5 Highlights From the Minnesota and Wisconsin Primaries

The Upper Midwest saw significant races on Aug. 13., less than three months from a general election that will be fought in part across the region.

In Minnesota, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) beat Don Samuels, upending a string of defeats for “the Squad.” Rep. Michelle Fischbach (R-Minn.) survived a primary challenge of her own.

Rebecca Cooke won her primary in Wisconsin’s Third District, a competitive territory for the House and the presidential election—and a Trump-endorsed candidate won a pair of races in the state’s Eighth District.

Here’s more on big results and trends worth watching.

Ilhan Omar Wins in Minnesota’s Fifth

Omar’s Fifth District Democratic primary win against Samuels, a former Minneapolis City Council member, reverses a trend of well-publicized defeats for the Squad. Reps. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) and Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) lost the primaries in their respective districts.

The backdrop of the conflict in all races has been opposition to “Squad” members’ highly critical statements about Israel in the midst of its war with the Hamas terrorist group. Spending by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and other Israel advocates was less significant in Omar’s race.

“This campaign has been one of the ugliest, most disgusting campaigns against me that I have ever witnessed,” Omar said in her election night victory speech, delivered at the Nighthawks bar in Minneapolis.

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Yet, the district’s extremely Democratic lean makes an Omar victory in the general election close to assured.

In Wisconsin’s Competitive Third, Cooke Now Van Orden’s Opponent

Rebecca Cooke, a nonprofit leader, defeated state Rep. Katrina Shankland and information technology professional Eric Wilson. Like Omar’s race, it was another closely fought contest among Democrats.

Cooke held her watch party at the Good Wives—a restaurant where she waitresses, and which received a grant from her nonprofit, Red Letter Grant, prior to her beginning her job there.

“The Red Letter Grant recipients are determined by a judging panel, not Rebecca herself,” the lead staff told The Epoch Times via email. “We received the grant before we were open for business and before we ever met Rebecca.”

The district’s results were projected on a cloth pinned to a far wall, past the bar and the chalkboard listing dessert options (pot de crème for $8).

Outside of a Shankland stronghold in Portage and neighboring Wood County, Cooke owned the Democratic vote in a half-moon-shaped chunk of western Wisconsin currently represented by freshman Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Wis.).

Kirby Harless, a volunteer with the campaign, estimated he knocked on a thousand doors for Cooke.

In her victory speech, Cooke pledged to win back the district for her party. Before Van Orden won it in 2023, Democratic former Rep. Ron Kind represented it for about a quarter century.

She also pitched herself as a moderate capable of winning over conservatives.

“Sometimes, you’ve got to bleed a little purple to make things work,” she said.

Fischbach Beats Back Primary Challenge

Another Minnesota primary worth watching pitted Rep. Michelle Fischbach (R-Minn.) against businessman Steve Boyd.

The two-term incumbent came out ahead by a wide margin, winning 64.7 percent of the vote to Boyd’s 35.3 percent with more than 95 percent of the total counted.

The Seventh, like the Fifth, strongly favors one party. In the case of Fischbach’s territory, it’s the Republicans.

Trump-Backed Wied Wins Twin Wisconsin Races

Businessman Tony Wied came out the victor in a special and regular primary for Wisconsin’s Eighth District, the district that former Rep. Mike Gallagher left earlier this year.

The special primary, which was called by Gov. Tony Evers, will finish out Gallagher’s term after the elections in November. Wied’s victory in the regular primary demonstrates the staying power of the 45th president’s endorsement in the key battleground state. It also sets him up for a likely victory in the GOP-friendly district, which includes Green Bay, Door County, and much of the rest of northeastern Wisconsin.

Voters there had varied perspectives on Vice President Kamala Harris’s selection of Tim Walz as her running mate. He is the governor of neighboring Minnesota.

In Eau Claire, Wisconsin, one of the region’s blue patches, Democratic primary voter Aidan Leddick suggested that Democrats’ marketing campaign to brand Walz as a “Midwestern dad” who could “help you fix your car” might yield results.

“I may be biased as a former Minnesotan,” the university student said.

Almost a hundred miles away in small-town New Lisbon, Walz wasn’t generating much enthusiasm. The area is much more Republican than Eau Claire.

Republican primary voter Sherrill Murphy told The Epoch Times he thinks Walz will hurt the ticket. Murphy, a Wisconsin National Guard veteran, cited the accusations of stolen valor against the governor.

Betty Lobenstein, another Republican primary voter and a strong Catholic, said she thought Walz wouldn’t make much of a difference either way.

When it comes to Wisconsin as a whole, Murphy had a very definite opinion.

“I think Trump’s gonna win it,” he said.