An agonizingly close race in the Democratic primary for governor of Wisconsin ended with an upset win for the moderate David Crowley early on Wednesday, the latest turn in a rancorous battle between the party’s ascendant left and its old guard that has defined primary season this year.
Mr. Crowley, the Milwaukee County executive and standard-bearer for moderates in the race, vastly exceeded expectations by defeating State Representative Francesca Hong, a democratic socialist who built a supercharged campaign of energized supporters and overwhelmingly led in most public polls.
Other races were called before midnight. Here are eight takeaways from Tuesday’s long night.
A photo finish for governor in Wisconsin spells trouble for progressives.
For weeks, polls established Ms. Hong, a democratic socialist, as the clear front-runner. But Mr. Crowley outperformed expectations on Tuesday, narrowly edging his left-wing rival.
Soon after polls closed on Tuesday night, it became clear that, for the second consecutive week in a Democratic primary, a progressive candidate was not winning by as big a margin as predicted. Last week in the Democratic Senate race in Michigan, Dr. Abdul El-Sayed defeated Representative Haley Stevens in a closer-than-expected contest that was not called until the next morning.
But in Wisconsin, the wait was shorter. And the outcome was far different for the progressive movement.
Francesca Hong had her flaws as a candidate…
Ms. Hong was the subject of a string of bad headlines in the final days of the campaign, including some over past remarks she made online. Those comments included her derision of Thanksgiving and other holidays, which she walked back.
The negative publicity could have been a bridge too far for some voters, especially if they made their choices in the final days of the campaign. In addition, some of the biggest national names in progressive politics, including Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, sat out the race.
…but benefited from a strong field operation.
Ms. Hong spent more time campaigning in rural Wisconsin than any other candidate, and it appeared to pay off, given how well she was doing in those parts of the state. Democratic socialists and other progressives have won a string of races on the strength of their ground games and populist left-wing proposals that are resonating with many voters. The old-fashioned takeaway? Showing up in person to make your case makes a difference.
But in Ms. Hong’s race, that wasn’t enough.
A progressive won the Democratic Senate primary in Minnesota.
In another Midwestern race in neighboring Minnesota, the progressive lieutenant governor, Peggy Flanagan, won the Democratic nomination for Senate, notching a victory for the party’s left wing. Ms. Flanagan’s victory over Representative Angie Craig, who had far more financial resources, was a triumph for what some saw as a more palatable form of progressivism.
Ms. Flanagan ran on a suite of progressive priorities — calling for universal health care, a higher federal minimum wage and an end to unconditional U.S. aid for Israel. She said she would challenge the Democratic establishment in Washington.
But Ms. Flanagan did not describe herself as a democratic socialist, and she captured support from a broader constellation of Democrats and progressives, including Mr. Sanders and Senators Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Christopher S. Murphy of Connecticut and Tina Smith of Minnesota, whose retirement opened the seat. Ms. Flanagan also did not suffer from a social-media footprint denigrating Thanksgiving. She will face Michele Tafoya, a Republican and former sports broadcaster, in November.
Darline Graham concluded an emotional month with the same poise that impressed Trump.
On the Republican side, Senator Darline Graham, a political newcomer and President Trump’s choice to succeed her brother, the late Senator Lindsey Graham, advanced to a runoff alongside Representative Ralph Norman, a hard-line conservative and a leader of the House Freedom Caucus.
Ms. Graham’s triumph over a field of more experienced candidates provided yet another show of the power that Mr. Trump holds over Republicans. The president came around to the idea that Ms. Graham should run for the seat after she was tapped to finish her brother’s term and met with the president in the Oval Office. He made very clear that he admired her poise.
Ms. Graham had been in the Senate 28 days as of Tuesday, exactly one month after Mr. Graham died. In her remarks on election night, she displayed a steady countenance. She talked up Mr. Trump’s domestic agenda while also touting that she passed a bill sanctioning Russia that would have made her hawkish brother proud.
And she let voters in on her grief, saying she has not had a lot of time to process his death.
“I think a lot about what I would say to him, what he would say,” she said. “Right now, I think he would be very proud.”
Losing the governor’s race in South Carolina may have helped Ralph Norman in the Senate race.
Mr. Norman, a five-term congressman, had given up his House seat and come in third in the Republican primary for governor in June. His political career appeared to be over.
But running a statewide campaign, even a losing one, gave Mr. Norman the name recognition and organization to jump into the mad dash of a special Senate primary election after Mr. Graham died last month. And that’s what Mr. Norman did, coalescing enough conservative support around South Carolina to advance to the runoff against Ms. Graham.
His advancement also gave Ms. Graham bragging rights as the lone Trump-supported candidate in the race. Although Mr. Norman is seen as a hard-line conservative, his support for Nikki Haley in the 2024 presidential contest may have cost him the president’s affections.
Ms. Graham said on Tuesday that she is “hopeful” that Mr. Trump will campaign for her in the runoff, “but we’ll see.”
It is not a good time to be an older Democratic incumbent running for re-election…
Representative John Larson, a 78-year-old Democrat seeking a 15th term in office, lost his primary race in Connecticut’s First Congressional District to Luke Bronin, former mayor of Hartford, in the latest example of restive Democratic voters ousting older lawmakers.
Mr. Bronin, a 47-year-old former Navy intelligence officer, campaigned explicitly on generational change. His victory followed wins by younger challengers in congressional contests in New York and Denver.
Those races pitted younger progressives against older moderates, while the Connecticut race was largely centered on age. Mr. Larson suffered a complex partial seizure on the House floor last year.
…or the MyPillow guy, an election denier seeking the Republican nomination for governor of Minnesota.
Remember Mike Lindell? He lost.
Julie Bosman, Lisa Lerer and Ernesto Londoño contributed reporting.
