Minnesota and Wisconsin hold primary elections Tuesday that will determine how Democrats define themselves heading into the November midterm elections.

Wisconsin is a swing state in presidential elections and Minnesota has been a stronghold for Democrats over the last two decades.

Journalists from across the NPR Network in Minnesota and Wisconsin are covering the races in their communities. Here’s what we are watching.

Will Democrats in another Midwest swing state choose a far-left candidate? 

Gubernatorial candidate Francesca Hong speaks on stage during Wisconsin Democrats 2026 Convention on June 14, 2026 in Madison, Wisconsin.

Daniel Boczarski/Getty Images North America

hide caption

toggle caption

Daniel Boczarski/Getty Images North America

A week after progressive Abdul El-Sayed narrowly defeated a more moderate candidate in the Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate in Michigan, another test of progressive power will play out in a neighboring Midwestern swing state.

Francesca Hong, a 37-year-old democratic socialist, state lawmaker and chef, has been leading in the polls throughout much of the Democratic primary for governor of Wisconsin. She’s run an energetic grassroots campaign, buoyed by progressive voters inspired by her atypical political background and left-wing politics.

As her command of the field has held going into Tuesday’s primary, some Democrats are consolidating around other candidates they view as more palatable to a general electorate.

Wisconsin’s statewide races are typically decided by slim margins.

In the final weeks of the campaign, after some unprecedented turmoil caused another candidate to drop out, that alternative became Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley.

In July, Crowley dropped out of the race but reentered just days later with the backing of Gov. Tony Evers. It was a last-ditch effort to leverage the popular outgoing governor’s political capital in favor of a more mainstream candidate.

Whereas Crowley’s campaign had largely sputtered along for months, its revived form raised hundreds of thousands of dollars, outpacing Hong’s haul.

Democratic Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate David Crowley (L) greets supporters at a campaign rally on August 10, 2026 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Scott Olson/Getty Images North America

hide caption

toggle caption

Scott Olson/Getty Images North America

Crowley, the first Black man to hold his position, is running as someone who can work across the aisle to get things done in Madison. He has repeatedly pointed to millions of dollars that national Republican groups spent propping up Hong, ostensibly in an effort to select an opponent they saw as beatable.