Lansing — Community organizer and progressive Will Lawrence won the Democratic nomination in a three-way primary race in mid-Michigan’s swing 7th Congressional District that the 35-year-old Lansing activist dominated with grassroots volunteers, consistent messaging and dogged shoe leather canvassing.
The Associated Press called the race for Lawrence, a climate and tenant rights organizer, just before 11:24 p.m. Tuesday, defeating two establishment-backed Democratic candidates, former U.S. Ambassador Bridget Brink and former U.S. Navy SEAL Matt Maasdam.
Lawrence had 44% of the vote, Brink nearly 29% and Maasdam nearly 28% of the votes, according to unofficial results compiled by The Detroit News. He faces first-term U.S. Rep. Tom Barrett, R-Charlotte, in the November general election.
On Tuesday night, Lawrence credited his win to the work of scores of volunteers who spent weeks ahead of the primary traveling the seven-county district and knocking more than 100,000 doors.
Much of that work came as groups supporting Brink and Maasdam, for a long while believing they were frontrunners in the race, targeted each other with televised attack ads and mailers.
Lawrence argued his message seeking to end corporate money in politics, rein in data center development and secure affordable housing and healthcare would resound with voters throughout the district.
“The whole country is going to see we do not need to settle for corporate domination of our politics,” Lawrence said from the stage at The Avenue, a Lansing bar packed with supporters Tuesday night.
Lawrence said both Brink and Maasdam called to congratulate him on his win. In statements after the race was called for Lawrence, Maasdam and Brink voiced a willingness to unite behind him to beat Barrett.
On Tuesday night, Barrett, in a post to social media, congratulated Lawrence on his victory.
“We welcome him to the race and unlike @AmbBridgetBrink and @MattMaasdam, we will not underestimate him,” Barrett wrote.
Lawrence should be credited for his dedication to organizing over the last year, an effort that couldn’t be derailed in recent weeks by Sen. Elissa Slotkin’s last-minute endorsement of Maasdam nor by establishment concerns over his electability in November, said Matt Grossmann, a political scientist at Michigan State University.
“He was on track already, running a very local campaign and taking advantage of the fact that these were out-of-district opponents and he was the one grounded in Lansing, East Lansing,” Grossmann said.
Lawrence sweeps Dem electorate rankled by establishment
The purple Lansing-based congressional district has been considered a top prospect for Democrats to flip this election cycle.
Democrats lost the district, formerly represented by U.S. Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Holly, when Barrett narrowly beat out Democratic former state Sen. Curtis Hertel Jr. by 3.7 percentage points. The seat was left open in 2024 as Slotkin campaigned for the Senate.
The 7th District is among 45 congressional districts across the country where House Democrats see an opportunity to flip the seat from GOP control on their way to retaking the majority, and their campaign arm is betting that affordability and inflation will be at the core of their messaging to win.
The Lansing-based 7th District includes all of Ingham, Clinton, Shiawassee and Livingston counties and parts of Genesee, Eaton and Oakland counties.
Cameron Reyes of DeWitt said he supported Lawrence Tuesday not just because he believed in his progressive policies but also because, on a more practical level, he wanted to have a representative who grew up in the district. Maasdam moved to Livingston County in the district in early July, while Brink relocated to Lansing in 2025.
“How do you know what I need as a resident if you don’t live here?” Reyes said.
Steven and Jessica Ellinger, of East Lansing, said they supported Lawrence for his opposition to data centers, his grassroots backing and his desire to get money out of politics. The Democratic standoff between progressives like Lawrence and establishment opponents has been a “long time coming,” Jessica Ellinger said.
The couple said they had some concerns about Lawrence’s electability in a November election. But Steven Ellinger believed the 35-year-old activist had a real chance against Barrett in the general election.
“Establishment Democrats have burned us many, many years, over and over again,” Steven Ellinger told The Detroit News. “We don’t need to try and chase down the independent voters…they’ve tried it over and over again. They’re either going to vote with a coin flip or they are just going to say, ‘I’m only voting red because I want my guns or I want this.’”
Steve Bursian, of Haslett, said he voted for Maasdam because of Slotkin’s endorsement. Slotkin wouldn’t have endorsed Maasdam if she didn’t believe he had a good chance of winning the general election, Bursian said.
“I like Bernie Sanders, I like many of the things he and others like him want,” Bursian said. “But I want a Democrat elected in November. I think the mainstream candidates have a better chance.”
Sanders, the democratic socialist from Vermont, backed Lawrence in the race.
Concerns about electability linger
Lawrence’s presence in the race, contrasted against establishment-backed Maasdam and Brink, has been considered another test of the progressive rise in Michigan elections.
But Democratic pundits have worried that Lawrence won’t be able to sway centrist or independent voters in a general election, thinning his chances of winning against Barrett in the swing district.
In the days leading up to the primary election, Maasdam urged Brink to drop out of the race out of concern that he and Brink would split the more establishment vote, allowing Lawrence to win with less than a majority. Brink refused to drop out, noting she’d been pulling ahead of Maasdam for most of the race prior to Maasdam nabbing the endorsement of Slotkin last month.
Lawrence, when asked late Tuesday whether a progressive could win the purple district, said, “Watch us.”
“People are hungry for change; they’re hungry for unbought candidates,” he said. “The fact of the matter is Barrett is not doing the job of representative.”
Maasdam, who moved to Genoa Township near Brighton last month, grew up in Nebraska but graduated from the University of Michigan before spending 20 years in the U.S. Navy as a SEAL. He served as a military aide under Barack Obama, carrying the nuclear codes for the former president, and later went into business. He moved back to Michigan in 2019 and moved into the district this month.
Brink moved to Lansing last year after serving 28 years as a diplomat, most recently as U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, a post from which she resigned in 2025 due to disagreements with Trump’s policy and actions. She has served in a variety of public service roles under five presidents, and was the first American female ambassador to serve in a war zone.
Lawrence, a community organizer from Lansing, co-founded the youth-led Sunrise Movement for climate action. In recent years, he’s focused on housing affordability, founding the Michigan Rent Is Too Damn High Coalition to advocate for renters and tenants’ protections.
eleblanc@detroitnews.com
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Progressive Will Lawrence nabs Dem nomination in key Michigan House seat
Reporting by Beth LeBlanc, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Beth LeBlanc, The Detroit News | USA TODAY Network
