Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) said she isn’t ruling out a 2028 presidential run, adding her name to the national conversation during a recent trip to Iowa.
Slotkin joins a growing number of Democrats who have publicly stated they are considering a bid for the White House in 2028. While Slotkin hasn’t announced a presidential campaign, she did say she “wouldn’t rule it out.”
“I’m not announcing anything. There’s no big, you know, whatever, announcement to be made,” Slotkin told reporters in Iowa. “But, yeah, do I want to be in that national conversation and push my own party to be better, because I like winning and I don’t like when people who try to destroy democracy are in the White House? Yeah.”
Slotkin’s remarks occurred during a recent trip to Iowa, where she was campaigning on behalf of Iowa Democrats.
When pressed about her comments on 2028, Slotkin said the midterm elections would determine if she would announce a presidential campaign.
“I’m literally not arrogant enough to think that I’m the only person who can do this,” she said. “If there was someone who I really felt had what it takes to win, I’d get behind that person. I’m a new senator. I’m new to this level of elected office.”
“But if we get through the midterms and I don’t see it emerging from other leaders as they start to announce and people decide and don’t decide, you know, I wouldn’t rule it out. But there’s a long road before we get there,” she continued.
During the Iowa trip, she organized a focus group about affordability with supporters of President Donald Trump and delivered the keynote address at a Polk County Democratic Party dinner.
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Her trip to Iowa is part of the Democrats’ strategy to deploy well-known names in the party to consequential states. Slotkin is also heading to Ohio to campaign in Columbus and Cincinnati.
The junior senator from Michigan has been making national headlines recently since she and five of her Democratic colleagues, all with military backgrounds, posted a video encouraging service members to refuse “illegal orders.”
Slotkin, who has been building a national presence since she narrowly won her Senate seat in 2024 and delivered Democrats’ rebuttal to Trump’s 2025 Joint Address to Congress, has a history of reaching Republican voters.
She flipped a Republican-held district in 2018 when she was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives and was one of four Democrats to win a U.S. Senate seat in a state that Trump carried in 2024.
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Democrats are eyeing various Iowa races in the midterm elections to regain control at both the federal and state levels, including Iowa’s 1st and 3rd congressional districts, the Senate seat of retiring Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA), and the gubernatorial race.
During the trip, Slotkin also campaigned alongside state Sen. Sarah Trone Garriott, a Democrat running to flip Iowa’s Republican-held 3rd congressional seat, according to the Des Moines Register.
Beyond Sloktin’s comments about 2028, the trip itself fueled speculation about a White House run, as Iowa has historically served as the first primary location in presidential campaigns. However, the Democratic Party has since changed its rules and reordered the presidential primary calendar.
Slotkin joked about her appearance there, adding to the rumors of a future White House bid.
“The minute you try and set foot in Iowa, the people kind of lose their minds a little bit,” she said.
But since national Democrats removed Iowa from leading their presidential primary calendar, the state carries less significance for the party.
Despite this, Slotkin still encouraged Democrats to prioritize states like Iowa in an interview with the Des Moines Register during her trip.
“This is part of why I think, right now, my value add can be coming back to the middle of the country where I’m from and trying to figure out a different way forward for the Democratic Party,” she said. “The old system, the old guard, it’s just not working for people.”
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The Democratic National Committee is currently reviewing its presidential primary calendar, with numerous states vying for early spots in the 2028 Democratic primary.
Slotkin said it would be “malpractice” by the DNC to snub a midwestern state in the primary calendar, arguing candidates will “need the Midwest to win a general election.”