Politics
Elissa Slotkin
born 1976 · politician, former CIA analyst
Former CIA analyst and Pentagon official raised on a farm in Holly, Oakland County, and schooled at Cranbrook Kingswood; U.S. senator from Michigan since 2025.
- Born
New York City, New York
age 50- Birth name
- Elissa Blair Slotkin
- Detroit years
- 1976–1990s, 2017–
- Field
- Politics
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Elissa Slotkin spent her early life on her family's farm in Holly, in the northern reaches of Oakland County, and attended Cranbrook Kingswood School in Bloomfield Hills. Her family's business roots were in Detroit meatpacking: her grandfather's Hygrade Food Products introduced Ball Park Franks. After studies at Cornell and Columbia, she joined the CIA as a Middle East analyst, served three tours in Iraq, and held senior posts at the State Department, the National Security Council and the Pentagon. In 2017 she moved back to the Holly farm and won a House seat in 2018 in the district around Lansing and northern Oakland County. After three terms she was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2024, and she frequently speaks about the more than one million Michiganders who work in the auto industry.
Highlights
- U.S. senator from Michigan since January 2025
- U.S. representative from Michigan, 2019–2025
- Three tours in Iraq as a CIA analyst
- Acting assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs
- Graduate of Cranbrook Kingswood School
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 1
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Studied here · 1990s
Cranbrook Academy of Art
The Cranbrook upper school she attended in Bloomfield Hills.