Primary Night Turns Upsets Across Four States

Primary night brought a string of jolts in Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Carolina and Connecticut, with the biggest surprise coming in Wisconsin’s Democratic governor’s race, where Francesca Hong Falls in Wisconsin Primary after polling had shown her well ahead of her nearest rival. The results also sent a longtime Connecticut congressman to defeat, pushed a Trump-endorsed candidate into a loss in Minnesota, and set up a runoff in South Carolina for the Senate seat left open after Sen. Lindsey Graham’s death.

Hong’s defeat became the most talked-about outcome after her campaign had already drawn attention over her earlier comments about Thanksgiving. She had once denounced the holiday in a deleted post and then tried to walk that back in recent media appearances, saying she loved Thanksgiving and was simply generally skeptical of holidays. Her comments gave Wisconsin Democratic leaders an opening to rally behind Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, who entered the race late and helped keep the party from suffering a broader embarrassment.

In South Carolina, Darline Graham Nordone moved into an Aug. 25 runoff against Rep. Ralph Norman in the GOP primary for her late brother’s Senate seat. Nordone, who has never held elected office, won 32.7% of the vote to Norman’s 24.6%, leaving both short of the majority needed to finish the contest outright. Nordone, who has the backing of President Trump, ran strongest in rural parts of the Lowcountry, the area most closely tied to Lindsey Graham’s political base, while Norman fared better in suburbs around Charleston and Columbia and in the Greenville area. The winner of the runoff will be favored against Democratic pediatrician Annie Andrews in November.

Minnesota also delivered a sharp turn in the state’s political map. The state is guaranteed to elect its first female governor next year, and voters chose Sen. Amy Klobuchar on the Democratic side and state House Speaker Lisa Demuth on the Republican side for the fall race. Demuth campaigned on stopping fraud and said she would move quickly on a “Fraud Prevention Plan” if elected. Klobuchar, for her part, pledged a broad audit of state agencies on day one and framed fraud as a major issue for the next governor. The contest comes as Minnesota grapples with the theft of up to $9 billion in taxpayer money through sprawling social services scams, according to the account tied to the race.