Elissa Slotkin Met Her Husband When the Two Were Stationed in Iraq — Are They Still Married?

In November 2024, Elissa Slotkin defeated GOP former Rep. Mike Rogers in the race for Michigan’s open Senate seat, per NBC News. It helped that she got an early endorsement from former President Barack Obama, whom she worked with in the State Department and the Department of Defense during his presidency. Prior to that, Elissa spent six years as the U.S. representative for Michigan's 7th congressional district.

She has been described as a political powerhouse by those who have met and worked with her. Regarding her political positions, Elissa has supported federal legislation to codify abortion rights, co-sponsored and voted for the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2020, and supported the bipartisan CARES Act relief package during the COVID-19 pandemic. While her political star has risen, her private life has suffered a few blows. Is Elissa Slotkin married? Here's what we know.

In February 2023, the Detroit Free Press reported that Elissa and her husband were divorcing. "After careful consideration, we are saddened to announce that we are divorcing after 12 years of marriage," Elissa and her then-husband Dave Moore said in a joint statement. "We've reached this decision together after much reflection and we do it on agreeable terms," they said. A source close to Elissa told the outlet that this decision had nothing to do with her potential Senate run.

Five months before the divorce announcement, Fox News reported that Elissa had moved into a condo owned by a lobbyist who was also a campaign donor. This was reportedly done because of the newly drawn 7th Congressional District boundaries, which were drawn after the 2020 Census. In September 2021, Elissa told Ingham County Democrats in their party organization's monthly meeting: "If the district moves and is a Lansing-based district ... that is the district that’s most natural for me to run in."

It's unclear if this move was also motivated by her divorce. According to Michigan voter registration data obtained by Fox News, Elissa updated her voting address in May 2022. The condo is owned by Jerry Hollister, an executive at Niowave Inc., a Lansing-based pharmaceutical manufacturing company. They have reportedly received millions in federal funding but Elissa's campaign "denied that her congressional office advocated for or was involved in any way with Niowave contracts."

While Elissa and Dave did not have kids together, she became a stepmother to his two daughters when the couple married in 2011, per The Independent. The couple might not ever have met if it wasn't for the Sept.11 attacks. "I just felt I had to do something in service to my country," she told the Detroit Metro Times. Instead of enlisting, Elissa got her master's degree in international affairs from Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs in 2003.

She was then recruited by the CIA which resulted in three tours in Iraq. While in Iraq, Elissa met her future husband, a colonel in the army who was a part of the American team negotiating with Iraq, reported The U.S. Sun. That was in 2009 and two years later, they got married at Elissa's parents' farm in Holly, Mich.