MADISON, Wis.—It may be the dog days of August, but these days are about much more than the weather for primary voters in Wisconsin, Minnesota, a congressional district centered on Hartford, Conn., and other places across the country.
On primary election day, August 11, voters in Democratic Party races will go to the polls and decide whether to keep the faith with the party establishment or to nominate representatives of the party’s more progressive wing. Polls show that the electorate will continue choosing candidates who take strong positions on the issues, particularly candidates who back the high cost-of-living concerns of workers as opposed to those who hold back on pushing some of those concerns on the theory that moderation will be needed to win against Republicans in November.
In Wisconsin, for example, State Rep. Francesca Hong, leading in the polls, is described as too radical by some of the Democratic Party regulars. They argue that nominating her would be a favor to Republicans who have tried to tie her to the extreme left or to “socialists” and “communists.”
Progressives note that the moderates should be pointing out that Republicans are red baiting because they have nothing other than that to offer voters while progressives like Hong are backing the substantial changes that most voters want, including affordable prices, reduction in grocery prices, reduction in gas prices at the pump and improved health care for all rather that the cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security and the war on Iran backed by Republicans.
“The races will come down to how people feel about the economy, gas prices, the war on Iran” and the Trump threat to democracy, a union analyst told People’s World. “And the farmers feel they’re being squeezed” by Trump’s tariffs, the high prices for gas for their cars and diesel fuel for their tractors and even fertilizer, since it’s made with petroleum.
“And when you go to the grocery store, prices keep going up and up.”
Minnesota has an open gubernatorial race, as incumbent Tim Walz, DFL-Minn., was forced to drop his candidacy for re-election after becoming a Trump target of investigations over alleged fraud in using federal Medicare and other low-income aid.
The state’s U.S. Senator, Amy Klobuchar, a Democratic Farmer Labor party member, is expected to waltz into the executive mansion in St. Paul. The GOP nominee is pro-Trump extreme right-wing GOP donor Mike Lindell, CEO of My Pillow.
Connecticut presents a different picture. There, three insurgents may split the vote, giving veteran Democratic Rep. John Larson the win. He’s got the support of virtually all of his U.S. Senate colleagues, the state’s entire House delegation, along with a list of unions, though the state AFL-CIO has stayed neutral.
AIPAC, the far-right lobby which kowtows to the extremist Israeli government, quietly endorsed Larson, but did not throw huge amounts of money into the race to keep him in office.
The Working Families Party also endorsed Larson, the only congressional candidate it backed in the Nutmeg State. That’s notable because the party was silent on the re-election bid of Rep. Jahana Hayes, D-Conn., a union member and former National Teacher of the Year—and whose 5th District produces one of the two lowest Democratic margins in U.S. House races. She won in 2024 by 53%-46%.
Republicans fear that if progressives who take strong stands win their nomination battles in the Democratic primaries, voters will back those winners in November. The so-called moderates in the Democratic Party, if they are interested in unity against Republicans, should, according to the progressives, be making this point.
One of the major races coming up on August 11 is the Democratic primary for the Wisconsin governorship. Also critical is the Democratic primary for an open U.S. Senate seat in Minnesota and a race involving three credible challengers to veteran Democratic Rep. John Larson in Connecticut.
In Wisconsin, State Rep. Francesca Hong, a chef, a single mother and a community organizer who proudly calls herself a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, enjoys double-digit leads in the polls over Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley.
A candidate with similar views in next-door Michigan, Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, won the Democratic Party’s U.S. Senate primary on August 4.
The winner in what is now essentially a two-person race—though there are seven names on the Democratic ballot—will face Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany in November. Tiffany is running as an unabashed supporter of the policies of President Trump.
“We can fully fund our public schools and have universal childcare. We can guarantee paid leave and have cheaper health care. We can fix a rigged system that puts oligarchs over workers and small businesses,” Hong says in her campaign ad.
“I’m fighting for the working class because I am working class,” she declares. “I’ve been working-class my entire life. When covid [coronavirus] lockdowns decimated the Madison restaurant industry, we organized home meal delivery and mutual aid programs to keep our workers afloat and our most vulnerable neighbors fed.
“My community elected me to the legislature in 2020, where I’ve seen, up close, a state government captured by the interests of billionaires and huge corporations.
“There’s no reason most of us need to endure an affordability crisis while our government gives tax breaks to data centers and the donor class, or that we need to sit by while our natural resources are put up for sale to whomever has the right political connections.”
Meanwhile, the Democratic establishment floundered for a candidate to oppose Hong. In a state where Democrat Joe Biden beat GOPer Donald Trump in 2020 by less than 1%, and Trump turned the tables on Democratic nominee Kamala Harris in 2024 by 0.9%, nothing can be taken for granted, particularly since the right wing can and has poured millions of dollars into its state campaigns.
One “establishment” candidate, Lieut. Gov. Sara Rodriguez, dropped out when audits uncovered massive embezzlement by her campaign treasurer. Former state Fire Fighters President Mandela Barnes dropped out due to lagging poll numbers. Both—and others-withdrew so late, however, that their names are still on Wisconsin ballots.
A third establishment favorite, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, endorsed by retiring Gov. Tony Evers (D), dropped out of the race on July 8, then dropped back in on July 18 when Barnes and Rodriguez withdrew.
Crowley is bidding for moderate support by touting his record as County Executive, and his electability there.
“To win, the Democratic nominee must do three things: Boost turnout in Milwaukee, grow margins in the suburbs, and hold the line in rural communities. David is the only candidate who can do all three with the results to prove it,” his website claims.
Crowley also states his moderation would help down-ballot Democratic legislative candidates retake total control in the state capital of Madison, after more than a decade of partisan—and anti-worker—GOP rule there.
Tiffany, the leading Republican and a business owner, has refused to participate in Wisconsin candidate debates. He has tied himself to Trump.
Tiffany spouts Republican rhetoric against progressives and “coastal elites,” braying code words about border security, “fiscal responsibility,” and “restoring order” and trashing “unelected bureaucrats.”
Across the Mississippi River in Minnesota, the progressive standard-bearer is Lieut. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, while the establishment favorite is U.S. Rep. Angie Craig.
There, the race is closer. One of the two most recent polls shows Craig with a two-percentage-point lead. The other shows a flat-out tie, with about a sixth of the voters undecided. Other polls favor Flanagan, by anywhere from seven to 14 percentage points.
Trump is now deeply unpopular in Minnesota. The most recent polls there, six months after Trump’s troops—from ICE and the Border Patrol—gunned down Minneapolis residents Renee Nicole Good and Alex F. Pretti, a union member, in cold blood as they were observing anti-immigrant sweeps, produce 94% Democratic disapproval.
Progressives—including Sen. Bernie Sanders, Ind-Vt., and Sen. Tina Smith, DFL-Minn.—are backing Flanagan. Smith is retiring from the seat Flanagan and Craig are contending for.
The big issue pushed in the 1st District by the three foes—Luke Bronin, Jillian Gilchrest and Julia Fortune—is that the district needs new and fresh blood to stand up to Trump. Larson was first elected in 1998. He touts his record on constituent service, his leadership on issues involving the aging and nurses, and his clout from seniority in Congress.
Bronin, a former Obama administration official and mayor of Hartford, drew 51% of the votes at the state Democratic convention, but its endorsement is non-binding. A hopeful needed 15% to make the primary ballot, and the other three—Larson, Gilchrest and Fortune—did.
“We need a bold, clear vision. And we need members of Congress who are out there every day building the political movement to make it possible. That’s why we need new energy, new ideas, and new perspectives in Washington,” Bronin said in a campaign statement.
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