One Michigan Democrat running for Senate in the state has been accused of starting a small business to gain favor from voters before starting her House bid in 2017.
Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) started a business called Pinpoint Consulting in June 2017 and then, a month later, announced a run for a House seat using messaging portraying her as a small business owner. However, her campaign did not confirm if the consulting business ever generated revenue or had clients. The firm has been inactive since her 2017 House run and has not filed an annual report since 2019. In 2020, the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs labeled the company as “Not in Good Standing.”
“Elissa Slotkin created a consulting business on paper so she could call herself a small business owner when she ran for Congress,” National Republican Senatorial Committee spokeswoman Maggie Abboud said in a statement to the Washington Examiner. “However, it does not appear that she ever actually had any clients.”
Slotkin’s campaign has attempted to explain the company’s existence as an in-between job, after her stint as acting assistant secretary of defense ended in 2017.
“Rep. Slotkin set up a consulting firm after leaving the Department of Defense, when she was considering a number of different job opportunities. She ultimately decided to run for Congress,” a campaign statement reads.
The Michigan Democrat won her House bid by 2 percentage points over incumbent Republican Mike Bishop in 2018.
Jason Cabel Roe, who led the Congressional Leadership Fund’s efforts to support Bishop in the race, has denounced Slotkin’s alleged political framing of her business.
“What she tried to do in 2018 was make herself look like a moderate Republican to Republican voters that did not like Donald Trump,” he said.
Roe explained the business “was a talking point that she relied on in 2018. But once she got elected, I bet she never talked about it again after 2019.”
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The Washington Examiner contacted Slotkin’s office for comment but did not receive a response before publication.
The allegations stand out further given Slotkin’s Senate run in battleground Michigan against a field of Republicans, including former Rep. Mike Rogers. The Cook Political Report currently has the race labeled as leaning Democratic.
