Tom Barrett

MASON — Bracketed by poster boards displaying six-year-old tweets from the 7th Congressional District Democratic candidate, GOP House Speaker Mike Johnson argued Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Barrett of Charlotte would stand for "common sense," community and public safety.

The signs, displayed near the entrance of the Ingham County Sheriff's Office in Mason, showed since-deleted tweets from 2020 authored by Democratic candidate Will Lawrence and calling to defund the police. They were held by volunteers as two law enforcement associations highlighted their support for Barrett.

"You have to look at the record and not the rhetoric in a campaign," Johnson said. "In this campaign, in Michigan's 7th District, you have a clear contrast between two competing visions, two completely different worldviews."

During the press conference Wednesday, Oct. 7, the Police Officers Association of Michigan and Michigan Fraternal Order of Police restated their endorsements of Lawrence.

Johnson's stop in the Lansing-area district comes as Democrats eye the swing district as a key opportunity to gain a seat in the U.S. House on their way to retaking the chamber. Barrett won the district in 2024 by 3.7 percentage points against Democrat Curtis Hertel.

The purple district includes all of Ingham, Clinton, Shiawassee and Livingston counties and parts of Genesee, Eaton and Oakland counties.

Lawrence, a progressive who has been organizing large groups of volunteers in the district for months, mounted an unexpected grassroots campaign in the Democratic primary to beat two more moderate candidates.

He continues to organize and draw large crowds to his events in the Lansing area, but also carries a long social media history calling to defund police, denouncing the nuclear family and criticizing moderate Democrats. Additionally, Lawrence was a long-time member of the Democratic Socialists of America, only allowing his membership to lapse in July.

Lawrence has said he supports law enforcement and believes in an "all-of-the-above approach" to public safety that includes community violence intervention and stronger mental health resources. When asked about his social media history, Lawrence has said he did a lot of "think out loud" online.

During the Oct. 7 press conference with Johnson, Lawrence criticized Barrett for "campaigning with MAGA extremists AGAIN." Johnson last appeared publicly in Michigan with Barrett in August.

"Today, Barrett is standing alongside Mike Johnson, who thinks our concerns about data centers are a ‘Chinese psyop,'" Lawrence said on social media.

Johnson and law enforcement at the event Oct. 7 highlight funding Barrett had secured for local departments as well as efforts at the federal level to secure the border, which Johnson said had led to a decrease in fentanyl deaths.

The Republican Livingston County sheriff and GOP prosecutors for Clinton and Shiawassee counties were in attendance at the event. Ingham County Sheriff Scott Wrigglesworth, a Democrat, was not at the press conference, which was held near the front door of his offices.

"Tom understands something that should be pretty simple: If we want to have safe communities, we need to adequately fund them and the men and women responsible for keeping those communities safe," said Mike Sauger, president of the Michigan Fraternal Order of Police.

U.S. Rep. Lisa McClain, R-Bruce Township, also spoke in support of Barrett during the event.

"Speaker Johnson's decision to travel across Michigan with us sends a strong message to voters about the importance of this race and Michigan's 7th district," McClain told The Detroit News.

Johnson criticized Lawrence past DSA membership, referring to him as a "Marxist" and arguing his candidacy was part of the "insurgent left" present in the Democratic party.

"They think over two or three cycles, they can elect enough Marxists that the communist-Marxist-socialist wing will take over the entire Congress," Johnson said.

Lawrence said he allowed his DSA credentials to lapse in July because he disagreed with some of the policy positions in the platform released by the DSA that month. He said he believed in securing the nation's border and was opposed to nationalizing industries or abolishing the Senate, Supreme Court and presidency.

When Johnson was questioned about why he had yet to consider Barrett's legislation calling to limit and wind down the Iran war, the speaker said the bill would be considered "during lame duck, right after the election."

"The effort has worked," Johnson said. "Operation Epic Fury was an epic success. We had no choice in the matter."