William Lawrence, anti-Israel progressive, takes Dem House nomination in Michigan
Co-founder of Sunrise Movement, climate group that’s become a harsh Israel critic, has campaigned with state’s anti-Israel Senate nominee El-Sayed, called to ‘stop arming Israel’
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JTA — An outspoken pro-Palestinian progressive, William Lawrence, bested two establishment-backed picks in a Democratic House primary for a battleground district in Michigan on Tuesday.
Lawrence is a co-founder of the climate advocacy group Sunrise Movement, which has also become a harsh critic of Israel. He campaigned with Michigan’s anti-Israel Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed, who won his own tight primary race against a pro-Israel moderate.
Lawrence took the Democratic nomination in the state’s 7th District, with The Associated Press calling the race for him Tuesday night. Lawrence had 43.7% of the vote with 92% of votes counted on Wednesday morning.
His opponents, Bridget Brink, a former US ambassador to Ukraine, and former Navy SEAL Matt Maasdam, two centrist candidates with military and foreign policy backgrounds, effectively split the establishment vote and opened a lane for the progressive.
“I couldn’t be prouder of the movement we’ve built in mid-Michigan,” Lawrence wrote on social media after the race was called. “We’re building a movement made up of real Michiganders across political divides, not DC consultants.”
Another House candidate backed by El-Sayed, state Rep. Donavan McKinney, also won his race against incumbent Shri Thanedar in Michigan’s 13th District. Thanedar was backed by the pro-Israel lobby AIPAC.
As with several other victorious Democratic House candidates this primary cycle, Lawrence made pro-Palestinian advocacy a central plank of his campaign. He was the only Democrat in his race to accuse Israel of genocide, and at his rally with El-Sayed in Lansing, he called for America to “stop arming Israel.”
All eyes on Michigan.
Join us on Sunday for a night of games, community, and laughter to raise the resources we need to win!
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— Dr. Abdul El-Sayed (@AbdulElSayed) July 31, 2026
Lawrence, whose campaign also tapped into growing public anger over data centers, will face Republican incumbent Rep. Tom Barrett in November. The race has been considered a toss-up.
Lawrence’s victory marked one place where party leadership will be pressured to support an anti-Israel progressive if it hopes to retake Congress in November. Democrats have eyed the district, which was held by centrist Jewish Democrat Sen. Elissa Slotkin before Barrett, as a top target for flipping. Slotkin had endorsed Maasdam in the race’s homestretch while staying out of the Senate race.
It won’t be easy to line the party up behind Lawrence. He had been condemned by the Congressional Black Caucus during his campaign over resurfaced podcast comments in which he said Black Democratic leaders “defang the white left” — comments he later explained as having been prompted by his anger over Israel’s war in Gaza.
Centrist House Democrats have questioned his ability to win in November.
But his campaign told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in a statement ahead of primary day that they were confident his focus on “ending military support to human rights abusers and bringing that money home to fund good jobs, housing, and healthcare here at home” would play well across party lines.
The Times of Israel Community.