Progressives have achieved a significant victory with William Lawrence, co-founder of the Sunrise Movement, winning a contested seat in Lansing. This victory was facilitated as two moderate contenders split their votes due to an inability to resolve their differences.
Bridget Brink, a former Ambassador to Ukraine, and Matt Maasdam, a former Navy SEAL, together secured 56 percent of the vote, surpassing Lawrence’s 43 percent, as reported by the Associated Press just before 11:30 p.m. Eastern. Neither candidate opted to withdraw, enabling Lawrence to secure the win and present Republicans with their desired opponent in the critical race against Representative Tom Barrett (R-Mich).
âIf he wins, weâre done,â commented a Democratic operative regarding Lawrence’s potential success.
Maasdam labeled Brink a âspoiler,â prompting EMILYs List president Jessica Mackler, a Brink supporter, to respond that Maasdam should âtake some responsibility for his own actions before telling a qualified woman to drop out.â
The inability to unify moderate backing is already causing issues for the party.
âThe MI-07 Democratic primary is shaping up to be one of those âtwo peopleâs egos and campaign consultants caused the lefty candidate to win the primaryâ situations in an essentially must-flip district for Democrats,â noted progressive Democratic pollster Adam Carlson on X as the results were announced.
