Democrat leaders are hoping Sen. Elissa Slotkin, a former CIA analyst and a winner of tough elections, will help rehabilitate their public image when she gives their rebuttal to President Donald Trump's address to Congress on Tuesday night.
Democrats are betting the 48-year-old Slotkin, a swing state moderate with extensive national security experience, will send the message their party stands for working-class Americans and moderation over extremism.
She unseated a Republican to win election to the House of Representatives in 2018 during Trump's first term in office and won election to the U.S. Senate in Michigan in November even as Trump carried the state.
Her rebuttal will offer Democrats a chance to lay out their opposition to Trump's agenda, following his speech at 9 p.m. ET on Tuesday (0200 GMT Wednesday) to a joint session of Congress.
Slotkin campaigned on a message of lowering costs for American families - a theme the Democratic Party establishment has since regretted more of its candidates did not embrace in 2024.
Going forward, Democrats are hoping to get back in voters' graces by emphasizing kitchen table issues that resonate across the political aisle: the need to bring down food, housing and pharmaceutical prices, while also defending social safety net programs.
Democratic leaders accept the need for some streamlining of federal agencies and cost savings where needed. But they argue that should be accomplished in a more careful, studied approach than billionaire Elon Musk's rushed firings on Trump's behalf.
"Democrats cannot just speak to the choir. They have to speak to the congregation," said Democratic strategist and former acting Democratic National Committee chair Donna Brazile. "She can speak to a congregation, whether you're Republican, independent or Democratic, and I think that is the value of having her."