Meet Will Lawrence: Sunrise Movement Co-Founder Elected to Congress on Anti-Data Center Platform

Progressive candidate Will Lawrence of Michigan has defeated Republican incumbent Tom Barrett, flipping the state’s 7th Congressional District, a closely watched swing district that includes Lansing. Lawrence, the co-founder of the youth-led climate organization Sunrise Movement, refused corporate PAC money, instead building a people-powered grassroots mobilization campaign. He focused on lowering the costs of housing and healthcare, opposing the war on Iran, and challenging the power of Big Tech.

“I’m fighting for a federal moratorium on new data center development, along with a pause on advanced AI development,” says Lawrence. “These developers come into small towns, and they say, ’We’re going to suck up a bunch of water. We’re going to use more energy than the current capacity of the grid. We don’t know what’s going to happen to your property values, but if everything goes well, we’re going to put 10 or 20 million people out of work, and if it goes poorly, we may kill everybody by accident.’”

Lawrence also says he will back Hakeem Jeffries for House speaker, but that he will demand Democratic leadership listen to progressive concerns.