Rep. Elisa Slotkin (D-Mich.) drew backlash at a contentious town hall meeting in Rochester, Michigan, when she tried to explain why she is voting for articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump.
Slotkin, who represents a district Trump won in 2016, had remained undecided until Monday morning when she penned an opinion piece for the Detroit Free Press.
As she tried to offer an argument to her constituents in the town hall meeting, a chorus of boos and jeers erupted.
“The thing that [was] different for me was the very, very basic idea that the president of the United States would reach out to a foreign power … for personal political gain,” she said at around the 27-minute mark in a video of the event, echoing claims made by Democratic House leaders. In the middle of the sentence, audience members loudly booed and tried to shout her down.
Some audience members tried to support her stance on impeachment—clapping and cheering later on in the speech as Slotkin explained her reasoning. “I will stick to that regardless of what the does to me politically,” she told the town hall amid cheering and booing.
However, as Slotkin continued to speak about impeachment, the crowd of naysayers persisted.
Rep. Elissa Slotkin is seen addressing her constituents in Michigan. (Rep. Elissa Slotkin’s office)On Facebook, some people wrote that they support her, but a number of people disagreed and indicated they would seek to vote her out of office
Slotkin’s position on impeachment could be the beginning of the end of her Congressional career. She narrowly defeated incumbent Rep. Mike Bishop (R-Mich.) by 3.8 percentage points in 2016, while Trump carried her district by 7 percentage points in 2016, according to CNN.
A local woman posted a video to Twitter on Monday that shows what appears to be Trump supporters at her town hall meeting. “Slotkin put politics above her constituents — overriding the will of the American people for her own political gain. And Michiganders have had enough,” she wrote.
A Getty photo showed the Trump supporters holding signs with anti-Slotkin and anti-impeachment slogans such as “impeach Slotkin,” and “Rep. Slotkin, use your integrity to vote no on impeachment.”
People protest before a town hall meeting held by Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) where she will be discussing her decision to vote in favor of the impeachment of President Donald Trump to her constituents on Dec. 16, 2019 in Rochester, Michigan. (Bill Pugliano/Getty Images)In the Free Press article, Slotkin explained: “To be clear, presidents from both parties have leveraged the powerful role of the United States to get foreign countries to do what’s in our interest.”
She said that the difference is that “President Trump used the power of the presidency for his own benefit, to give himself some advantage in the very election that would determine whether he remained in office.”
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