Wisconsin and Minnesota Democrats face ideological primaries in final stretch

Wisconsin Democrats went to the polls Tuesday with Francesca Hong, David Crowley, Joel Brennan and Kelda Roys still locked in a four-way governor primary that had become a direct test of the party’s ideological center of gravity. In Minnesota, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan faced Rep. Angie Craig in the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Senate primary for the open seat being vacated by retiring Sen. Tina Smith.

The Wisconsin race had shifted sharply since January, and Democratic voters were still split in the final days before the vote. Gov. Tony Evers backed Crowley, giving the Milwaukee County executive a heavyweight endorsement as the campaign entered its closing stretch. Fundraising also framed the closing argument: Crowley led the field, Hong had about $406,000, and Brennan had about $284,000, making money a proxy for which lane could build a broader coalition.

That divide carried into the way the contest was described on the air and in local coverage, with the field cast as a clash between establishment and insurgent candidates. Hong’s campaign drew attention from voters looking for a more left-leaning choice, while Crowley, Brennan and Roys competed for the more traditional Democratic vote in a state where statewide nominees usually need to appeal well beyond the party’s activist base. Wisconsin Public Radio had said the governor race had reached the home stretch, but the final days still looked unsettled.

Minnesota presented a similar but narrower split. Flanagan, a progressive, and Craig, a moderate, met in a one-on-one primary for a Senate seat that will stay in Democratic hands only if the party can unify quickly after the nomination is decided. Bernie Sanders said on The Hill that he believed the race would be "tight" and said he hoped Flanagan would win, underscoring the national attention the contest drew from the left.

Together, the two primaries showed a Midwest Democratic map still divided between institutional candidates and insurgent ones, with Wisconsin’s governor field and Minnesota’s Senate race each forcing voters to choose between ideological energy and broader statewide appeal. The results were set to reveal which message could still travel farther in two of the party’s most closely watched battlegrounds.