Attack ad calls climate activist an oil investor because of his 401(k)

William Lawrence, the 36-year-old Sunrise Movement co-founder running a progressive congressional campaign in Michigan, has positioned himself as an enemy of big corporations. But a new attack ad aired this week suggests the opposite: Lawrence, the Crush MAGA PAC advertisement claims, has “invested thousands in Wall Street, big oil, and data centers.”

Lawrence’s public financial disclosures show the truth is much more modest: he has approximately $11,000 invested in a T. Rowe Price 401(k). Like nearly every 401(k), the T. Rowe Price 2055 Retirement Fund has exposure to fossil fuels. And finding out exactly how much of one’s retirement account is invested in fossil fuels is famously difficult. 

Crush MAGA PAC is reportedly spending about $500,000 on the advertising campaign—that is, more than 40 times the sum of Lawrence’s retirement fund. The group, an affiliate of Save Democracy PAC—which has been described as part of the “pro-Israel Super PAC cinematic universe”—says on its website that it is “dedicated to fighting against Trump’s presidency and defeating any MAGA Republicans who uphold his dangerous rhetoric.” But Lawrence is a progressive Democrat who has built his campaign on opposing hyperscale data center development in Michigan. 

The same tactic—framing a candidate’s 401(k) as a nefarious investment strategy —was also used against Randy Villegas, the Bernie Sanders–backed community college professor who recently defeated California state legislator Jasmeet Bains to become the Democratic nominee for a congressional district in the state’s Central Valley. Bains’ website points out that Villegas criticized BlackRock, but invests with them— investments that consist of a single retirement account, a mutual fund worth less than $15,000. In 2024, Pennsylvania Senator Dave McCormick ran ads accusing Bob Casey Jr., then his Democratic opponent, of owning stock in a Chinese fentanyl producer. Casey had less than $50,000 in a 529 college savings account, partially invested in a Fidelity index fund, 0.001 percent of which was reportedly invested in a Chinese medical firm that produces fentanyl. 

These ads assume voters might not understand how mutual funds work, and that these candidates have decided to invest in the things they rail against on the campaign trail. 

Back in Michigan, Crush MAGA PAC’s advertisement also asserts that Lawrence “spent years running a dark money organization.” Lawrence’s campaign says that’s a reference to the Sunrise Movement, the youth-led climate activist group that rose to prominence in the 2010s. Sunrise’s political arm spent about $2,500 on elections in 2018, the year Lawrence reportedly left the organization. 

“I’ve got eleven thousand bucks,” Lawrence said in a video. “I don’t think that’s going to be enough to retire…if this is what they’ve got on me, I’m feeling pretty good.”