This story will be updated.
Activist and grassroots organizer William Lawrence has won the Democratic primary for Michigan’s 7th Congressional District Tuesday.
The Associated Press called the race at 11:23 p.m.
He beat out former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink and former U.S. Navy Seal Matt Maasdam, sending him to the November general election against Republican incumbent and first-term Congressman Tom Barrett.
Lawrence ran to the left of Brink and Maasdam with a campaign focused on regulating data centers and rejecting corporate PAC money.
The 7th district primary has gained national media coverage as progressive and moderate wings of the Democratic party fight for dominance.
U.S. Senator Elissa Slotkin, a more centrist Democrat, who previously represented the district, endorsed Maasdam.
Towards the end of the campaign, there was a question of if Brink or Maasdam would drop out to consolidate their supporters.
Maasdam told Michigan Advance in late July that Brink should drop from the race.
“It would be tough to be third in the race and know that you’re taking votes from other people,” Maasdam said.
Maasdam sent his supporters home at around 11 p.m. from his Election Night watch party in Okemos as he trailed third in results. His team did not make him available for an interview.
Much of Lawrence’s campaign efforts were conducted by grassroots volunteers.
According to Maegan Houang, a friend of Lawrence’s that joined his campaign from Los Angeles, canvassers knocked on more than 100,000 doors leading up to Election Day.
Around 80,000 of those door-to-door visits happened in June and July, and an estimated 20,000 happened in the last few days.
One volunteer with Lawrence’s campaign, John Michael, stressed how important it was to him as a voter to have candidates for the Senate and U.S. House of Representatives with aligning platforms.
“Medicare for all and, obviously, their stances on Palestine, have been the two biggest things between Abdul [El-Sayed] and Will [Lawrence],” Michael said. “It’s been very cool to have a House candidate and a Senate candidate that I really like.”
Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate Abdul El-Sayed and Lawrence cross-endorsed one another ahead of the primary election.