Progressive activist William Lawrence defeated Rep. Tom Barrett, R-Mich., in one of the most competitive House races on the map, according to NBC News projects.
The result marks a rare electoral victory in a battleground for the left flank of the Democratic Party, which has so far built its power in deep blue neighborhoods and cities.
The race for Michigan’s 7th Congressional District was shaped by voters’ unease with President Donald Trump’s economy and backlash against data centers. Co-founder of the Sunrise Movement, Lawrence focused his candidacy on opposing local data center development and controversial Flock cameras, while pushing for strict restrictions on AI development.
He qualified for the general election after emerging from a contentious primary with less than 50% of the vote.
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Speaking to NBC News in September, Lawrence said the growing opposition to data center development was occurring “at this moment in our history (where) the extreme concentration of power might be the greatest threat we face, and the place where it’s concentrated is in these tech companies and their allies at the highest levels of government.” »
Lawrence, who has been criticized for deleting social media posts that included the writing “F— isolation and nuclear family home” during the pandemic, distanced himself from some previous positions and said he let his membership in the Democratic Socialists of America “expire” in July.
He said he is not campaigning as a DSA candidate because he believes that “partisan and ideological labels…do far more to divide us than to bring people together.”
Barrett, a first-term congressman and Army veteran who previously served in the state Legislature, had cast Lawrence as too left-leaning for the swing district, which supported 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 deteriorated for Republicans, with voters unhappy with the economy and the war with Iran, Barrett decided to create space between himself and the president. He was an early Republican supporter of war powers resolutions calling for limiting the president’s powers in Iran. He also introduced data center legislation that would prohibit the federal government from bypassing data center localities — an effort Lawrence said did not go far enough to regulate their development.
“I don’t agree with that,” Barrett told NBC News in September about Trump, noting earlier that the only reason a community wouldn’t want a data center is if they wanted to end up “backward and poor.”
“I think ultimately this decision has to come down to the people who live in these communities, and I respect that,” Barrett said.
The two men sparred over AI regulation in a debate last month, with Lawrence calling for a pause in AI progress, highlighting whistleblowers who were sounding the alarm about the dangers of the technology, while Barrett spoke of the need for “robust protections.” But Barrett said a pause would only strengthen America’s adversaries.
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