William Lawrence, a Democrat and co-founder of the climate action organization Sunrise Movement, is his party's 2026 nominee for Michigan's 7th congressional district, challenging Republican incumbent Tom Barrett in the Lansing-area seat.
2026 Races & Market Forecast
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- Birthplace
- Madison, Wisconsin
- Education
- East Lansing High School (2008)
Whitman College
Swarthmore College (bachelor's degree in sociology and anthropology)
Biography & Campaign Analysis
Background
William Lawrence was born in Madison, Wisconsin, in 1990 and moved to East Lansing, Michigan, at age five when his parents became law professors at Michigan State University.
He graduated from East Lansing High School in 2008, attended Whitman College in Washington for one year, and then transferred to Swarthmore College, where he earned a bachelor's degree in sociology and anthropology.
At Swarthmore he took part in campaigns urging the college to divest from fossil fuels, and after graduating he founded the Fossil Fuel Divestment Student Network.
In July 2013 he was one of 11 protesters arrested at an Enbridge pipeline work site in Ingham County; he pleaded guilty to resisting and obstructing a police officer, and the conviction was later expunged.
Career
In 2015, William Lawrence co-founded the Sunrise Movement with Sara Blazevic, Victoria Fernandez, Guido Girgenti and Varshini Prakash, an organization that used protest and civil disobedience and campaigned for the Green New Deal.
He served first as its development director and in 2020 as director of strategic partnerships, and he helped organize a 2018 sit-in in the office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
After leaving Sunrise in 2020, he founded the Mid-Michigan Tenant Resource Center and became a coordinator for the Michigan Rent Is Too Damn High coalition, a tenant union. He lives in Lansing with his wife, Dinah.
2026 race
The 7th district is based around the Lansing and East Lansing metropolitan area and also includes Livingston County and a small part of Oakland County.
William Lawrence announced his candidacy on August 26, 2025, and won the Democratic primary on August 4, 2026, with 43.65% of the vote, defeating Bridget Brink, a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine and Slovakia (28.79%), and Matt Maasdam (27.56%), a former representative for the U.S. Special Operations Command at the National Counterterrorism Center.
In the general election on November 3, 2026, he faces Republican incumbent Tom Barrett, who flipped the district in 2024 with 50.3% of the vote, and Green Party candidate Shane Dedrick. His expunged 2013 conviction became an issue in the general election campaign.