Tim Michels’ defeat of former Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch comes as Republicans seek to unseat Democratic Gov. Tony Evers in November in a critical battleground state that went from Trump to Joe Biden in 2020.
Michels, a construction company owner and political neophyte, won Trump’s endorsement by more aggressively expanding on the former president’s 2020 campaign lies, notably in the intra-party debate over whether Wisconsin should seek to decertify the victory of Biden there for almost two years. Kleefisch was widely considered the favorite at the start of the campaign. She spent eight years as former Gov. Scott Walker’s second-in-command and enjoyed broad support from the state’s powerful GOP establishment.
Wisconsin is the third state where Trump and Pence have endorsed opposing gubernatorial candidates. Trump’s pick in Arizona, Kari Lake, a conservative commentator and election denier, narrowly won the nomination, while Pence’s pick in Georgia, incumbent Gov. Brian Kemp, defeated David Perdue, a former senator, in a land burst.
But Trump prevailed in the rubber match between the former running mates as the Republican Party finished filling out its slate of gubernatorial candidates in the five states – Wisconsin, Arizona, Michigan, Georgia and Pennsylvania – that went from Trump in 2016 to Biden. four years later. All are expected to be hotly contested again in 2024, and GOP victories in those political battlegrounds this fall could help ease that. Trump’s path back to the White House if he runs again
Wisconsin is also home to a critical GOP primary in the state legislature, where Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, an arch-conservative who has largely gone along with Trump’s 2020 election pledges, is being challenged by Adam Steen , which received Trump’s endorsement because Vos. , according to the ex-president’s estimation, he has been insufficiently optimistic with the efforts of the right for the State to decertify his defeat.
Democrats, meanwhile, were relishing the anticlimactic end to what many expected to be a hotly contested Senate primary. Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes will win the Democratic nomination, CNN projects, after his main rivals dropped out within days. Those exits effectively handed him the nomination and a showdown in November with Republican Sen. Ron Johnson, one of Trump’s top backers in Washington and a prime target for Democrats hoping to preserve or potentially expand their Senate majority.
Also Tuesday in the Upper Midwest, Minnesota Republicans will choose their nominee to face Democratic Gov. Tim Walz, who is seeking a second term.
Scott Jensen, a physician and former state lawmaker, had nearly clinched the nomination after securing the support of the state party. But he made it official on Tuesday night, according to CNN projects, passing the underdogs Joyce Lynne Lacey and Bob “Again” Carney Jr.
Jensen has been a longtime critic of Walz, primarily criticizing statewide lockdowns in the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic. But he also suggested hospitals inflated their patient counts and questioned the safety and effectiveness of vaccines, which Jensen has said he did not receive.
The race between Walz and Jensen could also help determine the fate of abortion rights in Minnesota. Jensen told Minnesota Public Radio in March that he would “try to ban abortion” if elected, a comment Walz and other Democrats have already seized on. Jensen, late last month, left behind his more aggressive language in statements, saying he supports exceptions to allow abortion in cases of rape, incest or when the mother’s life is at risk. But Democrats, buoyed by Kansas’ vote last week to preserve abortion rights in a statewide referendum, are expected to make the issue a centerpiece of their fall campaign.
Meanwhile, Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar, the progressive member of the state’s 5th Congressional District “squad,” will survive a surprisingly close primary challenge, CNN projects, from moderate Don Samuels. Omar beat a well-funded primary challenger in 2020, but Samuels entered this race with greater name recognition in the Minneapolis district and the backing of a big-spending super PAC.
Voters in the current version of southern Minnesota’s 1st Congressional District will choose a replacement to fill the seat of the late Rep. Jim Hagedorn, a Republican who died earlier this year. Special elections in the GOP-friendly district include Republican Brad Finstad and Democrat Jeffrey Ettinger. The winner will head almost immediately to Capitol Hill to serve out Hagedorn’s term. But both candidates were also on the ballot in regular primaries as they vied for their respective parties’ nominations in a new version of the district, which was redrawn ahead of the midterms. Finstad, a former state lawmaker and USDA official in the Trump administration, will win the GOP nomination, CNN projects. Ettinger, the former CEO of Hormel Foods, is expected to win easily on the Democratic side.
History in the making in Vermont
Vermont Democrats will nominate Rep. Peter Welch, CNN projects, to fill the seat of retiring Sen. Patrick Leahy, who will step down next year after nearly 50 years on the job. Welch’s decision to run for Senate created a rare open Democratic primary for the state’s only House seat, setting in motion a contest that will almost certainly end in a historic election.
State Senate President Pro Tempore Becca Balint will win the nomination, CNN projects, defeating Lt. Gov. Molly Gray for the nomination to replace Welch in the House. An overwhelming favorite in the fall, Balint is poised to become the first woman elected to Congress from Vermont, which is the only state to ever send a woman to represent it at the federal level.
Little separated Balint and Gray on major issues, but their candidacies divided the loyalties of Vermont Senators Bernie Sanders and Leahy. Sanders and leading progressives across the country endorsed Balint. Gray was supported by Leahy, who donated to her cause and said he voted for her, though he did not issue a formal endorsement in the race. The Former Governors of Vermont. Howard Dean and Madeleine Kunin also supported Gray.
But in a race that saw the same candidates level on fundraising, a large amount of outside spending for Balint likely helped tip the balance. The LGBTQ Victory Fund invested about $1 million in the race for Balint, who is gay. She also benefited from spending by the campaign arm of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, whose chairwoman, Washington Rep. Pramila Jayapal, along with progressive senators from neighboring Massachusetts, Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey, endorsed her.
In Connecticut, there is little danger to Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont or Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal. Both were unopposed in their primaries.
On the GOP side, former state lawmaker Themis Klarides, a moderate, will be edged out by Trump-backed CNN’s Leora Levy. A first-time candidate, Levy will move on to face Blumenthal in November. Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob Stefanowski was, like Lamont, alone on the ballot Tuesday, setting the stage for a rematch in his 2018 race.
This story has been updated with additional news.
