GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — On Tuesday night, former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, a Republican, and U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin, a Democrat, will be debating as they vie for the seat that U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow is vacating when she retires at the end of this term.

A September Emerson College Polling survey showed Slotkin leading in that race, with 47% of those surveyed saying they would vote for her and 42% saying they would vote for Rogers. That’s a five-point difference, outside the margin of error. Eleven percent said they were undecided. The last Emerson poll in August showed similar results: It had Slotkin leading Rogers by six points.

Michigan’s open Senate seat is one of a handful of races nationwide that will determine control of the upper chamber in November.

When they won their parties’ nominations in August, Rogers and Slotkin addressed supporters and reaffirmed their promises to voters.

“There’s more common sense in a Michigan diner than all the committee rooms in Washington, D.C.,” Rogers said at a results watch party near Lake Orion on the southeastern side of the state. “And here’s what they tell us: They just want normal. They want their border closed. They want their communities safe. They want the drug trade stopped. They want crime in their communities down. They want their paycheck to go (to) the end of the month so they can afford groceries the next month.”

He promised to support families, factory workers, police officers and the military.

“The contrast between us (Slotkin and Rogers) could not be clearer. Quite simply, this election will come between a choice of service to country or service to self,” Slotkin said at her election watch party in Detroit.

She promised to protect and expand the middle class, bring down the cost of housing, child care and health care, increase domestic manufacturing, combat gun violence, and protect abortion rights.

The pair will battle head-to-head for Debate Night in Michigan as voters decide who to cast their ballots for. The debate will air at 7 p.m. on WOOD TV8 and stream on woodtv.com. It will also simulcast across the country on NewsNation, the national cable news network of WOOD TV8’s corporate owner Nexstar Media, and be carried on stations across Michigan.

The topics discussed will include different issues like the economy, immigration, electric vehicle factories and more.

WHAT HAVE THEY PREVIOUSLY SAID?

ECONOMY

Rogers has said he would focus on wasteful government spending.

“That money that Washington, D.C. is pouring into the economy is driving up your food prices, it’s driving up your gas prices, it’s driving up interest rates so your kids can’t buy a home,” Rogers previously said. “Think of this just on the immigration piece; $450 billion to give food, room and board, credit card (and) phones to illegals. You can get rid of that money. That would pay for every Michigan state trooper and every teacher in Michigan for 15 years. That part’s got to end.”

Slotkin has said that she would continue attacking the costs that are “disproportionately high.”

“The prices are too high on lots of things. Groceries, gas, but also, I mean, the big one that we’ve been attacking is prescription drug pricing,” Slotkin previously said. “We’ve worked really hard to bring down the price of insulin for instance to $35 for Medicare patients, allowing Medicare to negotiate for drug prices like Costco. So, to me, going after those big chunks in our budget, particularly health care, prescription drugs, housing has become huge for people, child care, often left off the table, and then postsecondary education. The big blocks that people care about when they’re trying to stay in or achieve that middle-class life, those are the ones that, to me, I attack first, and we’ve been attacking certainly on prescription drug pricing.”

IMMIGRATION

“I don’t think there’s massive disagreement — or there shouldn’t be — that our immigration system is broken,” Slotkin previously told News 8. “It doesn’t work for anyone: employers, immigrants, our border forces.”

“No one’s proud of what’s going on on the southern border, or they shouldn’t be, and everybody’s got some blame in this: Democrats, Republicans, White House, Congress, and anyone who tries to say, ‘It’s just their fault,’ isn’t a serious person,” she continued.

She called for a “comprehensive approach” to immigration policy, saying a piecemeal approach of executive orders isn’t effective.

“Rational people should get in a room for 45 minutes without Twitter and be able to solve this, and that’s what was happening,” she said, citing a previous bipartisan group of lawmakers tackling the issue and blaming former President Donald Trump for stymieing their effort.

“You’ve got to let Democrats and Republicans work and compromise for the good of the nation,” Slotkin said.

Rogers previously said the problem is about more than people crossing the border: He blamed President Joe Biden’s immigration policies, saying they were a signal to people that the U.S. was not keeping a secure border.

“(Illegal immigration) numbers were kind of bumping along the bottom and just skyrocketed because you took away the two biggest tools that Customs and Border Patrol had,” Rogers said.

He called for the reinstatement of the Remain in Mexico policy and deporting people who enter the U.S. illegally and don’t qualify for programs to stay.

“If you don’t get that law and order piece back to immigration, you’re going to still have these huge problems,” Rogers said, reiterating a Trump campaign narrative that people who enter the U.S. illegally are responsible for a rise in crime.

“No illegal crossings should be OK. That should be our standard,” Rogers continued.

EV FACTORIES

The increase in electric vehicle plants in the state has caused a divide among Michiganders. In Green Charter Township near Big Rapids, Gotion, a China-based company, is planning to build a $2 billion electric vehicle battery component plant. There is local resistance, with some residents saying they are worried that the company has ties to the Chinese Communist Party. That led to voters recalling five Green Township board members last year and replacing them with people who oppose the plant.

Rogers is among the anti-Gotion crowd and feels the plant is being forced on communities that don’t want it.

“That’s Washington D.C., that’s Lansing, that’s Democrats saying we’re going to force this down your throat, we’re going to force you to buy this car, we’re going to force the companies to build this car, and we’re going to force this community take a battery factory that nobody in that chain wants,” Rogers previously said.

A federal judge recently upheld a preliminary injunction, ordering the township to comply with a previously approved development agreement while a lawsuit Gotion filed against the township moves forward in court.

Still, Rogers said there are ways to block the plant.

“There are things we can do at the federal level to make it very difficult for them to build the plant. They’ve got to get special visas,” he said.

When Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm announced in July that General Motors had been awarded $500 million to convert the Lansing Grand River Assembly Plant for electric vehicle production, Slotkin said this is the next step to build the next generation of vehicles in America.

“The next generation of vehicles should be built by American companies and American workers, which is why I’m so happy to see what’s happening today in Lansing at GM’s Grand River Assembly,” Slotkin said in a statement on her campaign’s website. “Today’s announcement is a step towards that goal and will ensure the plant is well-equipped to build new, advanced electric vehicles. Whether or not you drive an EV today, or ever care to, there’s no denying they will be a big part of the vehicles of tomorrow. All you have to do is look at Europe and Mexico and see that China is looking to be *the* manufacturer of this next generation of cars. That’s why it’s essential to our economic and national security that electric vehicles, the batteries and components they run on, and other critical products are made in America. The funding announced today will also protect existing jobs and generate new ones, while driving economic growth in the area, so it’s a clear win for Lansing.”