AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González.

In Michigan, progressive candidate Will Lawrence has defeated Republican incumbent Tom Barrett, flipping a closely watched swing district that includes Lansing. Lawrence is the co-founder of the youth-led climate group the Sunrise Movement. He ran a grassroots campaign focused on lowering the cost of housing and healthcare, opposing the war in Iran, and challenging the power of Big Tech.

One of the central issues of Lawrence’s campaign was opposition to artificial intelligence, AI, data centers. He called for a pause on the construction of new centers, joining residents’ concerns about their impact on Michigan’s water, electricity bills, quality of life, including noise pollution. Three hyperscale data centers have been proposed in different parts of the district. Lawrence also campaigned against Flock surveillance cameras and called for tighter restrictions on AI overall.

The race was one of the most expensive House contests in the country, $66 million spent on political advertising.

But Will Lawrence is now in Washington, D.C. The congressmember-elect is there for orientation.

Congressmember-elect Will Lawrence, welcome to Democracy Now! If you can start off by —

REP.-ELECT WILL LAWRENCE: Thank you.

AMY GOODMAN: — talking about what you’re planning to bring to Congress, and then respond to what’s happening? The House leader race is underway. There’s going to be an internal vote, I think, next week, with Congressmember Hakeem Jeffries as the House speaker. But there are those who are questioning that leadership. I’m wondering if you can talk about that, as well.

REP.-ELECT WILL LAWRENCE: Thank you, Amy. It’s a real honor to be here. Longtime fan of the show.

You know, I’m just thrilled to be here to offer independent-minded representation for my district. People voted to get Big Money out of politics, to hold Big Tech accountable, to stop these endless wars around the world and to bring our money home to invest in first things first, good jobs and education, housing and healthcare, so that we can all look forward to the future again. And I just couldn’t be more honored to represent the people of my district.

And, you know, I’ve been getting the correspondence from my constituents over the last number of days, you know, expressing concern about who the next speaker is going to be. And I do want to make clear that I’ve said since July that I will support Hakeem for speaker. I’m a man of my word, and I intend to keep that word. But the correspondence is very important, not just in my district, but I’m hearing from all my other incoming freshmen here that they’re also hearing the same thing. And it reflects the anxiety that people feel that this election, which was clearly about change and a repudiation of the status quo, could result in more of the same. And they’re hungry to know that it’s going to be different and the Democratic Party is truly going to fight for real reform in our economy and our democracy. And people doubt that that will happen because of leadership’s well-documented ties to Big Money, including weapons manufacturers and health insurance CEOs and AIPAC and many others.

And so, I’m going to push Leader Jeffries publicly, and I will push him privately, to hear those concerns and commit to giving voice to the American people by putting votes on the floor that reflect the issues that I and people across the country campaigned on. We need to have a vote to block the bombs to Israel. We need to have a vote to guarantee healthcare to every person in my district. And we need to have a vote to get Big Money out of politics and ban super PACs, because people deserve to know that their representatives actually represent them rather than the wealthy elite. And as long as we have this Big Money in politics, they will never be able to be confident in that knowledge. So, regardless of the speaker’s own positions on those issues, he can give voice to the American people by putting those votes on the floor and letting us have those votes, regardless of where he personally comes down on the issue. And I’m going to be pushing hard to ensure that that happens.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Well, Will Lawrence, one of the big planks of your campaign was your opposition to these data centers and AI regulation, Flock cameras. Now that you are — will be in Congress, and I expect, if history is any lesson at all, the tech industry will start shifting more money to Democrats, hoping to peel people off and be able to neutralize any major legislation, what are your red lines, and what are you expecting to be able to accomplish when it comes to AI regulation, these data centers and Flock cameras?

REP.-ELECT WILL LAWRENCE: Well, what I hear from residents across my district is that this is out of control, it’s moving too fast, and we need to slow it down. And they’re fighting on a playing field that is fundamentally rigged to the benefit of these billion-, soon to be trillion-dollar corporations in Silicon Valley and leaves local communities behind.

So, I’m fighting for a federal moratorium on new data center development, along with a pause on advanced AI development. I mean, these developers come into small towns, and they say, you know, “We’re going to suck up a bunch of water. We’re going to use more energy than the current capacity of the grid. We don’t know what’s going to happen to your property values, but if everything goes well, we’re going to put 10 or 20 million people out of work, and if it goes poorly, we may kill everybody by accident.” I mean, what are we talking about? What are we talking about? Why have we allowed these clearly reckless individuals, who do not share the values and aspirations of my constituents in Michigan, to determine the future of our entire economy?

You know, I believe that AI could be used for the benefit of humanity, but right now it’s on track to make the already rich and powerful even richer and more powerful. And that’s why there is such a bottom-up grassroots rebellion happening, not just in my district, but around the country. And it’s uniting Democrats and Republicans from the bottom up who do not trust Big Tech to write the future of our communities and our entire economy.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And could you comment about what made it possible, despite all this money poured into the — into your district to defeat you, that you were able to emerge victorious?

REP.-ELECT WILL LAWRENCE: Well, we had an unprecedented ground game. You know, I’m an organizer by trade. I was a co-founder of the Sunrise Movement. I’ve been an organizer fighting alongside renters and tenants to assert our rights and prevent homelessness in my area. And we built a ground game that knocked on 350,000 doors between the primary and the general election. And when there were so many negative ads on TV, so many lies and so many smears, it was those face-to-face conversations, eye contact, a handshake, a real human being coming to you and talking about the values that we share and the future we can build together, that cut through all the noise. And that’s what allowed us to win this election. And I’m just tremendously proud of all the volunteers, the whole team, everybody who poured into the movement. It was a true team effort, and I couldn’t be more honored to be representing that movement here in Congress.

AMY GOODMAN: Congressmember-elect Will Lawrence of Michigan, thank you so much for being with us as you stand there in Washington at orientation for new congressmembers. He defeated incumbent Republican Congressmember Tom Barrett in one of the most competitive swing House races these midterms, co-founder of the Sunrise Movement.

That does it for our show. Democracy Now! will be in Antalya, Turkey, all next week covering the U.N. climate summit, COP31. Tune in from September 16th to September 20th. That does it for our show, Democracy Now! The film about Democracy Now!, Steal This Story, Please!, is now out on all digital platforms. I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González.