In Minnesota and Wisconsin, competitive primaries will again test power of progressive candidates

A voter fills out their ballot at the Minneapolis Elections & Voter Services building on September 20, 2024 in Minneapolis, Minn. Stephen Maturen/Getty Images hide caption

Minnesota and Wisconsin hold primary elections Tuesday that will determine how Democrats define themselves heading into the November midterm elections.

Wisconsin is a swing state in presidential elections and Minnesota has been a stronghold for Democrats over the last two decades.

Journalists from across the NPR Network in Minnesota and Wisconsin are covering the races in their communities. Here's what we are watching.

Will Democrats in another Midwest swing state choose a far-left candidate?

Gubernatorial candidate Francesca Hong speaks on stage during Wisconsin Democrats 2026 Convention on June 14, 2026 in Madison, Wisconsin. Daniel Boczarski/Getty Images North America hide caption

A week after progressive Abdul El-Sayed narrowly defeated a more moderate candidate in the Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate in Michigan, another test of progressive power will play out in a neighboring Midwestern swing state.

Francesca Hong, a 37-year-old democratic socialist, state lawmaker and chef, has been leading in the polls throughout much of the Democratic primary for governor of Wisconsin. She's run an energetic grassroots campaign , buoyed by progressive voters inspired by her atypical political background and left-wing politics.

As her command of the field has held going into Tuesday's primary, some Democrats are consolidating around other candidates they view as more palatable to a general electorate.

Wisconsin's statewide races are typically decided by slim margins.

In the final weeks of the campaign, after some unprecedented turmoil caused another candidate to drop out, that alternative became Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley.

In July, Crowley dropped out of the race but reentered just days later with the backing of Gov. Tony Evers. It was a last-ditch effort to leverage the popular outgoing governor's political capital in favor of a more mainstream candidate .

Whereas Crowley's campaign had largely sputtered along for months, its revived form raised hundreds of thousands of dollars , outpacing Hong's haul.

Democratic Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate David Crowley (L) greets supporters at a campaign rally on August 10, 2026 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Scott Olson/Getty Images North America hide caption

Crowley, the first Black man to hold his position, is running as someone who can work across the aisle to get things done in Madison. He has repeatedly pointed to millions of dollars that national Republican groups spent propping up Hong , ostensibly in an effort to select an opponent they saw as beatable.

Hong, though not officially endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America, is a member of the organization, and of the democratic socialist caucus in the Wisconsin state Legislature. She has called for "Medicare for All" and universal childcare, and for a moratorium on data centers, a key issue for midterm voters.

While Hong's base is strong, many polls indicate that at least a third of Democratic voters remained undecided in the campaign's final week. And the Democratic electorate has fractured even further with primary candidates dropping out well after early voting began.

A MAGA candidate focused on being 'Wisconsin's Dad,' not a Beltway insider

Rep. Tom Tiffany, Republican from Wisconsin, speaks before Vice President JD Vance delivers remarks in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on July 8, 2026. MARK SCHIEFELBEIN/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

Whoever wins Wisconsin's Democratic primary for governor is all but certain to face off against U.S. Congressman Tom Tiffany, who faces only nominal opposition for the Republican nod.

Tiffany is endorsed by President Trump and has millions of dollars in his war chest and the backing of GOP megadonors. Tiffany's alliance with the president runs deep, as one of the most conservative members of the U.S. Congress who signed on to a lawsuit challenging former Democratic President Joe Biden's 2020 victory in Wisconsin.

But as Trump's approval has plummeted this year, amidst his unpopular war with Iran and the rising cost of living, Tiffany has worked to define himself as a Wisconsin everyman . In advertisements, Tiffany plays up his roots on a Wisconsin dairy farm and love of the Green Bay Packers and a brandy old fashioned . He pledges to bring common sense solutions to Madison.

And as the Democratic candidates moved through a chaotic primary, he has presented himself as a foil to the " craziness of the left ."

The race for Wisconsin's highest statewide office is expected to be hotly contested. Locally, Democrats have their hopes set on "trifecta" control of state government. That would mean holding onto the governorship and flipping the state Senate and Assembly.

Republicans are eager to keep their majorities in the Legislature, and to win back control of the governor's office.

After Operation Metro Surge, which approach will Democratic voters choose to challenge Trump?

Angie Craig, U.S. Senate candidate Clay Masters/MPR hide caption

President Trump's immigration crackdown in the Twin Cities earlier this year has shaped Minnesota's competitive Democratic primary for an open U.S. Senate seat.

Last year, Democratic Sen. Tina Smith announced that she would not seek another term and that set up the state's first open U.S. Senate race in two decades between U.S. Rep. Angie Craig and Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan.

In the months after Smith's announcement, Minnesota became a flashpoint in the Trump administration's crackdown on immigration with protestors resisting deportation actions around the city. Those confrontations with federal officers ultimately turned deadly when Renee Macklin Good and Alex Pretti were fatally shot by federal agents just weeks apart .

Those events set up a race that has been defined by Operation Metro Surge. Flanagan regularly brings up a vote Craig made in Congress for a Trump-backed immigration policy.

"We can stand with the immigrant community, and not just when it's politically expedient for us and that should be the expectation we have of our leaders," Flanagan told a crowd of supporters at a St. Paul bar on Saturday.

Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan is also a U.S. Senate candidate. Clay Masters/MPR hide caption

Flanagan has campaigned saying that she would be more forceful than Craig in pushing back against the Trump administration if she was elected to serve in Washington.

"I've heard from you all across the state of Minnesota that you are sick and tired of nibbling around the edges, and you are ready for big, bold change," Flanagan said at a debate hosted by Minnesota Public Radio News last month. "Part of the reason that we're here is because too many Democrats have been weak."

Craig said she regrets her vote for the GOP-led Laken Riley Act, which allows for detention of people without legal status who are charged with crimes ranging from minor theft to assault on law enforcement. And rejects the idea that she has taken a moderate approach in pushing back against Trump as a member of Congress.

"This is an existential moment in time," Craig said to Minnesota Public Radio News. "The only way we stop Donald Trump and Republicans is by winning elections. I am in the best position to win this statewide election."

And she says Operation Metro Surge has made her more resolute.

"It has made me more committed than ever to standing up to the Trump administration's policies as it relates to immigration enforcement," Craig told NPR after a campaign organizing event on Saturday. "[I'm] more committed than ever to getting comprehensive immigration reform done in this country."

Meanwhile, Flanagan does not refer to herself as a Democratic Socialist but has the endorsements of progressive U.S. Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. She also picked up the endorsement of her state's Democratic Farmer-Labor Party in May.

Craig has a fundraising advantage over Flanagan, according to a recent review of FEC filings by OpenSecrets, a nonprofit that tracks campaign spending.

The winner will face whoever wins the Republican primary between sports broadcaster Michele Tafoya, Navy SEAL Adam Schwarze and former NBA basketball player Royce White.

A staunch Trump ally is shaking up Minnesota's GOP gubernatorial primary.

MyPillow chief executive Mike Lindell speaks to reporters outside federal court in Washington, D.C., on June 24, 2021. Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP hide caption

Gov. Tim Walz abandoned his bid for a third term in January, leaving Democratic U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar as the only formidable Democrat running to replace him. Yet, there's a more competitive primary on the Republican side.

MyPillow founder Mike Lindell has been leading in the polls after he picked up the endorsement of President Trump. Yet businessman Kendall Qualls picked up the endorsement of state Republicans at their party's convention earlier this year.

The Republican Party of Minnesota is questioning whether Lindell has satisfied residency requirements for candidates.

A former party leader resurfaced allegations that Lindell physically abused a former girlfriend in a column published in the state's largest newspaper. Lindell has long denied that and said his residency is in order. He alleged the party leaders want him to lose.

"It's a coordinated attack," Lindell told reporters. "It started when I got the president's endorsement