Against a centrist rival who questioned the incumbent's backing for the "defund the police" campaign, Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar, a member of the progressive squad, narrowly won the Democratic primary on Tuesday.
Another progressive, Becca Balint, had a much easier time of it after she won the Democratic primary for the Vermont House of Representatives, making history by becoming the first woman to represent the state in Congress.
In Minnesota, a Republican was being nominated to fill Rep. Jim Hagedorn's unexpired term in Congress.
Democratic Rep. Ron Kind's retirement after 26 years in Congress leaves vacant a seat in a district that has been moving Republican, and a crucial contest was taking place there.
The former Navy SEAL who attended the "Stop the Steal" demonstration in Washington on January 6, 2021, which preceded the uprising at the U.S. Capitol, is the Republican contender aiming to succeed Kind.
Omar overcomes a difficult obstacle.
Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minnesota, won her re-election bid against Don Samuels, a former member of the City Council whose district has been plagued by high levels of violent crime.
"Tonight's success is a tribute to how much our district believes in what we are fighting for," Omar shot back after her opponent called her "divisive" and "too far to the left."
"I respect Omar and her achievements, but I tend to disagree with her recommendations to cut the police budget. I genuinely believe that the phrase conveys the incorrect idea,” Atkinson remarked. She went on to say that in order to solve this issue, the leaders must cooperate.
Omar, who is running for a third term in the House, defeated a well-funded but unknown opponent's comparable primary challenge two years prior.
She has already faced a lot of opposition. Kathy Ward, a 62-year-old Minneapolis apartment building property manager who voted for Omar, said, "I don't think her work is done. We must provide her with an opportunity.”
Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Cori Bush of Missouri, two other Squad members, triumphed in their respective Democratic primary elections last week.
It appeared to be one seat, two elections in southern Minnesota.
Meanwhile, voters in southern Minnesota were casting ballots in two contests for the same seat left vacant by Republican Rep. Jim Hagedorn, who passed away from cancer earlier this year.
In Tuesday's special election to fill the remainder of Paul Hagedorn's term in the Minnesota House of Representatives, Brad Finstad defeated Jeff Ettinger, a former CEO of Hormel Foods, in Tuesday's special election.
Finstad worked for the U.S. Department of Agriculture under the Trump administration and is a Republican. The two will face off for a full term in November after their respective parties held special elections earlier this month.
Although federal and state election authorities, judges, and even Trump's attorney general claimed there was no convincing proof the 2020 presidential election was corrupted, Munson said he doesn't believe President Joe Biden's victory was genuine.
In Wisconsin's 3rd Congressional District, the seat being vacated by Democratic incumbent Kind, Republicans see the potential for a pick-up.
The district includes La Crosse and Eau Claire and spans several counties along Wisconsin's western border with Minnesota. Derrick Van Orden, a Republican, won the backing of Trump and had no opposition in his primary on Tuesday.
Kind barely defeated Van Orden in the general election of 2020. He said he never set foot on Capitol Hill during the uprising, despite attending Trump's "Stop the Steal" event close to the White House.
Brad Pfaff, a state senator, defeated three other Democrats to win the Democratic primary. In the fall, he'll face Van Orden. Former state agricultural secretary Pfaff had already assisted Kind and gotten his support.
On the other hand, Vermont is the final state to add a female representative to its congressional delegation. Balint would also be the first openly homosexual member of Congress from Vermont, making him the early favorite in the general election in November.
Some of the most prominent left-leaning figures in the country supported her, including Rep. Pramila Jayapal, head of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.
In a statement, Balint stated, "Vermont has chosen a strong, progressive vision for the future, and I will be delighted to represent us in Congress."
Balint is running to fill Rep.'s seat in the state's only House delegation.
On Tuesday, Peter Welch, who is running for the Senate, handily won the Democratic nomination. Sen. Patrick Leahy, the longest-serving senator, is retiring, leaving Vermont's first vacant Senate seat since 2006, when Sanders replaced Jim Jeffords. Welch is running to replace him.
Leahy and former Vermont governor Howard Dean supported Lt. Gov. Molly Gray, a former Welch assistant whom Balint beat. She will compete against Marine Corps veteran Liam Madden of Bellows Falls in November after he won the Republican nomination.
