Progressive William Lawrence defeats GOP Rep. Tom Barrett in swing Michigan district

Progressive activist William Lawrence has unseated Republican Rep. Tom Barrett in Michigan's 7th Congressional District, NBC News projects. The win is unusual: the Democratic Party's left wing has mostly succeeded in solidly liberal cities and districts, not in a true toss-up seat like this one. Voter frustration over the economy under President Donald Trump, along with resentment of data center construction, shaped the race.

Lawrence, a Sunrise Movement co-founder, ran against local data center projects and Flock cameras and called for strict limits on artificial intelligence. He reached the general election after a bitter primary in which he took under half the vote. Opponents seized on deleted pandemic-era posts, and he said he had let his Democratic Socialists of America membership lapse in July and was not running under that banner.

Barrett, a first-term Army veteran and former state legislator, argued Lawrence was too liberal for a district that favored Trump in 2024 and once sent Sen. Elissa Slotkin to Congress. He had won that year by 3 points. As sentiment turned against his party, he put distance between himself and Trump, backing war powers measures on Iran and proposing a bill to protect local control over data centers.

Summarized by PolitiKool from NBC News’s reporting. Read the full story at NBC News →