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When progressive Will Lawrence<\/span> beat two moderates in a Michigan congressional primary earlier this year, some Democrats were worried about his ability to win one of the nation\u2019s most evenly divided districts.<\/p>\n Early Wednesday morning, Lawrence claimed victory<\/a> over Republican Rep. Tom Barrett. (National news organizations such as The Associated Press had not called the race as of Wednesday morning.)\u00a0<\/p>\n A national swing in favor of Democrats helped him \u2014 but so did a campaign that leaned heavily on opposition to data centers to Data centers were on voters\u2019 minds everywhere, but they rarely dominated a race as much as the 7th Congressional District of Michigan. Lawrence vocally opposed data center construction almost as soon as he began running last year. A series of proposed hyperscale developments in and around Lansing pushed the issue into the limelight.<\/p>\n A month and a half before the election, Lawrence announced a data center platform<\/a> calling for a moratorium on new development, environmental regulations, and a national jobs program to replace work taken away by artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n As progressives take stock of the 2026 midterms, Lawrence\u2019s approach points one way forward<\/a> for their wing of the Democratic Party. Lawrence\u2019s opponent tried to turn his time as an environmental activist into a liability, but in an interview with The Intercept, Lawrence said his background primed him to come down on the same side as the public on a red-hot issue like data centers.<\/p>\n \u201cI fought against Wall Street landlords trying to kick people out of their homes. I fought against oil companies who are polluting our air and water,\u201d he told The Intercept in an interview last month. \u201cSo for me, this was not the first time that I\u2019ve stood on the line against a corporate behemoth like this.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Lawrence is a co-founder of the Sunrise Movement<\/a>, which had one of its most famous moments when its youth activists marched into the office<\/a> of then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to push for the Green New Deal with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., by their side in 2018.<\/p>\n Data centers and AI were remote issues for voters then, but they were starting to bubble up in the public consciousness by the time Lawrence announced his run for Congress in August 2025.<\/p>\n Two months later, one of his first moves as a candidate was to visit public meetings in two small townships in Michigan to express his opposition<\/a> to proposed data center developments.<\/p>\n As a former member<\/a> of the Democratic Socialists of America, he drew skepticism from many observers over his ability to win the primary in a district that narrowly voted for Donald Trump in 2024. They were equally skeptical of his ability to beat Barrett, a Republican who tried to play up his moderate bona fides in the race\u2019s final weeks. Barrett was one of a handful of Republicans<\/a> to vote in favor of a resolution to end the Iran war, for instance.<\/p>\n Lawrence had some major liabilities in a purple district, including tweets<\/a> where he wrote \u201cfuck the nuclear-family home\u201d and told then-Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin in a song to \u201churry up and die.\u201d<\/p>\n While Barrett leaned on those posts and Lawrence\u2019s time with the DSA to cast his opponent as an extremist, the young progressive had a card up his sleeves in the form of the data center issue.<\/p>\n It is the rare cause that leaps across party lines<\/a> to unite Republicans and Democrats who are just as worried about water sources drying up and ceaseless buzzing sounds.<\/p>\n At an October 5 city council meeting in the quaint town of Mason, where a developer has proposed a hyperscale data center on a plot of picturesque farmland, Democrats and Republicans alike said they were outraged. Some residents said they would sell their house and leave town if the development is built.<\/p>\n In a sign of how politically charged the issue has become, many of the speakers were candidates for office angling for votes. Lawrence had dropped by himself a few weeks before. His first television ad centered<\/a> on his opposition to the Mason project.<\/p>\n Karl Sime, a Mason resident who crisscrossed the area on behalf of Democratic candidates, told The Intercept last month that \u201c100 percent\u201d of voters were angry about the data center proposed for the swath of farmland just outside city limits.<\/p>\n \u201cSometimes they\u2019ll just say it unprovoked,\u201d he said. \u201cYou can see the body language just dramatically change into anger.\u201d<\/p>\n
situate Lawrence as a populist instead of an extremist<\/a>.<\/p>\nFrom Sunrise to Congress<\/strong><\/h2>\n