Democratic socialist candidates for governor in Wisconsin and U.S. Senate in Minnesota are making their final pushes ahead of Tuesday’s primary election, offering a test for the strength of a movement that many believe has the party’s traditional liberal establishment on its heels, according to an article by the Associated Press.
Both primaries come one week after progressive candidate Abdul El-Sayed narrowly defeated Rep. Haley Stevens in Michigan’s divisive and costly U.S. Senate primary.
In Wisconsin, democratic socialist Francesca Hong is trying to win a four-way Democratic primary for governor where her top opponent, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, has been endorsed by Gov. Tony Evers.
With the support of 38% of Democratic primary voters, Hong held a commanding lead in the most recent Marquette Law poll.
In the final days of the primary, Evers and Crowley were crisscrossing the state together before final ballots are cast Tuesday.
El-Sayed’s victory in Michigan has energized the left while stoking fears among Democratic Party leaders that the shift to the left, particularly in battleground states like Michigan and Wisconsin, will make it more difficult to win in November.
Republicans have put money behind Hong, thinking she will be the easier opponent for U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, the likely Republican nominee, in November.
“If Tom Tiffany wins in November that will be like electing Donald Trump as governor of the state of Wisconsin,” Evers said.
Tiffany has been endorsed by President Trump, who called Hong a communist in remarks last week.
Republicans have held majorities in both chambers of the Wisconsin Legislature since 2011. If Democrats can hold onto the governor’s office and reverse Republican majorities in both houses, they will gain full control of state government for the first time in 16 years.
