Progressive William Lawrence defeats GOP Rep. Tom Barrett in swing Michigan district
Michigan Democratic House candidate William Lawrence.Andrew Roth / Sipa USA via APShareAdd NBC News to GoogleBy Allan SmithProgressive activist William Lawrence has defeated Rep. Tom Barrett, R-Mich., in one of the most competitive House races on the map, NBC News projects.
The result marks a rare battleground race victory for the Democratic Party’s left flank, which has so far built its power in deep blue districts and cities.
The contest for Michigan’s 7th Congressional District was shaped by voter malaise with the economy under President Donald Trump and backlash to data centers. A co-founder of the Sunrise Movement, Lawrence centered his candidacy on opposition to local data center development and controversial Flock cameras while also pushing for tight restrictions on AI development.
He advanced to the general election after emerging from a divisive primary with less than 50% of the vote.
Rep. Tom Barrett, R-Mich.Tom Williams / CQ-Roll Call, Inc via GettySpeaking with NBC News in September, Lawrence said the growing opposition to data center development was happening “at this moment in our history [where] the extreme concentration of power may be the single greatest threat that we face, and the place where it is concentrated is in these tech companies and their allies at the very heights of government.”
Lawrence, who came under fire for deleted social media posts that included writing “F--- isolation and the nuclear family domicile” during the pandemic, distanced himself from some past positions and said he let his Democratic Socialists of America membership “lapse” in July.
He said he was not campaigning as a DSA candidate because he believes “partisan and ideological labels … do a lot more to divide us than they do to bring people together.”
Barrett, a first-term congressman and Army veteran who previously served in the state Legislature, had cast Lawrence as being too far left for the swing district, which backed Trump in 2024 and was previously represented by Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich. Barrett won by 3 points in his 2024 race.
But as the environment worsened for Republicans, with voters souring on the economy and the war with Iran, Barrett moved to create some space between him and the president. He was an early Republican backer of war powers resolutions calling to limit the president’s powers in Iran. He also introduced data center legislation that would prohibit the federal government from overriding localities on data centers — an effort Lawrence said did not go far enough to regulate their development.
“I don’t agree with it,” Barrett told NBC News in September of Trump earlier remarking that the only reason a community wouldn’t want a data center is if they wanted to end up “backwards and poor.”
“I think that ultimately this decision has to rest with the people who live in those communities, and I respect that,” Barrett said.
The two battled over AI regulations at a debate last month, with Lawrence calling for a pause on AI advancements, pointing to whistleblowers raising alarms about the dangers of the technology, while Barrett talked up the need for “robust protections.” But Barrett said a pause would only empower American adversaries.
Allan SmithAllan Smith is a national politics reporter for NBC News.
