Socialist winning streak puts prized Democratic battleground at risk as radical leftists advance

MADISON, Wis. – For a second straight week, the Midwest is the key battlefield in the high-stakes fight between the left-wing and the center-left establishment for the future of the Democratic Party.

After far-left candidate Abdul El-Sayed narrowly edged out more moderate Rep. Haley Stevens a week ago in battleground Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary, which was the biggest stage to date in the party’s ideological civil war, the spotlight now shifts to statewide nomination showdowns Tuesday in Wisconsin and Minnesota.

At stake: a top-tier Senate showdown in Minnesota that’s among a dozen races nationwide that will determine if the Democrats can win back control of the chamber from the GOP, and a gubernatorial face-off in crucial swing-state Wisconsin where Republicans are aiming to flip the governor’s mansion.

Also on the ballot, as Minnesota and Wisconsin join Connecticut, Vermont, South Carolina, and Alabama in holding primaries: incumbent governors in Connecticut and Vermont are running to extend their tenures, and the power of President Donald Trump’s endorsement in a GOP nomination contest is on the line in South Carolina, in the race to succeed the late Sen. Lindsey Graham.

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“Michigan proved that working people are ready for something different, and Wisconsin is next,” Democratic candidate for governor Francesca Hong wrote following El-Sayed’s victory.

Hong, a state representative and Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) member, is the polling frontrunner in a Democratic gubernatorial nomination showdown that’s been rocked this summer after two major contenders dropped out, and another candidate re-entered the race.

The primary winner will likely face off in the general election with Republican Rep. Tom Tiffany, the overwhelming polling and fundraising frontrunner for the GOP gubernatorial nomination, in the race to succeed Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, who decided against running for a third term. Tiffany, who is backed by Trump, is a hard-right member of the House Freedom Caucus.

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Hong, a 37-year-old former chef and single mother, is backed by top nationally known progressives, including Reps. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Ro Khanna of California, a potential 2028 Democratic presidential contender. But Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, a longtime champion of the left, last week said he didn’t plan on endorsing Hong, arguing that he was not familiar enough with her campaign or the race.

Hong is running on a platform that includes guaranteed paid leave, boosting the state’s minimum wage from $7.25 to $20 per hour, and a one-year moratorium in Wisconsin on building AI data centers. Hong has faced scrutiny over years-old social media posts calling for defunding and abolishing the police. But she says she no longer supports cutting police budgets or abolishing police departments.

“I’m not defunding the police, not abolishing police. I am serious about public safety,” Hong emphasized on Saturday as she took questions from voters.

Hong also made national headlines over the past two weeks for a resurfaced social media post from 2020 where she argued that the country should “cancel Thanksgiving” in order to “stop celebrating colonialism.”

Hong walked back her Thanksgiving comments, amid backlash, and now says that Thanksgiving is her “favorite holiday.”

On her resurfaced tweets, Hong told reporters on Saturday that she has “evolved” and “learned.”

Tiffany, in an interview on the eve of the primary as he teamed up for a couple of campaign events with former Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, told Fox News Digital that Wisconsin will be a “firewall… We’ll be the place that stops socialism.”

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Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez and former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, two of the major contenders for the Democratic nomination, exited the race this summer. And Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, who earlier suspended his campaign and backed Rodriguez, re-entered the contest.

Crowley is backed by Evers, who joined him on the campaign trail in the closing stretch leading up to the primary.

There’s a growing number of more moderate Democrats concerned that if Hong captures the gubernatorial nomination, as many expect, it will give Tiffany a big boost in his bid to flip the governor’s office.

A Wisconsin-based Democratic strategist who asked to remain anonymous to speak more freely argued that with Hong at the top of the ticket, “it will hurt Democrats down ballot, in key congressional and legislative races” in the Midwestern battleground

Meanwhile, pro-GOP super PACs, including one aligned with the Republican Governors Association, have shelled out millions of dollars to boost Hong in the primary, because they view her as the weakest Democratic candidate.

Asked about electability concerns, Hong told Fox News on Sunday that “this election belongs to the voters. We let the voters decide. The candidate that’s the most electable is the one that earns the most votes. So we’re focused on meeting voters up until Election Day, until the polls close.”

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The Democratic Party’s civil war is also on display in Minnesota, as progressive Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan and more moderate Rep. Angie Craig are the top two contenders battling for the party’s nomination. The current senator, Democrat Tina Smith, is retiring at the end of this year.

It’s been 24 years since a Republican won a U.S. Senate election in Minnesota. But a primary victory by Flanagan, who is backed by Sanders and another progressive heavyweight, Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, may boost the GOP hopes of flipping the seat in a blue-leaning but competitive state.

Former longtime TV sports reporter turned political activist and conservative commentator Michele Tafoya, who is backed by the National Republican Senatorial Committee, is the polling and fundraising frontrunner in the GOP Senate nomination race. The field also includes former Navy SEAL Adam Schwarze, 2024 Senate nominee Royce White, a former NBA basketball player, and retired U.S. Navy officer Tom Weiler.

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Embattled Democratic Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, the 2024 Democratic vice presidential nominee, announced at the beginning of the year that he wouldn’t seek a third term as governor amid heavy political pressure and national scrutiny over the state’s handling of a major child care fraud investigation.

Longtime Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar is the overwhelming frontrunner for the party’s gubernatorial nomination.

Mike Lindell, the My Pillow founder and former CEO who is a close Trump ally who joined the president in denying former President Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 White House race, is a leading contender for the GOP gubernatorial nomination, along with Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Demuth. The field also includes healthcare technology executive Kendall Qualls.

In South Carolina, Tuesday’s special Republican Senate primary is being held one month to the day after Graham’s sudden death. At the time of his death, Graham was seeking re-election and had won renomination.

In the showdown for the open nomination, Trump is backing the late senator’s younger sister, Sen. Darlene Graham, whom GOP Gov. Henry McMaster appointed last month to serve the remainder of the current Senate term. Among the other major contenders in the primary sprint are Reps. Ralph Norman and Russell Fry and Mark Sanford, a former governor and former congressman.

The primary is the latest test of Trump’s Republican endorsement clout and his sway over the GOP. But the Trump endorsement hasn’t proven to be a sure bet this cycle in solidly-red South Carolina.

Trump backed Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette in the GOP gubernatorial nomination – in the race to succeed the term-limited McMaster – ahead of the state’s early June primary.

Evette was the top vote-getter in the primary but lost the ensuing runoff election against South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson in a landslide. And Trump, ever hungry for a victory, endorsed Wilson in addition to Evette days before the runoff.

In deep-blue Connecticut, Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont is running for renomination for a third term. Lamont is facing a primary challenge from the left, from state Rep. Josh Elliott.

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And in Democrat-dominated Vermont, Republican Gov. Phil Scott is unopposed in the GOP primary, as he seeks a sixth two-year term as governor. Vermont and neighboring New Hampshire are the only two states in the nation to elect governors every two years.

Former lobbying group CEO Aly Richards and economist Amanda Janoo are facing off for the Democratic nomination, with the winner challenging Scott in the general election.

In Alabama, voters in the reliably red state’s 1st, 2nd, 6th and 7th Congressional Districts go to the polls in special primary elections. Republican Gov. Kay Ivey called for the special contests after a U.S. Supreme Court order allowed Alabama to use a 2023 GOP-drawn congressional district map district map instead of a court ordered that included a second Black-majority seat.