Nearly 90 percent of contributions to Barrett’s state legislative campaigns came from outside groups. In 2018, Barrett voted in favor of legislation that weakened union wages. The legislation was championed by one of his top corporate donors, Associated Builders and Contractors of Michigan. Since 2014, ABC Michigan had donated $15,000 to Barrett’s campaigns. In 2022, when he first ran for congress, Barrett refused to pledge not to take corporate PAC money. When asked how he would have voted on a bill to ban corporate PACs, Barrett said “you can’t eliminate PACs” and said they have “free speech.”
Barrett has been described as a “consistent anti-union conservative” who was “no friend to Michigan’s working families.” In 2023, he defended right-to-work. In 2018, he was the top recipient of campaign donations from special interests who sought to weaken Michigan’s paid sick leave and minimum wage laws.
Detroit Free Press Reported Nearly 90 Percent Of The Contributions Barrett Accepted For His State Legislative Campaigns Came From Outside Groups. According to the Detroit Free Press, "And on that point, it is correct, at least with a little rounding: Barrett’s committees raised 87% of their funding, about $1.8 million out of just over $2 million, from outside groups, not individuals. Although it’s true that nearly 90% of Barrett’s campaign funding as a state legislator has come from outside groups, the ad never makes that clear to the viewer, confusing the idea of the sum of the donations with the donors themselves." [Detroit Free Press, 9/20/22]
HEADLINE: "Republican Tom Barrett Has Cozy Ties With Anti-Union Group" [American Journal News, 1/17/24]
2018: Barrett Voted In Favor Of An Associated Builders And Contractors Of Michigan-Led Effort To Repeal A Wage Law That Required Government Contractors To Pay Union Wages. According to American Journal News, "In 2018, ABC of Michigan led the effort to repeal the state’s prevailing wage law, a regulation that required government contractors to pay union wages. The Michigan AFL-CIO warned that repealing the law would result in cut wages for construction workers. Barrett voted in favor of repeal.” [American Journal News, 1/17/24]
As Of 1/17/24, American Journal News Reported The Associated Builders And Contractors Of Michigan Had Contributed More Than $15,000 To Barrett Since 2014. According to American Journal News, "Throughout his political career, Barrett has received support from the Associated Builders & Contractors of Michigan, a trade group representing the state’s commercial and industrial construction industries. Their affiliated PAC has contributed more than $15,000 to Barrett since 2014." [American Journal News, 1/17/24]
After Criticizing Corporate Lobbying, Barrett Avoided Pledging That He Would Not Take Corporate PAC Money When Pushed By His Opponent. According to the 2022 Michigan 7th Congressional Debate on WLNS, “TOM BARRETT: It’s something that has gone way too far and it just proves again how these corporations work to manipulate the system, massage it through their lobbying and everything else to get the outcome that they are looking for— ELISSA SLOTKIN: But I just have to say, there is only one of us up here who has pledged to never take a dime of corporate PAC money. Who has said, I will never take money from the pharmaceutical industry. And I never will, I’ve pledge that, I do not take corporate PAC money. I would love it, if you feel so strongly about the price of pharmaceutical drugs and all of that problems in Washington, if you took that no corporate PAC pledge. If you said right now, that I am not even going to have the perception of impropriety because you take money from the pharmaceutical industry. TOM BARRETT: Do you take leadership PAC funds? ELISSA SLOTKIN: I take individuals, when human beings give me money. TOM BARRETT: And you take no PACs whatsoever, no leadership PACs or anything? ELISSA SLOTKIN: No, I take trade associations. I take things where people don’t make profit off of their business. TOM BARRETT: And corporations are prohibited from contributing to campaigns so that’s a misleading statement to say that. ELISSA SLOTKIN: No, that’s not true at all. TOM BARRETT: In the Michigan Campaign Finance act, corporations are prohibited. Now, individuals who work for a corporation— ELISSA SLOTKIN: No, corporate PACs. TOM BARRETT: —are free individuals to give as they choose of course. I looked it up today before coming in here, I have more than 26,000 individual donors to my campaign. Our average campaign contribution is $78. ELISSA SLOTKIN: So you should be totally ready, you should be totally ready to say, I will not—because I don’t even want the whiff of impropriety, that you will not take corporate PAC money, a company that makes money and gives through a corporate PAC, which is totally legal, to candidates.” [YouTube, WLNS 6 News, 7th District Showdown, 10/6/22] (video) 00:35:00-00:36:36
When Asked How He Would Have Voted On A Bill To Ban Corporate PACs, Barrett Said “You Can’t Eliminate PACs.” According to the 2022 Michigan 7th Congressional Debate on WLNS, “HOST: On her bill to eliminate PACs, how would you have voted on that? TOM BARRETT: You can’t eliminate PACs, they have that right to— ELISSA SLOTKIN: Corporate PACs. TOM BARRETT: —free speech. To, you know. ELISSA SLOTKIN: Unless we change the law. TOM BARRETT: They have the right to raise resources and advocate and anything else, just like any other organization. ELISSA SLOTKIN: I think they have no place in Congress. TOM BARRETT: She wants to ban some PACs and not others, which ones qualify, which ones don’t.” [YouTube, WLNS 6 News, 7th District Showdown, 10/6/22] (video) 00:38:52-00:39:12
Daily Beast Categorized Barrett As A “Consistent Anti-Union Conservative.” According to the Daily Beast, "The lead GOP candidate in the race, Tom Barrett, is a consistent anti-union conservative who criticized Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s recent repeal of the state’s right-to-work law, which eroded labor’s clout by allowing workers in unionized shops to opt out of paying dues to the union for their bargaining efforts." [Daily Beast, 10/3/23]
PRESS RELEASE: "Special Interests Have Chosen Their Candidate In Michigan: Tom Barrett" [Press Release – End Citizens United, 11/15/21]
Michigan AFL-CIO President: “Tom Barrett Is No Friend To Michigan’s Working Families.” According to a press release from the Michigan AFL-CIO, "‘Tom Barrett is no friend to Michigan’s working families,’ said Ron BIEBER, President of the Michigan AFL-CIO. ‘He has sold out union members time and again by opposing prevailing wage requirements, and voting for legislation that banned communities from passing ordinances to raise the minimum wage and requiring earned family leave time on the local level. Michigan’s working families did not support him in the state Legislature, and we will not support him in his bid for Congress.’ ‘Michigan does not need another do-nothing congressman in D.C., which is exactly what Barrett will be,’ BIEBER continued. ‘His decision to sit on billions of dollars of American Rescue Plan money that should be spent helping Michigan’s working families is an absolute failure and blatant proof that he’s not willing to do the work he was elected to do.’" [Press Release – Michigan AFL-CIO, 11/16/21]
2023: Barrett Criticized Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer For Signing Legislation Repealing “Right-To-Work.” According to the Daily Beast, "The lead GOP candidate in the race, Tom Barrett, is a consistent anti-union conservative who criticized Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s recent repeal of the state’s right-to-work law, which eroded labor’s clout by allowing workers in unionized shops to opt out of paying dues to the union for their bargaining efforts." [Daily Beast, 10/3/23]
HEADLINE: “Michigan Legislature Oks Gutting Wage, Paid Sick Time Laws.” [Associated Press, 12/4/18]
2018: Barrett Was The Top Recipient Of Campaign Donations From Business Groups Seeking To Weaken Michigan’s Paid Sick Leave And Minimum Wage Laws—Totaling $205,017. According to the Michigan Campaign Finance Network, "The business groups asking state lawmakers to weaken voter-initiated laws that increased the minimum wage and required paid sick leave have been heavy financial supporters of lawmakers’ campaigns. Political action committees (PACs) connected to 10 business groups that spoke out in support of overhauling the new laws have spent $1.19 million to benefit current lawmakers and their caucuses in 2018, according to a new analysis of campaign finance disclosures. […] The top beneficiaries of the groups’ spending in 2018 were Republican Rep. Tom Barrett ($205,017), Republican Rep. Brandt Iden ($88,273), Republican Rep. Laura Cox ($83,500), Republican Rep. Jim Runestad ($69,050) and Republican House Speaker Tom Leonard ($54,850). Barrett, Cox and Runestad ran for the Senate this year. Iden ran for re-election. Leonard ran for attorney general. The Senate Republican Campaign Committee, which supports GOP candidates for the Senate, received $79,100 from the groups this year. The House Republican Campaign Committee, which supports GOP candidates for the House, received $65,500 from the groups this year." [Michigan Campaign Finance Network via archive.org, archived 2/2/23]
10/3/23: When Asked Why He Had Not Issued A Comment On The Lansing UAW Strike, Barrett Said Because “No One’s Asked”
10/3/23: When Asked Why He Had Not Issued A Comment On The Lansing UAW Strike, Barrett Said Because “No One’s Asked.” According to the Daily Beast “The area surrounding Lansing, Michigan—where some 2,000 United Auto Workers members are on strike at a General Motors plant—is the turf of Michigan’s 7th Congressional District, one of the most competitive in the country. […] But despite his own record and the fact that the strike is dominating headlines in the district, Barrett has not issued a public statement on the strike since it began. In an email to The Daily Beast, Barrett said he has not because ‘no one’s asked.’” [Daily Beast, 10/3/23]
7/9/23: Barrett Announced His Candidacy For Michigan’s 7th Congressional District. According to WILX 10, "Republican politician Tom Barrett announced that he is running again for the U.S. House to represent Michigan’s Seventh Congressional District in 2024. He made the announcement at 9:30 p.m. on Sunday, July 9." [WILX, 7/9/23]
9/29/23: More Than 2,000 United Auto Workers (UAW) Members Walked Out Of The General Motors Assembly In Lansing Delta Township As Part Of A National Strike
9/29/23: More Than 2,000 United Auto Workers Members Walked Out Of The General Motors Assembly In Lansing Delta Township As Part Of A National Strike. According to WKAR, "The United Auto Workers is expanding its strike to a General Motors assembly plant just west of Lansing. The union announced Friday that GM’s Lansing Delta Township assembly plant would join the work stoppage. The nationwide strike just passed the two-week mark. Union leaders said more than 18,000 members have walked off the job at more than 40 facilities across the country. […] At noon, more than 2,000 UAW members left the Delta Township factory, demanding GM come to the bargaining table." [WKAR, 9/29/23]