Ilhan Omar’s DFL primary victory followed a grass-roots campaign that engaged voters beyond the district’s East Africans. MARK VANCLEAVE, Featured Image
[dropcap]HARTLAND[/dropcap], Wis. — Former Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota was soundly defeated Tuesday in his bid to reclaim the Republican nomination for governor, a remarkable upset that demonstrated President Trump’s tightening grip on his party and the difficulty those who have criticized him in the past are facing with today’s primary voters. [mc4wp_form id=”6042″]
Mr. Pawlenty, who called Mr. Trump “unsound, uninformed, unhinged and unfit to be president” in the weeks leading up to the 2016 election, lost to Jeff Johnson, a local official and former state lawmaker who was the Republican nominee for governor in 2014, The Associated Press reported.
On a night when voters in four states went to the polls, Democrats delivered groundbreaking primary victories for a transgender woman in Vermont, a Muslim woman in Minnesota and an African-American woman in Connecticut, while voters in Wisconsin nominated a top state education official, Tony Evers, to challenge Gov. Scott Walker, one of the most vulnerable high-profile Republicans of the midterms cycle.
Also in Wisconsin, Republicans backed State Senator Leah Vukmir to run against Senator Tammy Baldwin, a first-term Democrat, propelling an establishment Republican who was careful to heap praise on Mr. Trump while harnessing the support of state party leaders.
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