Elissa Slotkin

Senator Elissa Slotkin, the Michigan Democrat, is leaving the door open to a White House campaign.

The lawmaker told the Des Moines Register, on Tuesday that she would consider running if the field of Democratic candidates looks weak after the November midterm elections.

“Midterms is what I’m focused on right now, but if it comes to the point afterwards that I think there’s not anyone else who’s, like, on the right path, I guess I wouldn’t say no forever,” Slotkin said. “But I also don’t think it has to be me.”

Slotkin spoke to the Des Moines Register as part of a trip to engage with Iowans, who for decades voted first in presidential nominating events. She also sat down with a group of President Donald Trump’s supporters over dinner, asking them about their preferences in presidential elections.

"I think for me right now, the most valuable thing I can do, believing that there needs to be a new generation, is, like, come to my part of the country and help figure out how to do better here,” Slotkin told the newspaper.

She is one of several current and former Democratic politicians who have raised their national profile through trips to states with early presidential nominating events. California Governor Gavin Newsom, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, former U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and other officials have made appearances at events across the country over the past year.