William Lawrence Campaign Centers Affordability, Corporate Accountability, and Economic Security in Michigan’s 7th District
William Lawrence is the Democratic candidate for Michigan’s 7th Congressional District, challenging incumbent Congressman Tom Barrett. Lawrence was raised in East Lansing, graduated from East Lansing High School and now lives in Lansing with his wife. His campaign presents his Mid-Michigan roots and organizing background as central to the case he is making to voters as someone who is raised and rooted in Michigan and who knows how to build coalitions to pass policy for working people.
Lawrence has spent much of his professional life in advocacy and community organizing and has contributed to policy at the local, state, and federal level. He is a co-founder of the Sunrise Movement, where his work included advocacy on campaign finance and climate policy, as well as efforts tied to bringing manufacturing jobs to Michigan’s 7th District. He also co-founded the Michigan Rent Is Too Damn High Coalition and the Mid-Michigan Tenant Resource Center, organizations focused on housing affordability and tenant protections, where he helped residents advocate for stronger tenant protections and greater landlord accountability.
Affordability is at the center of Lawrence’s 2026 platform. His campaign says the federal government must do more to invest in housing, healthcare and other necessities before sending billions to endless wars and tax breaks for billionaires. He supports expanded affordable housing, guaranteed healthcare, stronger Social Security protections, and closing tax loopholes to make sure billionaires and large corporations pay their fair share.
Lawrence also emphasizes labor rights and economic security. He has walked the picket line with union workers and is endorsed by United Auto Workers, the Michigan Education Association and several other unions. He supports the Protecting the Right to Organize Act. Lawrence says that union membership helps workers secure stronger wages, benefits and job protections. His campaign has also called for greater investment in public schools, trades, and community colleges that he says open pathways for families to build long-term economic stability.
Environmental policy is another major part of Lawrence’s campaign. Drawing on his earlier climate-organizing work, he has called for stronger protection of Michigan’s water, land and air, as well as greater accountability for corporate polluters. His current platform also calls for a temporary federal moratorium on new data centers while policymakers consider their effects on energy, water and local communities.
On government reform, Lawrence supports a ban on stock trading by members of Congress and the executive branch. His campaign also calls for stronger oversight of federal immigration enforcement and a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. In foreign policy, Lawrence has criticized prolonged U.S. military involvement overseas and says he favors greater reliance on diplomacy and tighter limits on U.S. arms support to governments committing human-rights violations.
Lawrence believes that families in Mid-Michigan should be able to afford the basics: gas, groceries, housing, healthcare. He says our priorities as a nation are completely out of step with what the American people deserve: stable work, strong communities, and a government that responds to the needs of ordinary residents first, rather than the interests of the ultra wealthy.
Paid for by Friends of William Lawrence
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