William Lawrence (D.), a Hasan Piker superfan running for a competitive House seat in Michigan, called for "destroying the American way of life" and a cessation of all oil and gas drilling during a podcast discussion with Marxist activists.
Lawrence, a far-left former member of the Democratic Socialists of America, made the remarks during a January 2024 episode of the Hegomonicon podcast he hosts for Convergence, a publication that describes itself as a "magazine for radical insights."
Lawrence and his guests, a self-avowed Marxist activist and the host of a "Marxist coded" podcast, discussed American consumerism and economic "abundance" and its purported contribution to climate change.
"I'm wondering how we can inspire a sense of abundance for people in the United States, while frankly, destroying the American way of life and the negative connotations and material realities that has come to mean," chuckled Lawrence, who described himself as "an organizer and social movement strategist" on the podcast's internet page.
On the podcast, he asserted that Americans "work longer, spend more time in our cars, live shorter, die sooner" despite economic abundance.
Lawrence, a cofounder of the activist environmental group Sunrise Movement—which he says "helped shape and popularize the Green New Deal"—also expressed support for the "keep it in the ground" movement, which opposes drilling for oil, gas, and other fossil fuels to slow climate change.
He admitted that the Sunrise Movement made a "political choice" in 2019 to avoid discussing its opposition to drilling because it would hurt support for the Green New Deal.
"We were quiet … for a period of time and that was a political choice and it came with contradictions, and it was clear that you weren't going to hold back the reality that we need to keep it in the ground," said Lawrence.
Lawrence's remarks could become an issue in his campaign for Michigan's Seventh Congressional District, where he is challenging Republican Rep. Tom Barrett. Republicans have highlighted Lawrence's activism as evidence that he's too radical for the district, which voted for Donald Trump in two of the past three presidential elections. Lawrence has taken some small steps to distance himself from his left-wing roots. He quit the Democratic Socialists of America party last month, saying he wanted to foster "unity" in the seventh district, which encompasses Lansing, the Michigan state capital.
Those aren't the only notable remarks Lawrence has made on the podcast.
In August 2024, Lawrence described the collapse of Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge, in which six construction workers were killed, as a "climate activist's dream" because the disaster choked off 2.5 million tons of coal exports, the Washington Free Beacon reported.
Lawrence's alliance with Piker, whom many Democrats have denounced over antisemitic statements, has also stoked criticism and outright mockery. In April, Lawrence was caught on tape fawning over Piker at a campaign rally alongside Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed. Lawrence told Piker, both of whom towered over a much shorter El-Sayed, that he'd "love to get on the stream sometime," referring to Piker's livestream on Twitch.
"You're the man," said Lawrence.
His campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
