Progressive candidates secured a primary victory in Michigan and are leading in Wisconsin, establishing battlegrounds for the November midterm elections. Abdul El-Sayed won the Democratic Senate primary in Michigan, while Francesca Hong is polling ahead in the Democratic gubernatorial primary in Wisconsin.
El-Sayed won the Michigan primary with strong support from young voters and white college-educated voters. His victory, by roughly 14,000 votes against Rep. Haley Stevens, did not include majority support from African American voters, a key Democratic bloc.
To win in November, El-Sayed must expand his coalition. General election voters tend to be older, less college-educated and more moderate than primary voters. That may require him to soften positions on social issues, including Israel, that energized primary supporters but could push away moderate independents.
Republicans in Michigan say they got the Democrat they wanted as their opponent. Mike Rogers, the unopposed Republican Senate nominee, and his party are working to make El-Sayed's Muslim heritage a campaign issue.
In Wisconsin, Hong is polling ahead in the Democratic primary for governor, which takes place Tuesday. Her platform includes raising state income taxes by one percent on couples earning at least $431,000 and establishing free childcare.
The two primaries expose an ongoing tension inside the Democratic Party: progressive activists pushing the platform left, centrist factions arguing the party must broaden its coalition to win competitive seats in November.
President Donald Trump, in an interview with Punchbowl News on Friday, questioned whether his supporters would turn out in midterms when he is not on the ballot, and said he would ask them to.
NPR senior national political correspondent Mara Liasson said Trump remains a central figure for many voters regardless. For Democrats and those dissatisfied with his administration, Trump is "very much on the ballot" in the midterms, Liasson said.
Republicans are working to tie Democratic candidates to what they call "fringe positions" — a strategy complicated by economic headwinds the party faces heading into November.
Democrats face the challenge of turning out their progressive base while drawing moderate and independent voters. Republicans aim to use the ideological distance between progressive nominees and the political center against them.
