A far-left climate activist is gaining traction in the Democratic primary for a Michigan district that will be on the front line of this year’s battle for control of the U.S. House.
The Democratic establishment worries that a primary win by Will Lawrence, who sometimes calls his political viewpoint social democracy or libertarian socialism, will dash the chance to flip the GOP-held seat in Michigan’s 7th Congressional District.
The district will be a pivotal general election showdown in a year when Democrats need a net gain of just three seats to win a House majority.
The district, which includes the state capital of Lansing, General Motors facilities, and Michigan State University, has historically preferred moderates. It is rated a “tossup” for November by the Cook Political Report.
Democratic groups have pounded Mr. Lawrence with attack ads, determined to deny him the nomination to face Rep. Tom Barrett, an experienced Republican who flipped the district in 2024.
Befitting his political alignment, Mr. Lawrence has endorsements from the party’s far-left wing: Sen. Bernard Sanders of Vermont, Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Abdul El-Sayed, a candidate in the Michigan Democratic primary for U.S. Senate.
Sen. Elissa Slotkin, a Michigan Democrat who once represented the district, has now thrown her support behind one of the establishment picks, Matt Maasdam, in the 7th District primary.
Mr. Maasdam, a former Navy SEAL who guarded nuclear launch codes for President Obama, is one of two candidates seeking the nomination who fit the mold of Slotkin — a traditional Democrat who promises to be a team player and get things done in Washington.
The other is Bridget Brink, who served as the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine from 2022 until April 2025, when she resigned from President Trump’s administration, objecting to what she saw as the president’s strong-arming of Ukraine’s government.
After the Slotkin endorsement, Ms. Brink told The Washington Times in a statement that, among the Democrats in her race, she is the “only one who has stood up to Trump” and “the only one who’s not backed by a corporate-backed, dark money super PAC — nearly $3 million of which is pouring into MI-07.”
Mr. Maasdam and Ms. Brink have fairly generic Democratic platforms of prioritizing lowering costs and protecting entitlement programs.
They have far outraised Mr. Lawrence, but they threaten to split the moderate vote in the primary and hand the nomination to him.
Jason Roe, a consultant for the Barrett campaign, described the district as being “as bipolar a district as there is” and “behaviorally very centrist.”
He said the Lansing area tends to elect “competent” politicians “focused on the job,” such as former Reps. Debbie Stabenow, a Democrat who later became a senator, and Mike Rogers, a Republican now running for Senate.
Still, he said not to count Mr. Lawrence out in the primary.
“Lawrence, the progressive organizer, is born and raised [here]. He’s got very deep ties in the community and has run a pretty phenomenal ground game, and he’s really good at social media,” Mr. Roe said.
Mr. Lawrence shows signs of momentum in the primary race. He emerged with a 2-point lead in a March poll sponsored by Mr. Maasdam.
Mr. Lawrence has weathered plenty of Democratic opposition, with critics pointing to his having referred to then-Vice President Kamala Harris and Michigan Democratic candidates as “warmongers” in 2024 and saying after voting for them, it was “the hardest vote I ever cast.”
Mr. Lawrence has also been targeted by the group Crush MAGA PAC for having voted “uncommitted” in the 2024 Democratic presidential primary to protest President Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza and continued U.S. military aid to Israel.
“Will Lawrence claims to be a progressive, but he campaigned against Democrats and was part of a movement that helped Trump win Michigan,” the narrator says in the PAC’s ad attacking Lawrence.
