Democrats’ Big Tent Bodes Well for November

MAGA is stuck with radical, unpopular nominees.

The primaries in Wisconsin and Minnesota and a special Republican Senate election in South Carolina held on Tuesday demonstrated that Democrats are coalescing around a theme of economic populism and reform, while Republicans are struggling to figure out how to please their overlord Donald Trump without getting blown out in November.

In Wisconsin, current Governor Tony Evers helped ensure he will have a Democratic successor. Democratic Socialist Francesca Hong appeared to open a lead in late polling in the race. But — as in Michigan — we learned that primary polling with fast-moving shifts in voter sentiment and highly partisan respondents (who can be mis-sampled based on enthusiasm of activists) is a dicey business.

Unlike a batch of successful progressives (for example, Democratic Michigan Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed), Hong is an avowed socialist. She also left a string of questionable statements and extreme positions in her wake (forcing her to walk back stances on everything from abolishing the police to condemning Thanksgiving) that kept even progressive kingmakers like Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) from endorsing her. The prospect of blowing a key governorship prompted Evers to lure back into the race David Crowley, the serious, low-key Milwaukee County executive, and help him eke out a narrow victory. Democrats made history by nominating Wisconsin’s first Black governor, if Crowley prevails.

Before patting themselves on the back for dodging a near-disaster, party centrists might want to revisit why they once more found themselves behind the curve. Plainly, dynamic candidates with sharp, clear messages out of the gate could help avoid these Perils of Pauline finishes.

Those looking for a single hot take (Progressives win everything! Centrists revenge!) will be disappointed to see that in neither Wisconsin nor in Minnesota is there one grand, singular ideological surge in the party. The better candidate with the clearest message tends to win. Even within a single state, unique matchups, specific personalities, and distinct political vibe have more to do with the winner than ideological purity or pushback.

In Minnesota, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), the quintessential pragmatic moderate, sailed to victory to face House state speaker Lisa Demuth, whom Republican voters chose over Trump favorite, Mr. Pillow CEO (and fanatic MAGA election denier) Mike Lindell, and healthcare executive Kendall Qualls. Aside from snubbing Trump, the Republicans’ pick hardly matters. Minnesotans are unlikely to embrace a party or candidate who refuses to condemn CBP or ICE, which collectively terrorized the state and killed two Minnesotans.

At a recent candidate forum, Klobuchar declared, “None of my opponents on this stage condemned what ICE did. Not a word. Not a word. Two innocent people were killed, shot in the back. We had many people arrested when they weren’t supposed to be arrested, and we all know that.” She has called for immigration reform and objects to $70B+ funding for the murderous outfit, money badly needed for housing, healthcare, childcare, etc.

In the highest-profile Minnesota race, the battle to replace retiring Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN), progressive Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, a charismatic campaigner, trounced moderate Rep. Angie Craig (D-MN), winning nearly 60 percent of the vote. While the policy differences between the two were not great, once more a dynamic, aggressive progressive was able to connect with voters looking for bold change in a way that an incrementalist, cautious incumbent congresswoman was not.

As the Minnesota Reformer put it, despite stylistic differences, the two generally favored “banning corporate money in elections, expanding the Supreme Court, allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices, making it easier for workers to unionize, providing undocumented immigrants a path to legal status, [and] eliminating taxes on Social Security.” However, Flanagan is a uniquely powerful campaigner with a tremendous personal story. “I was raised by an amazing single working mom struggling to pay for food and rent. So to me, food assistance isn’t just another line item in the federal budget. It’s why I was able to walk out of the food shelf with a block of commodity cheese under my arm like a football,” she told supporters Tuesday, as she spoke about how Section 8 housing and Medicaid had saved her family.

By contrast, Craig's support for the Laken Riley Act, mandating the detention of undocumented immigrants for relatively minor crimes, hurt her. That vote in the wake of the ICE invasion looked egregiously off-key. As in other Democratic primary races, PAC spending on Craig’s behalf to boost the crypto industry and her vote to continue aid to Israel also undercut her support. These issues, aside from the merits, have come to represent whether a candidate is willing to defy powerful establishment figures and donors.

If business-captive centrists are alarmed by progressive challengers, they should start listening to voters and find more inspiring candidates. Craig immediately reached out to endorse her opponent, telling her supporters, “We are both proud Democrats … and we love this state. And we both know that we can’t just hand Donald Trump another Senate seat.”

In a competitive Minnesota Democratic House primary race, Matt Little, a former DFL state senator and the most progressive of the top contenders, beat out two state lawmakers for the nomination for the 2nd congressional district to replace Craig. His winning message stressed Medicare for All, criticized data center overbuilding, and rejected AIPAC money. In the 1^st congressional district, high school math teacher and political newcomer Jake Johnson won, running as a fiscal conservative. He will have a shot at knocking out incumbent Rep. Brad Finstad (R-MN) in a Republican-leaning seat.

Apparently, Minnesota Democrats (and the DFL) are a big enough tent to encompass moderates like Klobuchar and Johnson, as well as progressives such as Flanagan and Little, a good omen for the general election.

Finally, in South Carolina, Darline Graham, the utterly unqualified placeholder Donald Trump’s pick to fill her late brother’s seat, did not impress voters. Trump’s endorsement failed to clear the field, leaving her to face a batch of fresh competitors. While she placed first, she got less than a third of the vote, forcing her into an Aug. 25 runoff. All of that is good news for an impressive underdog Democratic nominee and pediatrician, Annie Andrews, who has been stressing exceptionally timely issues such as the measles outbreak brought on by irresponsible MAGA science denial, the Cyclospora outbreak and other health disasters, gun safety, and access to affordable healthcare. She remains the longest of long shots, a reminder of the price that red states pay for remaining in the cult of personality where Republicans refuse to deviate one iota from Trump’s deranged rhetoric, lies, and disastrous policies.

In sum, Democrats remain a big-tent party gravitating toward an aggressive, anti-oligarch economic message. Republicans, meanwhile, remain depressingly predictable — running as unblinking foot soldiers in an authoritarian cult that repudiates science, the rule of law, and pluralistic democracy. That might fly in deep red South Carolina, but it alienates large swaths of the electorate looking for sane, decent leadership. If Democrats run solid campaigns against MAGA extremists, Republicans will face historic losses around the country in November.