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

Rep. Tom Barrett (R-MI) stood alongside House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) to speak with reporters after 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 and weighed in on the USS Lincoln, an aircraft carrier part of the war in Iran.

Building developer Paul Gentilozzi introduced the politicians and highlighted the potential of the new building on Tuesday, Aug. 18. “We’re so honored to have Speaker Johnson here,” he 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-used 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, according to Johnson. 

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

Barrett and Johnson were joined 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), as “reinforcement for this very important battleground district.” 

Emphasizing the importance of Michigan in whether Republicans keep control of Congress, Johnson said Republicans will have to “defy history,” acknowledging the sitting president’s respective 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 as “the founder of the Democrat Socialist America in Michigan” by Johnson.

Lawrence is the founder of Sunrise Movement, a climate activist organization, and the Michigan Rent Is Too Damn High Coalition, which advocates for solutions to the state’s housing crisis. After winning the primary, Lawrence told reporters he allowed his Democratic Socialists of America membership to lapse in order to unite swing district voters. 

Despite Lawrence’s rebuttal, Johnson said the potential turnover 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.”

When asked about President Trump’s assessment of the USS Abraham Lincoln’s deployment, Barrett said he was “glad” the aircraft carrier was recalled and that leaders should “do everything we can in a reasonable way to make sure their overall care is taken care of well.”

Government officials, family members and others have raised concerns about mental health challenges, food storages and poor sanitary conditions facing the serve members on the aircraft carrier, which was recently recalled after a record-setting 240-day deployment.

In response to concerns, Trump called the deployment “not early long enough.”

Barrett, who served with the United States Army as a helicopter pilot, said serving in the military means making sacrifices and potentially “austere environments.”

“I went through that myself, and it’s not that we intentionally put men and women in that position,” he said. “It’s an understanding of some of the complications and challenges that our men and women in uniform face.”