Home  /  Michigan’s 7th Congressional District – 2026

Candidate Comparisons

The NWLC Action Fund aims to inform the public about candidates’ positions on issues affecting gender justice. We encourage voters to get informed, learn where their candidates stand, and to encourage candidates to adopt policy positions that support women and girls. 

A full list of policies used to assess candidates’ support can be found here.

William
Lawrence

vs.

Tom
Barrett

Supports

Defending Our Democracy

Mixed

Supports

Guaranteeing Reproductive Freedom and Health Care

Opposes

Supports

Supporting and Protecting Students and Teachers

Opposes

Supports

Affordability and Allowing Families to Thrive

Opposes

Supports

Expanding Quality Care Options

Opposes

Paid for by the National Women’s Law Center Action Fund (www.nwlcactionfund.org) and not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.

These voter guides are an educational resource for the public and are not intended to be an endorsement of any candidate or political party. Candidates’ positions on the issues are determined using recorded votes for and against legislation; statements from interviews, press appearances, press releases and candidate events; social media posts from verified accounts; and endorsements from organizations and associations.

Evidence/Citations

Defending Our Democracy - supports

William Lawrence

  1. Defending Our Democracy – supports
    • In the newsletter he writes, If I Were Your Congressmen, he titled one entry “Real Representation, Redistricting, and the Supreme Court.” In it, he says:
      • “The Supreme Court’s recent decision in Louisiana vs. Callais declares that partisan gerrymandering is legal, but districts that ensure real representation for racial minorities are illegal. This decision guts the 1965 Voting Rights Act, one of the signature achievements of the Civil Rights Movement…This result is disenfranchisement of Black voters…”
      • “Congress can act to expand the Court, which I will do when the time is right. I will pursue ethics hearings for Justices Thomas and Alito’s many alleged financial conflicts of interest.”
      • “Additionally, I will support election reforms including ranked choice voting, proportional representation, and public financing of elections.”

Defending Our Democracy - mixed

Tom Barrett

  1. Defending Our Democracy – Mixed
    • Voted for the SAVE Act, a voter suppression bill that could disenfranchise millions of women and trans people
    • Supports campaign finance reform and bans on congressional stock trading

Guaranteeing Reproductive Freedom and Health Care - supports

William Lawrence

  1. Guaranteeing Reproductive Freedom and Health Care – supports
    • In his platform on his campaign website, Lawrence supports “guarantee[ing] healthcare for all.”
      • He goes on to say he “support[s] Medicare for All, which would remove the profit motive from health insurance and allow us all to access quality care, for a lower price.”
    • He supports abortion access, promising to “defend women’s right to choose an abortion, and seek to codify this right in federal law.”

Guaranteeing Reproductive Freedom and Health Care - opposes

Tom Barrett

  1. Guaranteeing Reproductive Freedom and Health Care – opposes
    • Consistently voted for anti-abortion legislation
    • Voted for the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which robbed millions of Medicare and Medicaid coverage
    • Voted for Protect Children’s Innocence Act (H.R.3492), which establishes federal criminal offenses for providing any gender-affirming care to minors, regardless of parental or medical consent.

Supporting and Protecting Students and Teachers - supports

William Lawrence

  1. Supporting and Protecting Students and Teachers – supports
    • His platform supports protecting the LGBT community, saying “I’ll stand up to bullies who want to blame communities of color or the LGBT community for our problems.”
    • He supports both K-12 and higher education in his platform, saying:
      • “In our K-12 schools, we need to take a firm stand for the value of literacy, against encroachment by the AI corporations who are eroding our ability to read, write, and think for ourselves.”
      • “In higher education, we need to not only support 4-year universities, but community colleges and trade schools as well. A blue-collar education in the trades is the best path to a middle-class life for many of our young people and it should be encouraged, especially if the alternative is taking on debt.”

Supporting and Protecting Students and Teachers - opposes

Tom Barrett

  1. Supporting and Protecting Students and Teachers – opposes
    • Voted for Stopping Indoctrination and Protecting Kids Act, which requires public elementary and middle schools that receive funds under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to obtain parental consent before changing a minor’s gender markers, pronouns, or preferred name on any school form or sex-based accommodations, including locker rooms or bathrooms.
    • Voted for the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2025, which amends the Education Amendments of 1972 to provide that for purposes of determining compliance with title IX of such Act in athletics, sex shall be recognized based solely on a person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth.

Affordability and Allowing Families to Thrive - supports

William Lawrence

  1. Affordability and Allowing Families to Thrive – supports
    • In his platform on his campaign website, Lawrence supports “protect[ing] social security by taxing the wealthy.”
    • He believes in taxing billionaires in order to support women and families, saying in his platform that “taxing the billionaires would pay for all of the basic goods that the people of this district deserve. I support a billionaire minimum tax, which is a minimum wealth tax rate that the mega-wealthy must pay.”

Affordability and Allowing Families to Thrive - opposes

Tom Barrett

  1. Affordability and Allowing Families to Thrive – opposes

Expanding Quality Care Options - supports

William Lawrence

  1. Expanding Quality Care Options – supports
    • In his campaign platform, he says he “will support a National Family Care Agenda that supports families at every stage of their lives together, including Paid Family Leave, expanded Pre-K, a re-evaluation of how we manage senior care, plus defending and expanding home health care options.”

Expanding Quality Care Options - opposes

Tom Barrett

  1. Expanding Quality Care Options – opposes