‘F*ck the nuclear family’: Far-left Michigan Dem candidate’s deleted posts imagined world without borders, police

Democrat House candidate in Michigan Will Lawrence, who has claimed to have distanced himself from the Democratic Socialists of America after he let his membership lapse earlier this summer, has deleted numerous posts about his far-left views, including prison abolition, calls to “f*ck the nuclear family” model of the country, nationalizing the fuel industry, and having a “fundamental overhaul” of the Constitution.  

In a now-deleted post, Lawrence called the nuclear family an “isolating, individualistic, violent way of organizing society.” He has also called to “abolish the Senate,” much like other DSA-affiliated candidates.  

In another post from August 2021, Lawrence posted on the topic of immigration, having a vision similar to John Lennon’s “Imagine” where there are no borders.  

“Envision a world of free and open migration. Feel your mind buck against the premise. ‘You mean, ANYBODY can move ANYWHERE??’ Yes! Our mission is the eradication of all forms of domination. National origin is one of the strongest fronts of domination in our world today,” he wrote.  

In addition to the far-left posts, Lawrence wrote a song about moderate Democrat Senator Joe Manchin where he said, “So long, thanks for the memories. Our generation says f*ck you for everything. From these ashes we will rebuild. Hurry up and die so that we can get started.” 

The posts go back years, under a different social media handle than he has now, when Lawrence was getting started as a progressive activist. He was the co-founder of the Sunrise Movement, which was a group that pushed the Green New Deal with Democrats. 

Lawrence is running in a competitive race for Michigan’s 7th House District, which has swung to either party depending on the election year. The district was also represented by now-Senator Elissa Slotkin, who Lawrence has previously attacked. In 2020, he wrote in a post, “I’m ashamed to be represented by @RepSlotkin, a supposed Democrat.” 

Despite posting the far-left radical policy proposals, Lawrence has distanced himself from the positions. In an interview with Semafor, he rejected the past comments about how he wanted to “defund the police.”

“The protests in 2020 raised important criticisms of our criminal justice system, and like millions of other Americans, I was horrified by the killing of George Floyd and inspired by the multiracial and multigenerational protest movement that followed from that,” he told the outlet. “Those posts are out of step with what I believe now.”

He said that he is confident that people will see through the “stupid political games” of people bringing up his old posts where he expressed his far-left views. 

“Anybody who gets to know me finds out that I’m somebody who loves Michigan,” Lawrence said. “I hate injustice, and I spent my life working to understand the causes of injustice and how to build power together to have an affordable and dignified life. That’s what I’m focused on, and it’s all a process. I’m sure I’m saying things in the course of this campaign that I’ll disagree with in five years.”