This week on the Hill: Minnesota, Wisconsin to hold key primary races
Progressive policy ambitions meet practical realities as Americans weigh costs and consequences.
Congress is on recess, which means the real action this month isn't happening in committee rooms, it's happening in high school gyms and union halls in Wisconsin and Minnesota. That's actually how it should work. The people who spend August fundraising and door-knocking instead of golfing tend to be the ones who understand what their state actually wants, and both of these primaries are going to tell us a lot about where the Democratic Party thinks it's headed after 2024.
New Republican Times Editorial Board
With Congress out for August recess, attention is shifting from Capitol Hill to the campaign trail as voters head to the polls in a number of high-profile primaries that will help shape the 2026 midterm landscape.
The marquee contest this week is Wisconsin’s Democratic primary to replace retiring Gov. Tony Evers (D). Milwaukee County Executive
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New Republican Times Editorial Board
Congress is on recess, which means the real action this month isn't happening in committee rooms, it's happening in high school gyms and union halls in Wisconsin and Minnesota. That's actually how it should work. The people who spend August fundraising and door-knocking instead of golfing tend to be the ones who understand what their state actually wants, and both of these primaries are going to tell us a lot about where the Democratic Party thinks it's headed after 2024.
The Wisconsin governor's race is the one worth watching closely. Tony Evers stepping aside opens up a seat in a state Democrats cannot afford to lose if they want any path back to relevance in the upper Midwest. Whoever wins that primary is going to be a stand-in for the party's broader identity crisis: do they nominate someone who can actually talk to the voters in Green Bay and Eau Claire, or do they pick the candidate who plays well in Madison and Milwaukee but struggles everywhere else. We've watched this movie before. It usually doesn't end well for them in November.
None of this happens in a vacuum either. These primaries are effectively the opening bell for the 2026 midterms, and both parties are going to read the results as a signal, fairly or not. If Democrats nominate candidates who lean hard into the same messaging that cost them ground in 2024, that's useful information for Republicans building a case in the Rust Belt next year. If they course-correct toward something more grounded, that's worth noting too. Either way, the people actually deciding this are voters in two Midwestern states this week, not anyone in Washington, and that's a healthy reminder of how the process is supposed to function.
Commentary written with AI assistance by the New Republican Times Editorial Board.