The woman hoping to replace Congressman Mike Bishop in November came out swinging following her primary win on Tuesday.

Fresh from a resounding victory in the Democratic primary for the 8th Congressional District, Holly-native Elissa Slotkin on Wednesday called for Congressman Bishop to return a $2,000 contribution he received in May from the PAC of New York Republican Congressman Chris Collins, who was indicted this week on charges of insider trading. Slotkin said, “Elected officials need to hold themselves to the highest possible ethical standards — both in their own conduct and who they accept campaign donations from” and called on Bishop to return the donation immediately.

In response, Bishop campaign spokesman Stu Sandler said they “already decided to donate this contribution to a local charity based on the recent circumstances” adding that it was “hypocritical” for Slotkin to claim she doesn’t accept corporate PAC contributions, alleging she “launders corporate PAC contributions” through leadership PACs. In a conference call with reporters Thursday, Slotkin said that accusation is a smoke-screen to cover-up Bishop’s over-reliance on corporate PAC dollars. "That is a diversion tactic to get you to talk about that and instead of how much corporate PAC money he takes. He's taken over a million dollars in corporate PAC money and I have not taken a dime. And this idea that money is moved through all these people, that's just pretzel logic to me and that's just a diversionary tactic."

Sandler contends that less than ten percent of Slotkin’s campaign funding comes from Michigan with, “the vast majority of her campaign funding comes from California, New York, Massachusetts, and Washington DC.” Slotkin says she will remain focused on finding common ground in the district, “bringing together Democrats, Republicans, and Independents in conversation about shared priorities.” For (JK)