District: MI-07
Cook Political Ranking: Toss Up
Performance Voter Index: EVEN
Will Lawrence is a community organizer who is running to flip Michigan’s 7th congressional district. Lawrence is a Lansing native and he graduated from East Lansing High School in 2008 before attending Swarthmore College, where he earned a degree in sociology and anthropology. At Swarthmore, Lawrence was involved in campaigns to convince the college to divest from fossil fuels. After graduation, he founded a nonprofit, the Fossil Fuel Divestment Student Network. In 2017, he co-founded the Sunrise Movement, a progressive nonprofit advocating political action on climate change in the United States. Through his work with Sunrise Movement, Lawrence helped write the Green New Deal and also worked to help pass the Inflation Reduction Act. He also co-founded the Michigan Rent Is Too Damn High coalition, which worked to pass statewide tenants’ rights laws, and helped secure hundreds of millions of dollars for affordable housing. Lawrence is running for the U.S. House in Michigan because he believes the country needs a different kind of leadership and that this district deserves “a representative that shows up and listens, for all of Michigan’s 7th.”

Michigan’s 7th Congressional District is based in central Michigan and includes the cities of Lansing and Howell. Ahead of the 2022 race, this district changed under the redistricting process. The newly renumbered MI-07 seat, numbered MI-08 under the old lines, is currently held by GOP Rep. Tom Barrett, who won in 2024 by 4 points. Under the old district lines, in 2020, President Biden won the district by just under a point; however, President Donald Trump won this district in 2024 by over 1 point under the new lines. In 2024, the race for MI-07 saw nearly $13 million in outside spending, with Democratic candidate Curtis Hertel raising $7.6 million and then Republican challenger Barrett raising $5 million. In 2026, Lawrence is challenging incumbent Rep. Barrett, and the DCCC has included MI-07 in its Districts in Play program. Lawrence won a competitive primary in August, securing the Democratic nomination for this race. He defeated 2 other candidates to win by earning 42% of the vote (41,032 votes). V4P PAC has not yet endorsed in this race.