Forget left vs. center. Democratic voters are making clear they just want change

Results in Democratic primaries in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Connecticut have reiterated that Democratic voters are hungry for change, even as they remain divided over the party’s ideological future

WASHINGTON -- Democrats remain mixed 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’s path forward: They want change.

In marquee Senate primaries in Michigan and Minnesota , progressive candidates defeated two members of Congress with significant backing from party leaders. Wisconsin voters narrowly rejected a democratic socialist but still chose a 40-year-old county executive who is seeking to become the state’s first Black governor. And in Connecticut , 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’s primaries of an Democratic appetite for turnover that is cutting across the party’s traditional divisions.

“If leaders in our party don’t recognize that we need to make changes, then the changes are going to come from the ground up," Luke Bronin, a former mayor who defeated 14-term Connecticut Rep. John Larson in Tuesday's primary, said in his victory speech. “That's a message our party needs to hear."

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.

Democratic socialist Francesca Hong hoped to ride the wave of recent progressive victories, including Abdul El-Sayed’s upset in neighboring Michigan’s 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 dropped out of the race only to reenter in its final weeks and win the backing of outgoing Gov. Tony Evers.

Hong’s defeat also came after a number of her past comments resurfaced, including support for defunding the police and a call to cancel Thanksgiving that she said was a joke. And unlike El-Sayed, Hong did not receive the backing of some of the nation’s most prominent progressive leaders, including Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

The result illustrates a tension for the party’s ascendant left flank. Candidates running on populist economic messages have found growing success with Democratic voters.