By Elena Durnbaugh
Assistant Editor
Posted: May 31, 2024 7:32 AM

MACKINAC ISLAND – Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Hill Harper told reporters Thursday he wants to have multiple debates with U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin ahead of the August primary.

"I am calling today for Elissa Slotkin to debate me at least four times across the state," he said.

Harper, along with Slotkin and other U.S. Senate candidates were scheduled to debate at the Detroit Regional Chamber Mackinac Policy Conference, but the debate was cancelled after front runners Mike Rogers and Slotkin opted not to participate.

"We're the only candidate, I believe, in this U.S. Senate race, Republican or Democrat that has so much energy and momentum," Harper said. "The question is: Are we going to be able to get in front of enough voters, and that's what they're trying to do by stealing oxygen by taking this debate down on this big platform."

Harper said he wanted to debate Slotkin in front of voters in four different geographical locations across the state.

"There's so many people out here across Michigan. I've been to all 83 counties, folks that don't feel represented by their federal delegation," he said. "The fact that Elissa Slotkin pulled out of this debate is yet another example of the lack of representation that folks feel."

If candidates aren't having conversations, voters can't be informed, Harper said.

"When we talk about Michiganders and what they want, this U.S. Senate seat is perhaps the most important seat that they voted on in the last 25 years," he said. "It's certainly the first competitive Democratic primary for an open U.S. Senate seat in Michigan is almost two and a half decades. That means it's incumbent upon us as candidates to go everywhere across the state and inform voters."

Harper said Slotkin's team reached out to him, but he said it felt performative.

Slotkin told Gongwer on Wednesday she still intends to participate in future debate opportunities and that her campaign has reached out to Harper to schedule a debate between the two candidates. She said if the Mackinac debate would have been evenly matched between Democrats and Republicans, she would have participated.

Harper criticized Slotkin for her votes against federal bills on legalizing cannabis, expungement and student loan debt relief.

"Elissa Slotkin is not in line with the Michigan Democratic voters' values," he said. "Michigan voters do not want, in November, a choice for the next U.S. senator somebody from the CIA and somebody from the FBI."

Harper also criticized the Detroit Regional Chamber for canceling the scheduled debate on Mackinac.

"They should have never pulled down the debate," he said. "I promise you there would have been two empty chairs … those individuals probably would have shown up because they wouldn't want us talking for an hour and a half about how they're not there."

Harper addressed the criticism over his financial disclosure, which he initially filed without a bank account, saying it was a mistake by a staffer.

"As soon as we noticed the mistake, we did a revision," he said. "I'm proud of the fact that we filed something so complete that folks can look at it and say there's a level of transparency we haven't seen before."

In November 2023, Harper filed an original disclosure lacking information including a bank account. Last month, he filed his revised report that included previously unlisted tens of millions of dollars between income from his acting career, investments and property holdings.

Harper said that President Joe Biden has his full support. He went on to say he thought the Biden administration could do more about the war in Gaza.

"Gaza is tough, and it's horrible what's happened," he said. "My personal feeling is that they could do more to call for a ceasefire … also, we need to release the hostages."

Former U.S. Rep. Brenda Lawrence has endorsed Harper's campaign.

"Detroit is one of the highest percentages of African Americans in the country, and I'm very proud of it," she said. "The face that I have opportunity in my legacy to say that I promoted to get one of the few African Americans ever in Congress is important to me, but it's important what he stands for."

Lawrence said that Harper was not trying to fit a mold but to stand up for issues that matter to people, like health care, education and the environment.

"We need someone that's not trying to fit a political agenda," she said. "That's not trying to fit the political prototype and fallen in line, that would have the courage to stand up and fight for things that we need in this country."

Harper said he would bring needed diversity to the Senate.

"Having someone sitting in that Senate seat that's not a career politician is critical," he said. "We need more diversity in the U.S. Senate, and I'm not just talking racial diversity, if I'm elected, I'd be only one of two parents of an elementary age child. If we want to solve issues around elementary age education, and children, and the fact that gun violence is the number one cause of death of children … we need people to represent that. I'd be the only active union member of the U.S. Senate."

Harper said his campaign was one to unify Michigan.

"We're not as divided as we are disconnected," he said. "This farmer outside of Midland that I talked to, when I asked him 'What do you want out of your U.S. Senator, what do you want me to fight for?' He said almost verbatim the exact same thing a single mom on the east side of Detroit at Mack and Drexel said to me: they want a safe place to send their kids to school. They want affordable housing and a living wage, and they want to be able to take a vacation every once in a while without going into lifelong debt. And they don't want massive amounts of student loan debt, and they want clean, healthy air and water. These are just the basics."