Congressman Tom Barrett: 'Being a socialist should disqualify him for people's consideration in my district'

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Control of Congress may very well run through Michigan's seventh district. Anchored by Lansing, the state capital, it features a large blue city, surrounded by reddish suburbs, and deep red rural areas. It is consistently described as one of the closest swing districts in the country.

Freshman Congressman Tom Barrett narrowly won the district in 2024, and is now locked in a tight race with William Lawrence, an activist and founder of the climate change-focused Sunrise Movement.

Barrett is a 21-year Army veteran helicopter pilot, who served numerous deployments overseas, before returning to Michigan and spending nearly a decade in the state legislature.

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The race has recently been roiled by a series of controversial social media posts. In some of them, Lawrence called the nuclear family "an isolating, violent way of organizing society" and praised campaigns to abolish the police. 

He now claims that his views have changed.

Barrett argues that the newfound shift is about political expediency, not genuine conviction:

"I think we got to take him at his word that this was his absolute true ideology and it wasn't just this one statement that he made. He made repetitive statements against police, calling to not just defund but abolish the police altogether. He wanted to throw open the borders. He said if we're a humane country, we've got to throw open the borders and redistribute all of the wealth. 

"He called the nuclear family a violent way to organize society, as you said. Countless other statements that he's made and other things that he has done that show a pattern of behavior that this is not an isolated incident. 

"And obviously it's clear to any neutral observer that he is doing this because he is running in a competitive district trying to get elected to Congress. He's not running in Rashida Tlaib's district or AOC's district where they're far more sympathetic to these DSA-aligned socialist candidates. He's running in the district that I live in where I'm raising my own nuclear family."

Barrett contends that the implementation of Lawrence's border and immigration policies would pose a clear and present danger to the safety of Americans:

"Well, the foremost obvious risk of these open border policies of my opponent is just starting with the public safety threat. So take out all of the other economic factors: just the physical threats to our communities are substantial. 

"There are criminal gang activities. We have cartels that were freely operating both ways across the border under the Biden administration. We had upwards of ten or even fifteen million illegal immigrants that came into our country completely unvetted."

Barrett also argues that the fentanyl crisis is directly tied to border and immigration policies as well.

"The leading cause of death of Americans my age wasn't cancer, wasn't heart disease, it was fentanyl overdose deaths. People that I served with in the military that came home and survived combat and died of fentanyl overdose…because of drugs that were pouring across our border. 

"For the first time in my life, we have seen a significant decline in fentanyl overdose deaths, really because of the efforts…to secure our border, and my opponent, William Lawrence, would entirely reverse that, throw the border open again, abolish the police at the same time. 

"And we can only assume the outcome of that would be far more Americans dying of fentanyl deaths, as well as gang activity and other tragic circumstances that arise when you have an open border and no public safety to protect Americans."

William Lawrence is also a longtime member of the DSA (Democratic Socialists of America), but recently claims that he let his membership lapse. Barrett argues that Lawrence remains a fervent believer in socialist ideology, but is merely trying to downplay his true beliefs to win a competitive race:

"Well, I think being a socialist should disqualify him for people's consideration in my district. You look at the tenets of socialism and what they want to do and the endorsement of that. 

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"My opponent…cleverly claims that he let his membership lapse, I don't know, two weeks before the primary election on the eve of him winning…to face off against me in one of the most competitive congressional races in the country that will arguably decide control of the House of Representatives. 

"So he doesn't disavow the democratic socialists…He has embraced all of their positions, gathered all of their support, really benefited from the support of the democratic socialist movement. 

"And then when the time comes to defend those positions, he wants to say, well I let my membership lapse so you can't hold me accountable for all their positions. But I didn't leave under any actual disagreement with them. I'm simply leaving for political reasons because he's so focused on trying to win this election in a desperate attempt to not be accountable to his own record, but to distract away from the devastating effects of socialism and what that would mean for our country if he were to be elected."

Perhaps the most controversial of Lawrence's statements involved a post expressing frustration and outrage with politicians on climate policy. Lawrence, specifically targeting West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, wrote: 'Hurry up and die so that we can get started."

Barrett believes that this type of rhetoric should put the voters of the seventh district on high alert:

"Obviously that's entirely inappropriate, something that should really raise the attention of every single reasonable American to say that that's not how we go about our rhetoric here in our country. Politics is a full contact sport…but I've never in my political life, in any campaign, called on political figures to 'F you and hurry up and die.' 

"And that shows the radicalization…He was a founding member of the Green New Deal Alliance in Michigan, calling to ban gasoline-powered vehicles that we build in my district that employ thousands of people in my district."

Midterm elections generally hinge on economics and affordability issues are driving the political narrative today in tight races around the country. Barrett makes the case that congressional Republicans have delivered on everyday pocketbook issues:

"Well, we lowered costs on people's taxes, certainly…and we expanded the child tax credit. We saved families taxes to the expanded standard deduction, streamlined filing for individuals. No taxes on tips, no taxes on overtime, no tax on Social Security. I wanna take that a step further and have no taxes health care. Give every American a tax-exempt health savings account and expand the things that they can use it for, for healthy groceries, gym memberships, fitness equipment.

"Obviously bring down the cost of gas as well with the conflict in Iran that I have again voted my conscience on as well and want to see gas prices come down and that will affect a lot of other parts of the economy as well around affordability. These are things that we can face. 

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"But if we hand our country over to radical socialists who are simply going to tax Americans to death and then pass on benefits to illegal immigrants and people who refuse to go to work and participate in the economy. We will be worse off for that.

"So this is a very, very important election. I stand on my own merits. I know what I've done here in Congress. It's my job to go out and make the case to the voters in my district, and contrast that with the exact things that my opponent has said what he has stood for and what his pattern of behavior has shown in what he would do if he were elected to Congress."

David Unsworth reports on Latin America. You can follow David Unsworth on Twitter @LatinAmerUpdate