Endorsing U.S. Rep. Tom Barrett in Mason, House Speaker Mike Johnson says Iran War is “epic success” so no war votes until after election

At an endorsement event Wednesday for U.S. Rep. Tom Barrett, U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson said the Iran War had been an “epic success” and is winding down, so Congressional votes aimed at restricting the war can wait until after the November election.

Several law enforcement officials and Johnson met at the Ingham County Sheriff’s Office in Mason on Wednesday to reiterate endorsements of U.S. Rep. Tom Barrett and criticize his opponent, William Lawrence.

A pair of campaign volunteers surrounded the suited and uniformed law enforcement officials, kneeling at a law enforcement memorial and holding poster-sized versions of since-deleted tweets from when Lawrence called for defunding police in 2020.

Lawrence does not support defunding police and has criticized Barrett for votes including the One Big Beautiful Bill, which reduced some community violence intervention funding in mid-Michigan, according to his campaign. In a debate with Barrett on Tuesday, Lawrence distanced himself from some of his old tweets, saying he would “think out loud” online in the past.

Barrett said Lansing was one of the ten most violent cities in the country and “instead of calling for calm, for enforcement of our laws ,my opponent said we shouldn’t just defund our police, we should abolish them altogether.”

Barrett said he has brought $2 million in public safety dollars, primarily to Lansing and East Lansing, and said he would redouble those efforts if re-elected.

“The voters of this district have a choice, do you want somebody with a record of service like I have, in our military, supporting our law enforcement and doing the right thing to keep our community safe or are you going to turn your back on our police officers and seek to have them defunded, take away their dignity and abolish them altogether,” Barrett said.

The first-term congressman has worked to create distance between himself and the increasingly unpopular Trump administration in recent weeks. Barrett has brought almost half of Trump’s cabinet – seven secretaries and several cabinet-level members – to the mid-Michigan area since April, including visits this week from two cabinet-level officials, U.S. Small Business Administrator Kelly Loeffler and Government Services Administrator Ed Forst. Johnson previously visited Lansing with Barrett less than two months ago, a signal that the mid-Michigan district is valuable to senior Republicans as well as the Trump administration.

Leaders from the Police Officers Association of Michigan and Fraternal Order of Police reiterated endorsements for Barrett outside the Sheriff’s Office.

While many law enforcement leaders from Barrett’s district came and endorsed him, including Livingston Sheriff Mike Murphy and chief prosecutors from both Clinton and Shiawassee counties, there were two glaring absences.

Lansing Police Chief Rob Backus was not invited, according to a spokesperson for the department, which is the largest law enforcement agency in Barrett’s district.

Barrett was asked about Ingham County Sheriff Scott Wrigglesworth, a Democrat, who was not present at the event that was held just outside his office’s front door.

Barrett said reporters should ask the sheriff why he wasn’t there. City Pulse has reached out to Wrigglesworth.

The event was hosted on pavers that are part of a memorial to law enforcement officers just outside the Sheriff’s Office building, which was opened in 2023 and carries the name of Wrigglesworth’s father, Gene Wrigglesworth.

Beth LeBlanc, a Detroit News reporter, asked if the location was appropriate for a political event.

Barrett said the location is public property and is permissable for campaigns.

“Obviously the location is intentional, based on the connection to law enforcement,” he said.

Johnson was asked if he would bring Congress back before the election, to help Barrett by allowing a vote on a bill the congressman sponsored in May, calling for limits on the Iran War.

Johnson dismissed Congress early in September, in part to avoid a vote on impeaching the Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.

“Both of those bills will be processed in the lame duck right after the election, when everyone returns to town,” Johnson said, referencing Barrett’s Iran bill as well as another one about data centers.

It is not clear if Barrett pushed Johnson for an earlier vote on his Iran bill during either of the speaker’s Lansing visits.

Jason Cabel Roe, a spokesperson for Barrett’s campaign, said Congress is in recess until after the election and momentum for an Iran War vote is building on its own.

The speaker was asked if the increasing number of Republicans pushing for some restraint on the Iran War made votes on the war a priority.

“Iran is in a stage, we’re turning a corner, the effort has worked, ” he said. “Operation Epic Fury was an epic success, we had no choice in the matter. I’m on the Gang of Eight. I get the highest level briefing in the federal government.” He said Iran was dangerously close to getting a nuclear weapon. “Operation Epic Fury was an epic success and now it’s winding down,” he said, repeating the epic success line.

City Pulse has reached out to Barrett’s campaign for comment on whether he has pressed Johnson to schedule votes on his bills.

In a hot mic immediately after the press conference ended, U.S. Rep. Lisa McClain, who represents the Thumb area and is the highest ranking Republican woman, expressed frustrated at LeBlanc’s question.

“She would know this is public property, she’s smarter than that, she can’t be that stupid,” McClain said, although it is not clear who she was speaking to at the moment. “Thank you for what you’re doing, we’ll even protect the whackadoodles.”