5 Highlights From the Minnesota and Wisconsin Primaries

A general view of the Wisconsin State Capitol in Madison, Wis., on March 6, 2011. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

The Upper Midwest saw significant races on Aug. 13., less than three months from a general election that will be fought, in part, across the region.

In Minnesota, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) beat Don Samuels, ending a string of defeats for the “Squad.” Rep. Michelle Fischbach (R-Minn.) survived a primary challenge of her own.

Rebecca Cooke won her primary in Wisconsin’s Third District, a competitive territory for the House and the presidential election, and a Trump-endorsed candidate won a pair of races in the state’s Eighth District.

Here’s more on the big results and trends worth watching.

Ilhan Omar Wins in Minnesota’s 5th

Omar’s Fifth District Democratic primary win against Samuels, a former Minneapolis City Council member, reverses a trend of well-publicized defeats for the Squad. Reps. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) and Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) lost the primaries in their respective districts.

Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) greets campaign volunteers as he arrives for a "Get Out the Vote" campaign event at Hartley Park in Mount Vernon, N.Y., on June 24, 2024. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

The backdrop of the conflict in all races has been opposition to Squad members’ highly critical statements about Israel in the midst of its war with the Hamas terrorist group. Spending by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and other Israel advocates was less significant in Omar’s race.

“This campaign has been one of the ugliest, most disgusting campaigns against me that I have ever witnessed,” Omar said in her election night victory speech, delivered at the Nighthawks bar in Minneapolis.

While Omar aligned herself with pro-Palestinian protesters at Columbia University, Samuels put forth a more moderate image, including on his website.

“We all must be able to recognize the trauma suffered by Israelis in the wake of the Hamas terrorist attack, as well as Palestinian suffering in the conflict since then,” the website reads.

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) greets her supporters at the Minnesota Fifth Congressional District Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party’s nominating convention in Minneapolis on May 11, 2024. (Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times)

Omar also defeated Samuels in the district’s 2022 primary. In the district’s Republican primary, Dalia Al-Aqidi ran unopposed. She’s affiliated with the Center for Security Policy, a strongly pro-Israel think tank.

Yet the district’s extremely Democratic lean makes an Omar victory in the general election close to assured.

In Wisconsin’s Competitive 3rd, Cooke Now Van Orden’s Opponent

Rebecca Cooke, a nonprofit leader, defeated state Rep. Katrina Shankland and information technology professional Eric Wilson. Like Omar’s race, it was another closely fought contest among Democrats.

Cooke held her watch party at the Good Wives—a restaurant where she waits tables and that received a grant from her nonprofit, Red Letter Grant, before she began her job there.

Rebecca Cooke delivers a victory speech in Eau Claire, Wis., on Aug. 13, 2024, after winning the Democratic primary for the Third Congressional District. (Nathan Worcester/The Epoch Times)

“The Red Letter Grant recipients are determined by a judging panel, not Rebecca herself,” the lead staff told The Epoch Times via email. “We received the grant before we were open for business and before we ever met Rebecca.”

Rep. Derrick Van Orden at the southern border wall near Hereford, Ariz., on Feb. 16, 2023. (Allan Stein/The Epoch Times)

Outside of a Shankland stronghold in Portage County and neighboring Wood County, Cooke owned the Democratic vote in a half-moon-shaped chunk of western Wisconsin currently represented by freshman Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Wis.).

Kirby Harless, a volunteer with the Cooke campaign, estimated that he had knocked on 1,000 doors for his candidate.

In her victory speech, Cooke pledged to win back the district for her party. Before Van Orden won it in 2023, Democratic Rep. Ron Kind had represented it for about a quarter-century.

She also pitched herself as a moderate capable of winning over conservatives.

“Sometimes, you’ve got to bleed a little purple to make things work,” Cooke said.

Fischbach Beats Back Primary Challenge

Another Minnesota primary worth watching pitted Rep. Michelle Fischbach (R-Minn.) against businessman Steve Boyd.

The two-term incumbent came out ahead by a wide margin, winning 64.7 percent of the vote to Boyd’s 35.3 percent with more than 95 percent of the total counted.

“I am happy with this validation of the work I have done and will continue to do on behalf of the good people in western Minnesota,” she wrote in a post on social media platform X on Aug. 13.

Fischbach secured the endorsement of former President Donald Trump that is coveted by most Republicans. Yet her state’s GOP declined to back her.

Rep. Michelle Fischbach (R-Minn.) during a House Rules Committee meeting on emergency measures regarding an attack on Israel by Iran, at the U.S. Capitol on April 15, 2024. (Anna Rose Layden/Getty Images)

The Seventh, like the Fifth, strongly favors one party. In the case of Fischbach’s territory, it’s the Republicans.

Trump-Backed Wied Wins Twin Wisconsin Races

Businessman Tony Wied came out the victor in a special and regular primary for Wisconsin’s Eighth District, the district that former Rep. Mike Gallagher left earlier this year.

“Special thank you to President [Trump] and the America First Movement—we are just getting started!” Wied wrote on X on Aug. 13 after he won.

The special primary, which was called by Gov. Tony Evers, will finish out Gallagher’s term after the elections in November. Wied’s victory in the regular primary demonstrates the staying power of the 45th president’s endorsement in the key battleground state. It also sets him up for a likely victory in the GOP-friendly district, which includes Green Bay, Door County, and much of the rest of northeastern Wisconsin.

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers speaks during an interview in his Statehouse office in Madison, Wis., on Dec. 4, 2019. (Scott Bauer/AP Photo)

Wied beat former state Sen. Roger Roth, who conceded the same night on X. André Jacque, another former state senator, came in third. Wied’s margin increased throughout the night. With more than 95 percent of the vote counted, he had 41.4 percent to 33.6 percent for Roth and 24.9 percent for Jacque.

Wisconsin Voters Reflect on the Walz Effect

Western Wisconsin is a prize for presidential aspirants seeking to win the key state.

Voters there had varied perspectives on Vice President Kamala Harris’s selection of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate.

In Eau Claire, Wisconsin, one of the region’s blue patches, Democratic primary voter Aidan Leddick suggested that Democrats’ marketing campaign to brand Walz as a “Midwestern dad” who could “help you fix your car” might yield results.

“I may be biased as a former Minnesotan,” the university student said.

Almost 100 miles away in small-town New Lisbon, Wisconsin, Walz wasn’t generating much enthusiasm. The area is much more Republican than Eau Claire.

Republican primary voter Sherrill Murphy told The Epoch Times that he thinks Walz will hurt the ticket. Murphy, a Wisconsin National Guard veteran, cited the accusations of stolen valor against the governor.

Republican primary voter Sherrill Murphy in New Lisbon, Wis., on Aug. 13, 2024. (Nathan Worcester/The Epoch Times)

Betty Lobenstein, another Republican primary voter and a strong Catholic, said she thought Walz wouldn’t make much of a difference either way.

When it comes to Wisconsin as a whole, Murphy had a very definite opinion.

“I think Trump’s gonna win it,” he said.