Who's running in Michigan's 7th congressional district
2 candidates are on the ballot. Below is what each one says they stand for, what they have actually done in office or in public life, and the arguments published for and against them — each quoted from a named source rather than summarised by us.
2 candidates · ballot order · Tom Barrett currently holds this seat
Medium confidenceMedium confidenceThe candidate's stated positions and basic record are documented, but coverage is thin — often little independent reporting, or criticism from only one side.What would raise it: More independent reporting, a documented voting record, or published criticism from a named opponent would raise this.
What they say they stand for
Their own words. Claims, not verified facts.
The Republican legislative agenda in Congress, including the 2025 reconciliation bill.
Veterans' issues, drawing on his Army service.
Manufacturing and agriculture in mid-Michigan.
Constituent contact through telephone town halls, which his office says reach thousands at a time.
What they’ve actually done
Documented record from official sources.
U.S. Representative for the 7th District since January 2025; elected in 2024 with 50.3%.
U.S. Army veteran and former Michigan state senator.
Held a telephone town hall his office said reached 5,300 participants across mid-Michigan.
Did not attend Medicaid town halls organised in the district in August 2025; a Planned Parenthood clinic in Lansing inside his district closed in July 2026 after a $4.2 million drop in reimbursement and family planning funding tied to federal cuts.
Endorsed by President Trump and Speaker Mike Johnson.
Arguments in favor
President Trump and the Speaker of the House both endorsed his re-election.
— President Donald Trump; Speaker Mike Johnson
His office says he has run interactive telephone town halls reaching thousands of constituents at a time and met hundreds of people in person, and a strategist for his campaign called the organised town halls he skipped political theatre.
— Barrett's congressional office; campaign strategist Jason Roe
Arguments against
Grassroots organisers delivered more than 2,000 petition signatures to his Lansing office demanding an in-person town hall, after he held a telephone town hall instead, following guidance from the House Republican campaign arm to avoid in-person meetings.
— Constituents who delivered the petition to Barrett's Lansing office, March 2025
Democratic candidates held town halls in the district about the effects of the Medicaid cuts in the 2025 budget bill that he was absent from; a Lansing Planned Parenthood clinic in his district later closed after a $4.2 million funding drop tied to those cuts.
— Michigan Advance reporting on the August 2025 Medicaid town halls
What we couldn’t verify
Barrett's campaign characterises the organised town halls as political theatre and points to his telephone events; both accounts are given above.
The causal link between the federal cuts and the specific clinic closure is as reported by Michigan Advance and was not independently verified here.
No campaign website for him could be located; the link given is his official House site.
Climate policy and a rapid move away from fossil fuels, the platform of the movement he co-founded.
A moratorium on new data centre development in Michigan.
Labour rights and public education; he is endorsed by the Michigan AFL-CIO and the Michigan Education Association.
Reproductive rights; he is endorsed by Reproductive Freedom for All.
Economic populism, in the tradition of the senator who endorsed him.
What they’ve actually done
Documented record from official sources.
Co-founder of the Sunrise Movement; organiser against data centre development in Michigan.
Won the August 4, 2026 Democratic primary against Bridget Brink and Matt Maasdam.
Arrested in 2013 for resisting police during a protest against the Enbridge Line 5 pipeline.
Endorsed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, Reps. Greg Casar and Maxwell Frost, the Michigan AFL-CIO, the Michigan Education Association, the League of Conservation Voters and Reproductive Freedom for All.
Has not held elected office.
Arguments in favor
State labour, teachers', environmental and abortion-rights organisations endorsed him, alongside the best-known economic populists in Congress — support his campaign presents as proof he can turn out voters an establishment candidate would not.
— Michigan AFL-CIO, Michigan Education Association, League of Conservation Voters and Reproductive Freedom for All; Sen. Bernie Sanders and Reps. Greg Casar and Maxwell Frost
Arguments against
The National Republican Congressional Committee calls him a radical far-left liberal whose extreme agenda makes him untrustworthy for Michigan families, pointing to his ties to the Sunrise Movement and the Democratic Socialists of America, to deleted social media posts, and to a remark it says he made about a fatal bridge collapse.
— NRCC spokesman Zach Bannon and NRCC research releases
Mainstream Democrats tried to block his nomination in a swing district they believed a more centrist candidate could hold, and his 2013 arrest for resisting police at a pipeline protest resurfaced during the campaign.
— Democrats who opposed his nomination, reported by Jewish Insider; the arrest reported by Fox News
What we couldn’t verify
The NRCC repeatedly describes him as a felon; whether the 2013 arrest resulted in a felony conviction was not established from sources read, and that label is not adopted here.
The bridge collapse remark is quoted by the NRCC from material it says he wrote; the original was not located and his response was not found.
His fundraising was not established from sources read.
Positions and criticism are quoted from the named sources, not our assessments. This is built to help you start getting informed — confirm the official candidate list with your election authority before you vote.
Michigan held its primary on August 4, 2026. Republican incumbent Tom Barrett was unopposed for renomination; Sunrise Movement co-founder William Lawrence won a contested Democratic primary against former ambassador Bridget Brink and Matt Maasdam, after mainstream Democrats had tried to block his nomination. The district is built around Lansing and East Lansing and takes in Livingston County; President Trump carried it by about one point in 2024, making it one of the most closely divided seats in the country. Roster confirmed against Ballotpedia and WKAR, Michigan Advance and NBC News reporting.
This is one contest on a longer ballot
A Michigan ballot also carries state legislative districts, county offices, judicial seats and often local questions — and which of them you vote on is decided by your street address, not your city or ZIP code.