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Inside Washington
Can a former climate and housing activist make it to the halls of Congress? Will Lawrence’s opponents are trying to paint him as too radical for Michigan’s swingy 7th district. But as Lawrence races to eight town halls in six days, he told The New Republic that his background as an organizer has helped him win voters’ trust on the hottest topic of the 2026 election cycle: data centers.
The 7th district, which includes the state capital, Lansing, and its surrounding area, is currently represented by Republican Tom Barrett, who won with just over 50 percent of the vote in 2024. Before Barrett, the seat was held by now-Senator Elissa Slotkin, a Democrat who also won in a tight race. Limited polling suggests that the 2026 race could be just as tight.
Lawrence, who co-founded the youth environmental advocacy organization Sunrise Movement in 2015 before going on to found a tenant advocacy organization in Michigan, has become a well-known figure in the district since launching his campaign a year ago. “Will Lawrence has been spending every day in the district—extremely open and public throughout,” said Matt Grossman, a professor of political science at Michigan State University.
2026 is the perfect environment for an activist and organizer to win in a purple area, Lawrence argues: “People feel that nobody in D.C. gives a damn about them, and nobody in Wall Street or Silicon Valley gives a damn about them, either,” he said. In that context, he views his organizing background as a plus. “Being able to motivate and inspire people to take action to win the better life that we deserve, that’s what I’ve been doing all along.” He also thinks his campaign has benefited from an active volunteer network; during the primary, over 800 volunteers knocked on 100,000 doors, his campaign said.
Still, not everyone is eager to elect a former organizer. Attack ads have portrayed Lawrence as too radical for the district. Grossman compared it to Michigan’s Senate race, where Republicans have similarly been trying to portray Abdul El-Sayed as too radical to represent the state. Lawrence also came under fire in July when The Huffington Post published comments from a podcast episode in 2024 when Lawrence said that “the older generation of Black political leadership” holds up capitalism and “defangs the white left.” And during the general, Lawrence has been somewhat more cautious about leaning into his background in climate activism, instead focusing on issues with broader appeal.
“One of the ways he did that early on was, of course, being among the most strident in taking on data centers,” said Grossman. Indeed, Lawrence began talking about data centers before they became a key issue in campaigns across the country. I asked Lawrence how he was able to identify a firebrand issue—one that caught many politicians by surprise—so early on. “It’s because I know how to listen,” he said. “That’s what an organizer’s job is: to listen to people and to take them seriously. And I started hearing last fall that people were very concerned about hyperscale data centers proposed in various corners of my district.”
The fight against data centers makes sense for the former climate activist. Though data centers aren’t just an environmental issue, Lawrence said, they raise concerns about emissions and water usage. If elected, Lawrence said, he’d like to focus on making sure diesel-fueled data centers don’t “blow a hole in the climate.” He also said he wants to address pollution in the Great Lakes.
But Lawrence has had to walk a fine line between leaning into his background as a climate organizer and avoiding coming across as a political radical. “It’s not like he runs away from it or distances himself from it,” said Grossman. But “he doesn’t want to run as the climate activist.” That’s particularly true in 2026, when climate politics have fallen precipitously out of the national discourse. Lawrence acknowledged that himself: “The climate crisis is no less urgent now than it’s ever been, and urgent action is still necessary,” he said. “And also, we’re dealing with other acute crises.” He pointed to democratic erosion, the cost of living, and existential threats from AI.
Data centers have become a flashpoint for all of these issues. While Lawrence supports a full moratorium on data center construction, Barrett has said that he doesn’t think the federal government should be involved. As locals face off against powerful industry forces in their backyard, they’ll be voting, at least in part, on whether they want their leaders to stand back—or instead join the fight.
—Emma Janssen
Outside Washington
A Harris/Guardian poll released Thursday finds that 72 percent of Democrats, 61 percent of independents, and 50 percent of Republicans currently believe the country to be in a recession—up from 67-54-39 in May–June. Economists, by contrast, do not rate the economy as being anywhere close to a recession—although BlackRock CEO Larry Fink conveniently insisted this week that a data center moratorium would trigger one. (Current Chicago Fed president and former Obama-era chair of the Council of Economic Advisers Austan Goolsbee has argued that an AI slowdown would do no such thing.)
Amid the panoply of recent attempts to lower fuel prices—note the gas tax holidays in multiple states, the loosening of restrictions on certain types of diesel, etc.—it’s worth noting that neither candidate running in Iowa’s intensely agricultural 4th congressional district can bring themselves to back Trump’s diesel deal. “I have not spoken with any voters who believe that one of the solutions ought to be working with a dictator from Russia,” Republican Chris McGowan said in a televised debate this week. Democrat Dave Dawson called the deal illegal. You can read Iowa Capital Dispatch’s coverage of the debate here. While Cook Political Report has recently suggested that Dems might be ahead in the state’s 1st and 3rd districts, and might even have a shot at the 2nd, McGowan is heavily favored to win the 4th. (There hasn’t been much public polling.) In that context, it’s tempting to read his insistence on distinguishing himself from Trump—he also heavily implied during the debate that he might take action to end the war in Iran—as a sign of the president’s deep unpopularity even among staunch Republican voters.
—Heather Souvaine Horn
The Ideas Factory
Monday at 10:30 a.m., the Brookings Institution will host an online panel discussion about the upcoming midterms. William Galston, Erin Covey, Christopher S. Warshaw, and Kathryn Dunn Tenpas will talk about “potential election outcomes, the role of public opinion, the impact of mid-decade redistricting, and the consequences of new majorities in the House and Senate.”
At the Brennan Center for Justice, Celina Avalos Jaramillo and Joanna Zdanys explain the significance of California’s Proposition 4, a public campaign finance proposal on the November ballot. “Public financing programs currently exist in at least 14 states and 26 localities, including five California charter cities,” write Jaramillo and Zdanys, “but state law currently bans other localities and the state from creating similar programs. Prop 4 would repeal that ban, giving the legislature and local governments the opportunity to create new public financing programs.” The pair call public campaign financing “one of the most powerful” tools to give candidates options outside of courting billionaires and powerful industries.
—Heather Souvaine Horn
In Closing
Good Week: Greece
For the past year, the proud people of Greece have had to politely endure one of the most unqualified U.S. ambassadors of the Trump era (and that’s saying something!). True to her reputation, Kimberly Guilfoyle has been nothing but a fame-seeking party animal since she washed ashore in Athens. But now that Trump has ditched her over the “honey please” scandal, the Greeks have cause to celebrate.
Bad Week: Katie Zacharia
The new White House press secretary’s first week at work has been one for the ages. On Tuesday, Zacharia held her inaugural briefing, and the reviews were unkind. Then her questionable claim of being a lawyer was exposed, prompting a complaint by the California bar. She only made things worse by saying she passed the bar exam in China, backtracking on that answer, and then revealing on Fox News that she’d failed the California bar exam and has been relying on the distinction between “lawyer” and “attorney.” And her first week isn’t even over yet.
—Ryan Kearney
Political Trivia Question of the Day
Name all of Trump 1.0’s White House spokespeople, in order.
(Sign up for The TNR Blue Book to find the answer in tomorrow’s newsletter.)
—Michael Tomasky