Editorial: Upper Midwest returns to being a hotbed of moderation in Wisconsin, Minnesota primaries

The Editorial Board, Chicago Tribune on Aug 13, 2026

Published in Op Eds

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Some encouraging blows for common sense were struck by primary voters to our north on Tuesday, on both sides of the aisle.

But those looking for compelling evidence that uber-lefty politics won’t play in the Upper Midwest outside of gentrified urban neighborhoods and college towns won’t find it in Francesca Hong’s narrow defeat for the Democratic nomination for Wisconsin governor.

The jury remains out on that question now that we’ve seen the highly anticipated test results in Michigan and Wisconsin following the democratic socialist takedowns of establishment Democrats in June in U.S. House races in New York City. The war for the soul of the Democratic Party continues.

Meanwhile, in the Land of 10,000 Lakes, Mike Lindell, MyPillow CEO and amplifier of the most absurd of MAGA’s many election-denying claims, was defeated convincingly in his bid for the GOP nomination for governor. His loss to Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Demuth came despite the endorsement of President Donald Trump, the latest welcome example of Trump’s ironclad hold over the Republican Party loosening, if only just a little.

Demuth will face U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar in November and will be an underdog. But at least she will give Minnesotans a real choice at the ballot box.

The drama in Wisconsin, though, was the main attraction on Tuesday. Despite polls showing state Rep. Hong of Madison well in front of what had been an ever-shifting slate of rivals, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley topped her by only about 3,700 votes with 95% counted, a margin less than a percentage point.

Crowley, remarkably, had left the race July 8 but got back in at Gov. Tony Evers’ request later in the month after Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez gave up her bid amid revelations of campaign finance irregularities. The establishment forces couldn’t have done more to get in their own way in this election, which was part of what opened the door to Hong, whose poll numbers never got much above 40%.

That Crowley came from behind to win was a testament to Evers’ grit and determination to keep the nomination from Hong, whom Evers said was unlikely to win in November, and to how terrible of a campaigner Hong turned out to be in the home stretch. Hong somehow made a woke-era social media post calling for “canceling” Thanksgiving into a top-tier issue in the race as she failed to disavow her bizarre take on a beloved national holiday in a CNN interview.

That prominent hard-left leaders like Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — all who espouse positions Hong made pillars of her campaign — took a pass on endorsing Hong said it all.

And, still. Hong came within an eyelash of winning the nomination.

In Michigan a week earlier, progressive firebrand Abdul El-Sayed edged centrist U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate. His victory by a single percentage point came after polls showed him with double-digit leads.

While El-Sayed won, he did so with just a plurality, and it was far from the triumph the party’s democratic socialist wing was anticipating.

So, back to the question these primaries were supposed to answer: Is democratic socialism viable statewide and regionally in the Upper Midwest within the broader Democratic Party? While Wisconsin didn’t provide a definitive answer, it did illustrate one vital truth: the importance of leadership.

Following the political earthquake in New York City, this page encouraged center-left voices in the Democratic Party to understand that it is in a full-blown intra-party battle and to join the fray in earnest. Two-term Gov. Evers, who declined to run for a third term, did just that, campaigning throughout the state during the closing stretch with Crowley and making clear what the stakes were for November.

Evers’ example is one other centrist Democrats should emulate as this internal debate continues to play out. As he showed, there’s no margin in “playing it safe” in this intramural battle. He played to win, and lo and behold, he won.

Pragmatism and problem-solving don’t typically stir passion. But they are the pathway to reaching a majority of Americans where national and swing-state elections are won or lost: in the non-ideological center.

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