Progressives just notched their first big win of the night with Sunrise Movement co-founder William Lawrence’s victory in a Lansing-based swing seat — but it was only possible because two more-moderate candidates split the vote after refusing to get out of each other’s way.
Former Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink and former Navy SEAL Matt Maasdam had more votes combined — 56 percent — than Lawrence’s 43 percent when the Associated Press called the race just before 11:30 p.m. Eastern. With neither willing to bow out, Lawrence was able to pull off a win — and give Republicans their preferred opponent in the battleground race against Rep. Tom Barrett (R-Mich).
“If he wins, we’re done,” one Democratic operative said of Lawrence last week.
Maasdam accused Brink of being a “spoiler” last week, leading EMILYs List president Jessica Mackler, who supported Brink, to say he “should take some responsibility for his own actions before telling a qualified woman to drop out.”
Their unwillingness to consolidate moderate support is already causing headaches for the party.
“The MI-07 Democratic primary is shaping up to be one of those ‘two people’s egos and campaign consultants caused the lefty candidate to win the primary’ situations in an essentially must-flip district for Democrats,” progressive Democratic pollster Adam Carlson said on X as results came in.
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