's one really, really big thing we agree on, and that's in preserving American democracy," she said.

Slotkin said the nation is going through a period of instability and needs to set politics aside to find a path forward. Instead of talking, the two parties are "lobbing bombs at each other," she said.

"The push and pull between parties develops a durable existence," she said. "There is no future as a one-party state."

The Slotkin-Barrett contest is being closely watched across the nation. The results might not be known until the day after the election, Slotkin acknowledged.

Barrett on Monday countered Slotkin's Cheney endorsement with one of his own. Harriet Hageman, the Republican nominee for Wyoming's sole U.S. House seat, said she is backing Barrett. Hageman handily beat Cheney in the August primary for the Wyoming seat.

On Monday, Hageman characterized Cheney and Slotkin as the "uni-party," who they said "don't care who is in power as long as they are." Barrett also criticized the pair for not doing more to hold President Joe Biden's administration accountable for the 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan and an attack that led to the deaths of 13 U.S. military personnel and about 170 Afghans.

Barrett on Monday also received an endorsement from former U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, who left the Democratic Party in October.

Cheney said the Michigan congressional race is the first time she has ever campaigned for a Democrat. She's voted Republican in "every single election" since she started voting in 1984, she said.

Todd Spangler of the Detroit Free Press contributed to this report.

Contact Ken Palmer at kpalmer@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @KBPalm_lsj.

This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Liz Cheney supports Elissa Slotkin in 7th congressional district race