WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� Democrats over what ideological direction the party should take. But across a series of closely watched primaries, they are sending a clearer message about the party鈥檚 path forward: They want change.
In marquee Senate primaries in and , progressive candidates defeated two members of Congress with significant backing from party leaders. narrowly rejected a democratic socialist but still chose a 40-year-old county executive who is seeking to become the state鈥檚 first Black governor. And in , voters ousted one of the longest-serving Democrats in Congress for a challenger who campaigned on generational change.
The results so far this month deliver no clear ideological mandate. Instead, they add to mounting evidence from this year鈥檚 primaries of a Democratic appetite for turnover that is cutting across the party鈥檚 traditional divisions.
鈥淭he through line between these races isn’t ideology. It’s impatience with this political system that feels disconnected from the urgency voters feel,鈥� said Lis Smith, a national Democratic strategist. “The demand for change is much broader than the demand for socialism.鈥�
The immediate challenge for Democrats is whether they can harness the frustration fueling revolts against their own party and turn it against Republicans in November. Beyond that looms the 2028 presidential race, when a new generation of leaders will compete to shape a changing Democratic Party.
鈥淚f leaders in our party don鈥檛 recognize that we need to make changes, then the changes are going to come from the ground up,鈥� Luke Bronin, a former mayor who defeated 14-term Connecticut Rep. John Larson in Tuesday鈥檚 primary, said in his victory speech. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 a message our party needs to hear.鈥�
Progressives are ascendant, but Wisconsin shows their limits
Democratic socialist Francesca Hong hoped to ride the wave of recent progressive victories, including Abdul El-Sayed鈥檚 upset in neighboring Michigan鈥檚 U.S. Senate primary a week earlier, to the Democratic nomination for governor in Wisconsin.
Instead, she narrowly lost to Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, a more moderate Democrat who had the backing of outgoing Gov. Tony Evers.
Hong鈥檚 defeat also came after a number of her resurfaced, including support for defunding the police and a call to cancel Thanksgiving, which she said was a joke. Unlike El-Sayed, Hong didn’t receive the backing of some of the nation鈥檚 most prominent progressive leaders, including Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
The result illustrates a tension for the party鈥檚 ascendant left flank. Candidates running on populist economic messages have found growing success with Democratic voters. But some positions associated with the progressive movement鈥檚 recent past remain vulnerabilities 鈥� particularly among voters worried about electability in November.
鈥淎 lot of Democrats are traditionalists on things like culture issues. This is not about culture, it’s about economics. It’s about corruption,鈥� said David Axelrod, who was an adviser to President Barack Obama. 鈥淭he closer that candidates hew to those issues, the larger the base they’re going to be able to accumulate.鈥�
That tension was evident Tuesday for Sarah Atkins Hoggatt, 61, who said she agreed with Hong on some issues but worried that Hong鈥檚 deeply progressive politics and the democratic socialist label would make it harder for her to defeat Republican Tom Tiffany. She voted for Crowley.
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 vote my heart,鈥� Atkins Hoggatt said.
Progressives scored a much clearer victory in Minnesota, where Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan resoundingly defeated centrist Rep. Angie Craig. Craig had the backing of House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, former Speaker Nancy Pelosi and several senators from battleground states.
Flanagan had her own powerful allies, including Sanders, Sen. Elizabeth Warren and outgoing Minnesota Sen. Tina Smith. She also sought to turn Craig鈥檚 advantages against her, highlighting her support from wealthy donors and attacking her vote for a Trump-backed immigration bill that became a liability after immigration agents shot and killed Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.
As in Michigan, the winning progressive candidate was significantly outspent.
鈥淔or months now, I have been telling you that this campaign was about the many versus the money,鈥� Flanagan said as she celebrated her victory in Minneapolis. 鈥淲ell guess what? The many just won.鈥�
The contrasting results in Minnesota and Wisconsin underscore why November will provide a more consequential test of the progressive movement鈥檚 gains. El-Sayed and Flanagan must now prove that the messages that powered their primary victories can resonate with a broader voting pool in the general election.
Democrats are hungry for change
Flanagan is 46 years old. Crowley is 40. And El-Sayed is 41. But nowhere was the demand for more explicit Tuesday than in Connecticut.
Bronin, 47, defeated the 78-year-old Larson 鈥� who was first elected to Congress in 1998. A central theme of Bronin鈥檚 campaign was the need for a new generation of leadership in Washington.
Larson became the seventh Democratic House incumbent to lose a primary this year, many of them to younger challengers. The defeated incumbents and the Democrats replacing them span ideological lines, making the wave of losses difficult to explain simply as a shift to the left.
The push for generational turnover has taken on greater urgency since Democrats鈥� defeats in 2024, when concerns about President Joe Biden鈥檚 age ultimately ended his reelection campaign and forced the party into an uncomfortable reckoning over a generation of leaders who had remained in power for decades.
Bronin himself has connected his challenge to that experience. Earlier this year, he argued that Democrats needed 鈥渘ew members of Congress, new Democratic leaders who have the energy and courage and clarity of mission that this moment demands.鈥�
That sentiment was evident among voters in Larson鈥檚 district. Dan Schnaidt, a 73-year-old Democrat, said he appreciated Larson鈥檚 service but believed it was time to move on.
鈥淚t鈥檚 time for new blood, for new ideas,鈥� Schnaidt said.
The generational divide extends to the electorate
While Hong fell just short in Wisconsin, the strength of her insurgent campaign highlighted another force reshaping Democratic politics: .
Cody Chandler, a 35-year-old software engineer, voted for Hong and called her 鈥減robably the most exciting candidate I鈥檝e seen.鈥� Unlike in elections past, Chandler said, he voted for the candidate he most wanted to win rather than the one he considered most electable.
Jesse Heer, a 32-year-old Madison business owner, also backed Hong, citing her focus on affordability.
That support showed up geographically. Hong won Madison, home to the University of Wisconsin鈥檚 flagship campus, by nearly 7 percentage points, though it wasn’t a big enough of a margin to help her win the nomination.
A similar pattern helped propel El-Sayed to victory a week earlier in Michigan.
El-Sayed won Washtenaw County, home to the University of Michigan, by nearly 25 percentage points and Ingham County, home to Michigan State University, by 23 points. He also won Grand Rapids, with its large population of younger, college-educated voters, by nearly 26 points.
Jordan Snyder, a 20-year-old Michigan voter who supported El-Sayed, said she backed him because of his progressive positions and because she viewed him as someone she could trust, rather than 鈥渟omeone who I feel could be bought and sold.鈥�
鈥淧eople are feeling like a lot of the people that they鈥檝e trusted that have been in government haven鈥檛 really been living up to expectations,鈥� Snyder said.
鈥斺赌�-
Associated Press reporters Scott Bauer in Madison, Wisconsin, Tim Sullivan in Hudson, Wisconsin and Susan Haigh in Hartford, Connecticut, contributed to this report.
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