Community organizer William Lawrence, a 35-year-old activist who lives in Lansing, has launched a campaign for the Democratic nomination in Michigan’s 7th Congressional District, hoping for the chance to upend U.S. Rep. Tom Barrett, R-Charlotte, who is running for a second term.
Lawrence announced his campaign on Aug. 26, telling a group of supporters at the Allen Neighborhood Center in Lansing his focus will be on housing for all Americans, guaranteed health care, fighting climate change and opposing war worldwide.
“Mid-Michigan is my home. I was raised here, I’ve been here and I’ll be here,” Lawrence said. “This campaign is about building a future together, here, in this community we all love. We’re working for a Michigan we can afford, a future we can look forward to and a country we can be proud of.”
Lawrence, who is making his first run for public office, joins a crowded race for the Democratic nomination that includes some potential heavyweights: Among those who have already announced are Bridget Brink, a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine; Josh Cowen, a Michigan State University professor and nationally known critic of school voucher programs; and retired Navy SEAL and military aide for former President Barack Obama Matt Maasdam.
Muhammad Salman Rais, a physician in DeWitt, and Samuel Smeltzer, who appears to be running under the name Elyon Badger and whose website says he is a Michigan Army National Guard veteran, have also filed to run as Democrats. Barrett, a former state legislator, won election to what is considered a tossup district in 2024, two years after losing to Democrat Elissa Slotkin, now a U.S. senator.
Lawrence’s campaign said he was raised in East Lansing and his LinkedIn page says he attended Swarthmore College before returning to Michigan.
His campaign says he “is an organizer and a coalition-builder who has won campaigns for change at the local, state and national level,” helping to found Sunrise Movement, a youth climate change advocacy group that worked with former President Joe Biden’s administration. Lawrence also founded the Michigan Rent Is Too Damn High Coalition, a tenants’ rights group.
“My focus in this campaign, the issue that unites all others, is real security,” Lawrence said in a statement provided by his campaign. “Real security is guaranteed healthcare, regardless of your employment status. Real security is housing security — not just a good place to live now, but knowing you’ll have a good place to live with your family next year. Real security is the condition of having confidence in the future. That’s what this campaign is about.”
Contact Todd Spangler: tspangler@freepress.com. Follow him on X @tsspangler.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Lansing organizer joins Democratic race to take on Barrett for US House seat
Reporting by Todd Spangler, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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