{"id":8645,"date":"2026-08-04T17:35:02","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T17:35:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=8645"},"modified":"2026-08-04T17:35:02","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T17:35:02","slug":"democrats-big-primary-tests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=8645","title":{"rendered":"Democrats\u2019 big primary tests"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Supporters of Abdul El-Sayed, a liberal Democratic candidate for Michigan\u2019s Senate seat, stand outside a polling station in Lansing, Michigan. (Bill Pugliano\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

The November midterm elections are right around the corner, which means August is a big month for primaries to pick those candidates.<\/p>

Read more Rep. Max Miller, accused of abuse, seeks ethics investigation to clear his name<\/a><\/p>\n

Primaries play an increasingly decisive role in American politics because so many congressional districts are gerrymandered for just one party to win. In statewide races like for Senate or governor, primaries either basically determine November\u2019s winner or shape whether a competitive race is winnable. Democrats in particular have an interesting primary month coming up: They could nominate democratic socialists or far-left candidates to run in swing states that voted for President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is going to tell us a lot about the direction of the Democratic Party and be a test of whether the more progressive, further-left candidates \u2014 -who seem to be what the party\u2019s base is wanting \u2014 can win in more competitive states,\u201d said Jessica Taylor, who analyzes Senate and gubernatorial races for the Cook Political Report with Amy Walter. \u201cThis is not Manhattan<\/a>, this is not Denver<\/a>. These are progressives running in Michigan and Wisconsin trying to win.\u201d<\/p>\n

That test starts today in Michigan. Here\u2019s what to watch for in primaries Tuesday and beyond.<\/p>\n

Michigan is a linchpin<\/a> in Democrats\u2019 hopes to retake the Senate. But some centrist Democrats are worried that if an unapologetic liberal<\/a> wins Tuesday\u2019s primary \u2014 which polls show could happen \u2014 it could squander their fortunes.<\/p>\n

The liberal is Abdul El-Sayed<\/a>, a former public health official backed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont). He supports Medicare-for-all; has campaigned with Hasan Piker, a controversial influencer who has been accused of antisemitism; and has labeled Israel\u2019s actions in Gaza as \u201cgenocide.\u201d El-Sayed also calls for abolishing the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. He is mostly popular with younger voters, but Michigan\u2019s general electorate includes more older voters without a college degree.<\/p>\n

The establishment candidate is Haley Stevens<\/a>, who is a member of Congress and flipped a Republican-held House district in 2018. (She also holds some left-leaning views, such as a public option for health care as opposed to the more liberal position of making health insurance entirely public.) She\u2019s running a more traditional campaign that some liberal voters see<\/a> as a repeat of elections that lost the party the Senate and White House in 2024.<\/p>\n

Michigan is a potentially tricky state for Democrats. Michigan narrowly voted for Trump in 2016 and 2024, in part through his efforts to appeal to the state\u2019s working-class voters.<\/p>\n

The state also has a number of competitive Democratic House <\/b>primaries<\/a> Tuesday that mirror the liberal-establishment battle in the Senate.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m watching this with increasing concern,\u201d senior Democratic strategist Jim Manley said. \u201cAt the start of last year, no one in their right minds thought the Senate was in play for Democrats. But now, in part due to Trump\u2019s spectacular implosion, a lot of these seats are winnable. Except we\u2019re looking at a situation where some of our candidates might be too extreme for the general election.\u201d <\/b><\/p>\n

If Michigan is a linchpin for Democrats\u2019 hopes in the Senate, Virginia is a major player in their hopes for retaking the House in November. Except, they\u2019ll be trying to do it without an aggressive gerrymander that could have given Democrats 10 out of the state\u2019s 11 congressional seats. (Democrats now hold six seats and Republicans hold five.)<\/p>\n

Voters approved Virginia\u2019s gerrymandering, but it got thrown out by the state\u2019s top court before it could go into effect.<\/p>

Read more The Commanders\u2019 corners struggled last season, and they will be tested again<\/a><\/p>\n

Now Virginia Democrats are hoping to flip at least two GOP seats, which could still help in the overall battle for the House: <\/b>Republicans can afford to lose only three total seats in November to keep the majority. (Republicans are pretty much guaranteed a couple of extra seats over Democrats now because of gerrymandering, according to calculations by Lou Jacobson, chief author of the 2026 \u201cAlmanac of American Politics.\u201d)<\/p>\n

Wisconsin is also a state Trump won twice. A democratic socialist is running for governor and has a good shot of winning her party\u2019s nomination next week.<\/p>\n

Candidate Francesca Hong is \u201cgetting clicks like no one else in the field of five primary candidates,\u201d The Washington Post\u2019s Patrick Marley<\/a> reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Hong, unlike El-Sayed in Michigan, openly aligns with the Democratic Socialists of America party<\/a>, which calls for universal health care, universal college, universal child care, publicly held housing and a significant increase in the minimum wage.<\/p>\n

Democrats, including outgoing Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers (D), worry she can\u2019t win in November. Taylor says strategists on both sides still see the Wisconsin governor\u2019s race and the Michigan Senate race as competitive because the national environment favors Democrats so much.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m looking at Trump\u2019s approval rating in these states,\u201d said Taylor, with the Cook Political Report.<\/p>\n

Another primary next week is Minnesota Democrats\u2019 Senate contest. There\u2019s an open Senate seat in November that Democrats have a good chance of winning, but that could get harder if Democrats nominate a far-left liberal candidate to do it.<\/p>\n

Democratic socialists are already planning for how they try to prop up a candidate in the 2028 presidential election, and this August is a big month for them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a real test of how far the movement has gone, not only within the Democratic Party, but how the swing voter thinks about some of these candidates. It will not only be crucial to 2026, but to 2028 and the presidential race,\u201d Taylor said. \u201cIf November comes and you see someone like Francesca Hong win in Wisconsin and Abdul El-Sayed win in Michigan, it would give a lot of momentum to their argument that their message resonates in swing states that have real sway in the electoral college.\u201d<\/p>\n

Amber Phillips<\/i><\/a> writes <\/i>The 5-Minute Fix newsletter<\/i><\/a>, a quick analysis of the day\u2019s biggest political news. <\/i>Send her an email here<\/i><\/a>, or <\/i>ask a question<\/i><\/a> that could be featured in an upcoming newsletter.<\/i><\/p>

Read more Cleveland\u2019s new WNBA team unveils its name: The Sirens<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

August is a big month for democratic socialists and liberal candidates.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8643,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8645","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nDemocrats\u2019 big primary tests - Moving Insider USA<\/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:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=8645\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Democrats\u2019 big primary tests - Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"August is a big month for democratic socialists and liberal candidates.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=8645\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-08-04T17:35:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/c64613d2b0bf659eeb912bd785d7a430-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8645#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8645\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"headline\":\"Democrats\u2019 big primary tests\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-04T17:35:02+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8645\"},\"wordCount\":1051,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8645#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/4421a90ac4f5de0845cc329292479b5a-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8645#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8645\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8645\",\"name\":\"Democrats\u2019 big primary tests - Moving Insider USA\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8645#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8645#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/4421a90ac4f5de0845cc329292479b5a-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-04T17:35:02+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8645#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8645\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8645#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/4421a90ac4f5de0845cc329292479b5a-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/4421a90ac4f5de0845cc329292479b5a-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707,\"caption\":\"LANSING, MICHIGAN - AUGUST 4: Supporters of Abdul El-Sayed, a Democratic candidate for Michigan's open U.S. Senate seat, stand outside a polling precinct as voters go to the polls to cast their ballots in the Michigan Primary election on August 4, 2026 in Lansing, Michigan. 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