MICHIGAN—Democrat Will Lawrence remembers exactly where he was when he decided to run for Congress against US Rep. Tom Barrett: on the dance floor at a friend’s wedding.
It was June 2025. The groom had asked Lawrence not to tell him if President Donald Trump had decided to bomb Iran’s nuclear sites—a strike that was rumored to be imminent.
Then, as the party carried on around him, Lawrence checked his phone.
“We had bombed the nuclear sites, and people were speculating if World War III was about to break out,” Lawrence told dozens of supporters in Lansing on Tuesday. “I asked myself, when is this going to end? And the answer came back, never, if we don’t build a movement to stop it.”
What is Will Lawrence’s position on the war in Iran?
This week, the war in Iran is nearing its seventh month. And at a canvassing kickoff on Tuesday, Lawrence gave his clearest message yet on the conflict: End it and bring the money home.
“I don’t want to see more spending on foreign wars when there are still so many needs unmet here in Michigan. It doesn’t make any sense,” Lawrence said. “We’ve got childcare we need to provide. We’ve got healthcare we need to provide. We got neighbors who are going hungry and unhoused. We’ve got trillions of dollars added every year to the national debt as well.”
“The verdict is clear,” he added. “This is a failed policy, and it’s time for a new approach.”
Hours before Lawrence took the stage in Lansing, Trump told the United Nations that he had a “big decision to make” between cutting a deal with Iran and seeking to “annihilate” the country.
Officials revealed this month that the war has cost taxpayers $44 billion. At least 19 US service members have been killed, and turmoil in the oil markets has sent gas prices soaring. The average gallon of unleaded hit $4.93 in Michigan this week—marking the highest price of 2026.
Lawrence argued that money spent on the war in Iran could have instead been used to rehire thousands of federal workers who have been fired by the Trump administration. It could help protect SNAP benefits and health coverage for the millions of Americans set to lose them under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. And it could replace the $500 million grant for GM’s Lansing Grand River Assembly plant, which Trump put on the chopping block last year, he said.
“We could have done all this, but instead of any of this, Trump and Barrett have spent $43 billion and counting on a war that has made us poorer and weaker,” Lawrence told supporters at the canvassing kickoff this week. “This is not a partisan issue. It’s a common-sense issue.”
Lawrence saved some of his sharpest words for US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, whom he called an “incompetent peacock,” before turning the question on his opponent: “Tom Barrett, are you satisfied with this conduct from your Secretary of Defense? … We’re not satisfied.”
In recent months, Barrett has tried to distance himself from the war in Iran.
He’s part of a growing list of Republicans—including US Senate candidate Mike Rogers and gubernatorial candidate John James—now calling for the conflict to end as public support for the war craters. Barrett has now voted for four resolutions to rein in the war—most recently last week, when he joined six other Republicans and every voting Democrat to pass one 220-204.
But those votes came only after Barrett helped get the war off the ground in the first place.
And they haven’t stopped him from voting to keep it funded.
In March, days after Trump first ordered strikes in Iran, Barrett voted against a war powers resolution to end the conflict and released a statement backing the operation. In April, he voted against another one, which failed by a single vote. In May, Barrett introduced his own resolution—not to end the war, but to formally authorize it for a limited time. And in July, Barrett voted for $73 billion in additional military funding for the war. That bill passed 216-214.
“He could have been the one vote that would have stopped it,” Lawrence said this week.
The war in Iran is one of several issues dividing the two candidates running in Michigan’s 7th Congressional District. Lawrence has also hammered Barrett over data centers—including his vote for the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which featured $83 billion in tax breaks for developers.
The Cook Political Report rates the race a toss-up. Lawrence’s campaign says it’s nearing 50,000 doors knocked since the primary and aims to hit 200,000 more before Election Day.
“Take the next step. Knock on the next door. Make the next phone call,” Lawrence told volunteers this week. “Because there is nobody coming to save us.”
Election Day is Nov. 3. Absentee ballots hit mailboxes this week.
READ MORE: Why is Bernie Sanders backing Will Lawrence for Congress?
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