U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson bolsters Barrett’s campaign in downtown Lansing skyscraper visit

Rep. Tom Barrett (R-MI) and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) spoke with reporters last week following a tour of construction progress at Tower on Grand.  In addition to backing Barrett’s re-election, Johnson supported data center development, criticized Barrett’s opponent Will Lawrence and weighed in on the USS Lincoln, an aircraft carrier involved with the war in Iran.

Building developer Paul Gentilozzi introduced the politicians and highlighted the potential of the new 28-story, $315 million building during the Tuesday, Aug. 18 visit. “We’re so honored to have Speaker Johnson here,” Gentilozzi said. “We lost the core of our workforce … during COVID when the state employees all went home and didn’t come back. So we’re bringing people back.”

Gentilozzi is the president of the real estate development company building the Tower at Grand. The mixed-use skyscraper is part of New Vision Lansing, a five-building project adding 600 residential units to Lansing’s Downtown and Old Town neighborhoods. 

Johnson noted similarities between Lansing and his hometown of Shreveport, Louisiana. “Some of the buildings look the same as in my part of the country, and we need that revitalization to provide more and greater jobs and higher wages for hardworking people,” he said.

Data centers are part of that revitalization, Johnson said in Lansing, where a data center proposal was withdrawn earlier this year amid local opposition.

There should be local involvement in the process, but a broad moratorium against data centers is dangerous right now, Johnson said.

“We’re in a race with China on that AI race, and if they’re able to leapfrog us in that race,” Johnson said, “it’s a very dangerous thing for everybody around the country.”

Lawrence has pushed for a 12-month moratorium on data centers and said in a statement that “Tom Barrett and Mike Johnson want to leave Michiganders undefended against data centers built by their Big Tech campaign donors.”

Barrett and Johnson were joined in Lansing by other current and former government officials, including former Michigan Gov. John Engler, U.S. Rep. Ben Cline (R-VA) and Rep. Tim Walberg (R-MI).

Emphasizing the importance of Michigan in determining whether Republicans keep control of Congress, Johnson said Republicans will have to “defy history,” acknowledging the sitting president’s party rarely picks up seats in midterm elections.

He said this time is different because “the Democrat Party is almost in a stage of open civil war right now.”

William Lawrence, Barrett’s opponent in the November election, was described by Johnson as “the founder of the Democrat Socialist America in Michigan.”

Lawrence was not a founding member of the local chapter nor did he found the state organization and after winning the primary, Lawrence told reporters that he allowed his Democratic Socialists of America membership to lapse in order to unite swing district voters. 

Johnson made it clear that national Republicans would be pouring money into the race, which is drawing significant interest.

Barrett has bolstered his campaign by bringing half of President Donald Trump’s cabinet to the Greater Lansing area, with seven of the 15 U.S. Secretaries as well as cabinet member and Small Business Administrator Kelly Loeffler in joining Barrett since April, along with close administration allies like Johnson.

In a statement, Lawrence said Johnson came to Lansing to defend Barrett’s “failed record and tell Michiganders that stopping AI data centers is dangerous. What’s actually dangerous is a sitting Congressman like Tom Barrett so unable to defend his own record that he needs to fly in DC allies to distract and deflect.”

Lawrence said Barrett and the Trump administration have cut health care, raised gas prices and grocery bills through the war in Iran and have given tax breaks to data center developers while people pay higher bills.

Johnson said the potential turnover from Barrett to Lawrence would be “terrible for Michigan, terrible for America.”

Johnson acknowledged affordability being a major issue impacting voters, partially blaming it on the former Biden-Harris administration. “Remember that we inherited, from the Biden-Harris administration, the highest inflation in 40 years, so it’s taken a while to climb out of that.”

He was optimistic about a change in prices, because “the Iran conflict is going to be winding down here soon.”