Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley defied polling expectations to defeat Democratic socialist Francesca Hong in Wisconsin’s Democratic gubernatorial primary, winning by less than a percentage point.
Crowley had trailed Hong by double digits in pre-election surveys, making his victory one of the more stunning upsets of the 2026 primary season so far.
The Wisconsin race was widely viewed as an ideological bellwether, testing whether progressive momentum built in deep-blue districts would carry into a presidential battleground state.
In Minnesota, centrist U.S. Representative Angie Craig and progressive Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan faced off in a Democratic U.S. Senate primary that similarly framed the party’s internal debate over direction.
On the Republican side in Minnesota, state House Speaker Lisa DeMuth defeated Mike Lindell, the Trump-backed founder of MyPillow, for the GOP gubernatorial nomination.
DeMuth will face Senator Amy Klobuchar, who secured the Democratic nomination, in the general election contest for Minnesota governor.
Progressives did claim one notable Minnesota win, with former state senator Matt Little emerging from a crowded field to win the Democratic primary for the 2nd Congressional District in the Twin Cities’ southern suburbs.
In Connecticut, 78-year-old Democratic Representative John Larson conceded Tuesday night to Luke Bronin, 47, the former Hartford mayor and former Navy intelligence officer, in the 1st Congressional District primary.
Bronin, who carried the Democratic Party endorsement, becomes the latest example of voters favoring generational change over long-serving incumbents in competitive primaries this cycle.
In South Carolina, Senator Darline Graham advanced to a runoff in the special Republican primary to fill the seat left vacant by her brother, the late Senator Lindsey Graham, who died on July 11 at age 71 from an aortic rupture.
Lindell’s defeat in Minnesota adds to a growing list of setbacks for Trump-endorsed candidates, with seven now having lost congressional or statewide primaries this season.
According to a CNN review of data from Ballotpedia, those seven losses exceed the number of Trump-backed primary defeats recorded in 2018, 2020, and 2024 combined.
The results across all four states suggest Democratic primary voters are showing a consistent preference for electable moderates over ideological purity, even as progressive energy remains a visible force within the party.
