CHANGE AGENT

Ex-CIA analyst ELISSA SLOTKIN, the moderate freshman senator from Michigan, is a rising Democratic star in a party that desperately needs them

- MARIE BRENNER

THE SCENE INSIDE the vault of the National Archives could have been scripted by Aaron Sorkin, then quickly dismissed as a cheesy throwback to a bygone era. On November 12, 2024, eight members of the newly elected freshman class of senators were on Constitution Avenue to tour the treasures of the archive, including handwritten drafts of the Bill of Rights and the original Emancipation Proclamation. The ritual isa moment for incoming Republicans and Democrats to come together, without their staffs, and literally hold the nation's history in their hands.

But for one newbie senator, Michigan Democrat Elissa Slotkin, the visit was especially poignant, as were the contents of one pearl gray archive case. “Inside that box,” she told me later, “was the original George Washington pledge to not swear fealty to any king.” Surrounded by starving troops at Valley Forge as they battled for American independence, Washington had signed the first copy of that 1778 oath—signed, in turn, by officers and infantry—which would assert that the people of the United States “owe no allegiance or obedience” to the tyrannical despot George III.

“I began to vibrate,” the self-described “history nerd” told me, recounting how she marveled at the tactile power of that fragile slip of paper. “Pictures weren't really allowed, but I managed to get one to post on social media.” Slotkin was determined, she said, that her Michigan constituents be made aware of the vows and sacrifices that had shaped the young nation, whose democratic values were being grievously challenged as she took her seat in the Senate.