<\/p>\n
In key swing<\/span> districts across the country, Democratic Party leaders have backed centrist candidates with carefully calibrated positions on charged issues such as artificial intelligence and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.<\/p>\n William Lawrence is running a very different campaign.<\/p>\n In a purple congressional district in Michigan, Lawrence, a co-founder of the progressive Sunrise Movement, is calling for a moratorium on new data centers and labeling Israel\u2019s war in Gaza a genocide.<\/p>\n The approach mirrors that of Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, who has endorsed Lawrence.<\/p>\n Both men are making strong showings in the polls, and now the centrists are fighting back. A shadowy group is running misleading ads that question Lawrence\u2019s progressive bona fides.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have seen this in many cases in other elections this cycle \u2014 that corporate centrists are attacking progressives for not being progressive enough.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n The line of attack is telling, Lawrence told The Intercept.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople are sick of the status quo,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have seen this in many cases in other elections<\/a> this cycle \u2014 that corporate centrists are attacking progressives for not being progressive enough. And it shows you what voters are hungry for is change.\u201d<\/p>\n An unabashed progressive, Lawrence breaks the mold of the typical candidate to run for a seat like Michigan\u2019s 7th Congressional District, which is centered around the state capital of Lansing and the college town of East Lansing.<\/p>\n The district was previously represented by centrist Democrat Elissa Slotkin, who now serves in the Senate, and is currently held by Republican first-term Rep. Tom Barrett.<\/p>\n The other two candidates running in Michigan\u2019s August 4 primary hew closer to Slotkin\u2019s mold. Bridget Brink is a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine who quit in protest<\/a> of President Donald Trump\u2019s policies on the war with Russia, and Matt Maasdam is a former Navy SEAL who served as a military aide to President Barack Obama.<\/p>\n Unlike Lawrence, both declined<\/a> to call Israel\u2019s war on Gaza genocide at a debate.<\/p>\n Lawrence also comes from a starkly different background: While Brink and Maasdam traveled the corridors of power in Washington, Lawrence focused on building grassroots power, first through his role co-founding the youth-led Sunrise Movement<\/a>, which backed the Green New Deal<\/a>, and more recently helping found the Michigan Rent Is Too Damn High coalition.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n On July 7, Lawrence and El-Sayed announced that they were endorsing each other. Like Lawrence, El-Sayed is running<\/a> in the progressive lane<\/a> in his primary while arguing that it will not hurt his electability in the general.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have a lot of people who want to back both of us,\u201d Lawrence said. \u201cGiven that the two of us both prioritize having a very robust, grassroots campaign rather than just relying on tens of millions of dollars in dark money like our respective opponents, it is especially beneficial for us to be able to integrate our grassroots operations.\u201d<\/p>\n Although no independent polls of the race have been released, Lawrence\u2019s campaign commissioned<\/a> one showing him leading the pack. Another commissioned by Brink\u2019s campaign showed her ahead.<\/p>\n Now that Lawrence has demonstrated that he has a shot at winning, the attacks have begun.<\/p>\n The Congressional Black Caucus<\/a> is targeting him over a podcast episode<\/a> in which Lawrence remarked to a Black anti-war activist during a conversation on organizing that he was frustrated with the position of some older Black political leaders backing \u201ccapitalist, imperialist American power<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n Lawrence says his comments have been misrepresented while apologizing for his choice of words<\/a>.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, a super PAC called the Crush MAGA PAC is targeting Lawrence, rather than the Republican holding the seat. The group has plowed more than $500,000 into a highly misleading ad that accuses Lawrence of investing in \u201cWall Street, big oil, and data centers\u201d and campaigning against Democrats for supporting the 2024 Uncommitted movement<\/a>, which sought to pressure party candidates over Israel\u2019s war on Gaza<\/a>.<\/p>\n The investments highlighted in the anti-Lawrence ad make up a small portion of the $11,000 Lawrence has invested in a mutual fund; the mutual fund, not Lawrence himself, chose them. And, for his part, Lawrence eventually supported Kamala Harris in the 2024 election.<\/p>\n The source of the ad campaign against Lawrence is unclear, but he has speculated that it may be powered by pro-Israel donors.<\/p>\n Crush MAGA PAC<\/a> is affiliated with another group called the Save Democracy PAC, which has received money from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee<\/a>\u2019s super PAC<\/a>, United Democracy Project<\/a>. United Democracy Project, however, denied<\/a> getting involved in the Michigan congressional race. (Neither Crush MAGA PAC nor Save Democracy PAC responded to requests for comment.)<\/p>\n\n
Mutual Endorsements<\/strong><\/h2>\n