{"id":4873,"date":"2026-07-13T15:35:41","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T15:35:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=4873"},"modified":"2026-07-13T15:35:41","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T15:35:41","slug":"the-next-big-races-between-moderates-and-progressives-are-in-pivotal-midwestern-states","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=4873","title":{"rendered":"The next big races between moderates and progressives are in pivotal Midwestern states"},"content":{"rendered":"
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ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) \u2014 Minnesotans are known for their niceness, but pleasantries are rare in the state\u2019s Democratic U.S. Senate primary.<\/span><\/p>\n

Read more With threats rising, Supreme Court asks Congress to increase security funds<\/a><\/p>\n

The two leading candidates, U.S. Rep. Angie Craig and Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, have clashed over electability, their ties to corporate interests and willingness to fight Republican President Donald Trump\u2019s administration in Washington. Millions of dollars in political ads have blanketed televisions and phone screens for a race that has become emblematic of Democrats\u2019 deeper divides.<\/span><\/p>\n

The increasingly bitter contest will be among the next races where progressive candidates are facing more moderate rivals. August primaries in Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota will be another gauge of Democratic voters\u2019 frustration with the establishment. The races across the Upper Midwest may also offer another test of the electability of hard-left candidates.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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After notable progressive successes so far this year, party leaders worry these candidates could damage Democrats\u2019 brand and imperil their chances of retaking either chamber of Congress this fall or maintaining the governor\u2019s mansion in a battleground state ahead of the 2028 presidential election. The progressive left says recent results prove their message is the party\u2019s path to victory.<\/span><\/p>\n

Flanagan, who is backed by progressive Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, last week convened a press conference to condemn \u201csecretive dark money groups and special interests\u201d she says are at work in the Minnesota race. She argued the groups are working to elect Craig, a more conventional Democrat backed by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York and other senior Democratic leaders.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we are facing right now in our party,\u201d Flanagan told The Associated Press, \u201cis the very folks who are standing in the way of the things that people need to be able to afford their lives, who are Democrats, are funded by these corporate special interests. That is the choice I think that we have, and people are onto it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Craig counters that Flanagan raised campaign funds from major companies while chair of the Democratic Lieutenant Governors Association. She says that if Flanagan becomes the Democratic nominee, Republicans would focus on her ties to an ongoing fraud inquiry into the state\u2019s Medicaid programs.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe coalition we\u2019re building is people in Minnesota who understand that in order to stop Donald Trump, we\u2019ve got to win elections,\u201d Craig told the AP. She warned that Minnesota is often underappreciated as \u201cthe very definition of a swing state, and we simply can\u2019t take this U.S. Senate seat for granted.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Craig argued that it was important that Democrats do not reject corporate funding while Republicans continue to embrace backing from wealthy donors. She also said she supports major campaign finance reforms restricting the role of money in politics.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBut until we get to that day, it\u2019s naive to think that we\u2019re not going to need resources,\u201d Craig said.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Upper Midwest becomes next theater in Democrats\u2019 progressive vs. moderate fight<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The Minnesota primary, in which Flanagan and Craig are vying for the seat vacated by Democratic Sen. Tina Smith, is Aug. 11. Wisconsin also holds its primary that day \u2014 one week after voters will choose nominees in Michigan on Aug. 4.<\/span><\/p>\n

In Michigan, Rep. Haley Stevens is running against progressive Abdul El-Sayed for the state\u2019s Democratic Senate nomination in a race Democrats must win to hold the seat held by Sen. Gary Peters, who is retiring and has endorsed Stevens. And in Wisconsin, democratic socialist state Rep. Francesca Hong has surged in the state\u2019s Democratic gubernatorial primary against more conventional Democratic lawmakers, including former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes and current Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez.<\/span><\/p>\n

In each case, progressives hope to prove that an economically populist message resonates with voters beyond deep blue enclaves where they have had recent success, like New York City and Denver. But Democratic leaders fear that the insurgent candidates risk blowing winnable races for Democrats with messages considered too radical for most voters.<\/span><\/p>\n

Read more Ukraine fears that with Senator Lindsey Graham\u2019s sudden death, it will have a weaker link to Trump<\/a><\/p>\n

Craig also criticized progressives for gambling with Democrats\u2019 chances to retake the Senate due to poor campaigning and vetting of candidates. She noted the recent downfall of Graham Platner, who easily won the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate in Maine in June but dropped out of the race last week after facing an allegation of sexual assault, which he denies.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe just saw one of our best Senate opportunities go down in flames in Maine, potentially, with that same coalition,\u201d Craig said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAnd many of the same people are working on the lieutenant governor\u2019s campaign as Graham Platner\u2019s campaign,\u201d Craig added. \u201dMy coalition is statewide. I\u2019m going everywhere. I\u2019m talking to everyone. I\u2019m working to bring people back to the (Democratic Party).\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Following the fallout from the Platner scandal, progressives view the Upper Midwest Senate races as their last chance to shape the Democrats\u2019 Senate caucus and prove their theory of the case in the midterm elections.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAbdul El-Sayed was already the most important primary candidate in the nation, and this underscores the importance of that race, both in the primary and the general,\u201d said Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, a political action committee that backs Flanagan and El-Sayed.<\/span><\/p>\n

The organization views this year\u2019s Senate races in Michigan and Maine as key tests of whether progressives\u2019 message and organizing strategies could prove effective in competitive races. The high-stakes strategy was meant to assuage potential concerns among Democratic voters that progressives are unelectable in competitive races ahead of the party\u2019s 2028 presidential primary.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOur hope is to not have an outlier but a pattern of shake-up-the-system economic fighters who win tough swing state elections,\u201d Green said.<\/span><\/p>\n

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A long populist history in the Midwest<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The Upper Midwest has populist traditions going back decades, including by electing progressive and conservative populists, said Steven Schier, a political science professor at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota. The region was often a model for the Progressive Era\u2019s reform-minded policies, but it also elected some of the most stridently conservative Cold War voices like Sen. Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s interesting about the Upper Midwest is that you get well-developed and articulated left populism, and well-developed and articulated right populism in competition and combat. It produces some very lively election seasons,\u201d Schier said.<\/span><\/p>\n

More recently, the Great Lakes region has been the nation\u2019s marquee political battleground, with state legislatures and the presidential winner swinging between Democratic and Republican candidates for the last decade. No matter who wins, the results of the midterm primaries in the region will have major ripple effects in national politics.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis culture will take broad concerns that populists bring up and trumpet them throughout the electoral system, and that\u2019s true on both the right and the left up here,\u201d Schier said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Read more Jaylen Brown\u2019s stats are what they are, but a closer look at game situations paints a clearer picture<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

August primaries in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota will be another gauge of Democratic voters\u2019 frustration with the establishment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4872,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4873","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nThe next big races between moderates and progressives are in pivotal Midwestern states - Boston Relocation Insider<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=4873\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The next big races between moderates and progressives are in pivotal Midwestern states - 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