A Michigan Democrat received backlash from angry constituents after she expressed her support for impeachment at a Friday town hall.
Freshman Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D., Mich.) was greeted with jeers for publicly backing the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump. Several constituents gathered at the American Legion Hall in Rochester, Mich., could be heard booing as she spoke. Some in the audience then began chanting, "Four more years," according to a clip flagged by the pro-Trump Congressional Leadership Fund super PAC.
"Myself and six other members of the freshman class in Congress, all former military or former CIA, wrote a joint op-ed and came out in support of an impeachment inquiry," Slotkin said, referring to the Washington Post editorial she co-wrote with other Democratic lawmakers.
That editorial, as well as her decision to reverse her previous opposition to impeachment, has not been received well in her district. In addition to the American Legion town hall, she also held a Thursday night event in Hartland Township. Slotkin received a mixture of boos and cheers after she announced her support for impeachment at that event.
"I disagree with [Slotkin]," local resident Randy Greene later told Michigan Public Radio. "I think she was using talking points. She said the President should have gone to the FBI [with concerns about improper actions by members of the Biden family] and that we should trust the FBI but clearly, we can’t."
Another man stood up and asked, "What's the rush with the impeachment? Impeachment is a serious thing. This would be only the fourth president in the history to be impeached and to ensure impeachment on something like this is really stretching it."
In response to the backlash, Slotkin acknowledged she knew impeachment "was going to be an issue back here at home."
"Sometimes there are some moments in life that are beyond politics, and I felt that this moment was that," Slotkin said. "For me, involving foreigners in our political affairs was beyond the pale."
Slotkin, a former CIA analyst and Pentagon official, flipped the traditionally Republican Eighth Congressional District in 2018. A week after she reversed her position on impeachment and publicly supported it, Michigan State Board of Education member Nikki Snyder (R.) announced her candidacy in the 2020 race.
Slotkin's campaign announced last week that it raised more than $800,000 in the third fiscal quarter. The campaign has raised $2.1 million so far this election cycle.