Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin speaks to guests at the Slotkin watch party on Election Day at the Graduate Hotel in East Lansing on Nov. 8, 2022.
Rep. Elissa Slotkin has been declared the winner in the race for Michigan's 7th Congressional District and will return for a third term in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Slotkin's race against Tom Barrett, which was one of the most expensive house races in the country, was predicted to come down to a thin margin of victory. Slotkin ended up taking 50.9% of the vote to Barrett's 47.2%, winning by more than 10,000 votes.
The race was highly advertised, and Slotkin joked at a final campaign rally that she was sorry for the volume of the ads that voters had to endure.
The Michigan 7th is a unique district, having voted for former President Donald Trump in 2016 but also elected Slotkin, a Democrat, in 2018. Slotkin's campaign emphasized bipartisanship, netting an endorsement from Republican Rep. Liz Cheney in the final weeks of the cycle.
Both candidates ran on records of public service – Barrett as a state senator and Army veteran, Slotkin as a longtime intelligence agent for the CIA and Department of Defense.
Slotkin said that Barrett conceded shortly after the election was called by the Associated Press.
"I just recieved a call from Tom Barrett conceding the election," Slotkin said in a statement. "I'm so grateful to the people of mid-Michigan for their support. Tonight, voter here made clear that the politics of division are not what they want for our families or our state."
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