Meet PINO Democrat Brenda Lawrence, A Progressive In Name Only

By Christopher D. Cook, RootsAction

Lawrence has served in Congress since 2014, representing Detroit and surrounding areas. She supported Keith Ellison for DNC chair in 2017, saying: “he’s progressive.” Yet despite representing Michigan’s most Democratic district—a shade bluer than Rashida Tlaib’s district—Lawrence scored 75 percent wrong on progressive legislation, failing to cosponsor either Green New Deal measure, while backing military spending increases and opposing Rep. Pocan’s modest 10 percent military reduction in 2020 (though she favored a nearly identical measure this year).

In 2019, Lawrence was confronted by constituents at a local union hall about her position on a Green New Deal. “When asked whether she supported the Green New Deal, she hedged,” according to a report by Michigan Left: “I do support the concept of it, but it’s a theory, it’s a philosophy.” The Detroit Coalition for a Green New Deal—which includes Rep. Tlaib, Sunrise Michigan, Southeast Michigan Jobs With Justice, and other worker and environmental groups—has unsuccessfully pressured Lawrence to change her tune on the Green New Deal.

Lawrence failed to cosponsor or support Rep. Jayapal’s Paycheck Recovery Act to help small businesses hurt by COVID-19. Lawrence signed the March 2021 AIPAC-organized letter undercutting efforts to revive an Iran nuclear deal—and voted to reauthorize the USA Freedom Act, which further expands the surveillance state and diminishes civil liberties. Given all this, it’s no surprise that Lawrence is also a member of the New Democrat Coalition.