# From climate activist to data center critic > A Sunrise Movement co-founder running for Congress shows how progressive priorities have shifted away from climate. - Title: From climate activist to data center critic · Vox | Shortify - Summary: A Sunrise Movement co-founder running for Congress shows how progressive priorities have shifted away from climate. Young progressive politicians are… - Keywords: will lawrence, sunrise movement, michigan, seventh congressional district, climate activism, data centers, progressive politics, inflation reduction act, housing affordability, democratic strategy, 2026 midterms, economic anxiety - Source: Vox — https://vox.com/america-actually/504178/william-lawrence-michigan-7th-data-centers-climate-sunrise - Author: Katie Fossett - Published: 2026-09-26T12:00:00+00:00 - Read time: 2 min - Topics: will lawrence, sunrise movement, michigan, seventh congressional district, climate activism, data centers, progressive politics, inflation reduction act, housing affordability, democratic strategy, 2026 midterms, economic anxiety ## Climate activist turned politician Will Lawrence, a Sunrise Movement co-founder, is running for Congress in Michigan's Seventh District. His campaign focuses on data centers and affordability rather than climate. ## The bigger trend Millennial progressives across the country are shifting focus from climate to issues with broader voter appeal, raising questions about the left's changing priorities. ## Sunrise's early wins The Sunrise Movement successfully pushed climate jobs and justice to the top of the Biden administration's agenda, shaping the Build Back Better negotiations. > We put climate jobs and justice at the top of the agenda for the incoming Biden administration. ## Build Back Better falls short Build Back Better came up two votes short in the Senate, but Lawrence sees the resulting Inflation Reduction Act as historic: the largest green investment in US history. > This is historic. This is the largest investment in green jobs and infrastructure in United States history. ## Still not enough Lawrence's district received 26 billion dollars from the Inflation Reduction Act, but he acknowledges it represents only 5 to 10 percent of what's actually needed to address climate change. > This is maybe 5 percent or 10 percent of what we need in scope. ## Why climate fell down the list Lawrence says multiple acute crises have bumped climate, a slower-moving threat, lower on voters' priority lists. People are focused on immediate economic security. > Climate, which is a super massive but also somewhat slow-moving crisis, a little bit lower on the priority list. ## Coming home to Michigan After the pandemic, Lawrence moved back to Michigan to focus on housing and local advocacy, realizing he needed a more immediate entry point to organize people. ## Rent beats climate People care about paying rent and buying homes more than abstract climate threats. Housing unites people across urban, rural, and suburban divides. > People know that that's an issue, but they're like, "I've gotta pay rent at the end of the month." ## Trump's 2024 Michigan win Lawrence wasn't surprised Trump won Michigan in 2024. He saw economic anxiety, the Gaza war, and a fractured Democratic coalition unfold like a slow-motion train wreck. > I just saw that unfolding over the course of the whole year, just like a slow-motion train wreck. ## Data centers as unifier In his district, data centers are the issue bringing people together across the political spectrum to fight concentrated Silicon Valley power. > That's where people in the district are finding some common ground across the spectrum. ## Crisis hopping concerns Critics worry progressives jump from climate to AI to housing without solving any of them. Lawrence counters that everything is unraveling simultaneously. > It can sometimes feel like folks hop from issue to issue, whether it's climate, even anti-AI right now, without those things being solved. ## The polycrisis reality Lawrence describes a polycrisis: overlapping crises where the entire social, economic, and political compact is being renegotiated globally. > It seems like everything is unraveling, and it is because the whole social, economic, political compact is being renegotiated. ## People have agency Lawrence's through line is belief in regular people's agency to take charge and build a better future together, a lesson from his organizing days. > I believe in the agency of regular people taking charge of our own lives and working together to build a better future. ## Hope from organizing Lawrence found hope through organizing by seeing regular people win victories for their kids and grandkids, moving past his earlier despair. > It was seeing that regular people have come together before, and they've won a better future for their kids and grandkids. ## People performing miracles daily Campaigning across his district, Lawrence meets people already performing miracles on a daily basis, giving him hope despite the powerless feeling of the AI age. > You just see the way that people are already performing miracles on a daily basis. ## Key takeaway Young progressive politicians are pivoting from climate to bread-and-butter issues like housing and data centers because voters care more about immediate economic survival than long-term environmental crises.