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Henry Olsen is a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center.
The six state primaries Tuesday brought few surprises but taught two important lessons: President Donald Trump is not omnipotent within the Republican Party, and the Democratic Party still faces a potent revolt on its left flank.
In Iowa, Rep. Randy Feenstra appeared to have the GOP gubernatorial nomination locked up when he received Trump’s endorsement late last week. Though the most recent public poll had shown Feenstra two points behind farmer Zack Lahn, with many undecideds, Trump’s record of smashing his opponents to smithereens prompted most observers to expect a Feenstra victory.
Instead, Lahn narrowly held on. He carried the vote-rich Des Moines metropolitan region and made significant inroads into Feenstra’s base in northwestern Iowa. That was just enough to allow him to overcome Feenstra’s strong showing in the eastern and far southwestern parts of the state.
Lahn’s victory was striking in part because he was not running as just another MAGA Republican. His campaign explicitly invoked Make America Healthy Again themes — playing to that offshoot of MAGA — and he emphasized education and protecting family farms rather than the strong anti-immigrant and cultural messages that tend to dominate modern GOP primary campaigns. In short, he offered a distinct, non-MAGA reason to vote for him — and won with it.
That should be instructive to future Republican campaigns. Candidates with compelling, thoughtful agendas that deviate from the Trump playbook can gain support even in today’s Republican Party. Trump’s endorsement is key when all the candidates are running variations of MAGA doctrine. After all, who better to determine who’s more MAGA than the MAGA master himself? But candidates who run authentically as themselves can still find fertile ground elsewhere.
On the Democratic side, the establishment had a pretty good night. In Iowa, its preferred candidate, state Rep. Josh Turek, beat progressive Zach Wahls for the party’s nomination to succeed retiring Sen. Joni Ernst (R). Former Navy helicopter pilot Rebecca Bennett — labeled by some a political clone of New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill (D) because of their similar military backgrounds and centrist beliefs — dispatched three competitors in New Jersey’s swing 7th Congressional District. San Francisco County Supervisor Connie Chan, former House speaker Nancy Pelosi’s choice to succeed her in California’s 11th District, finished second to advance to the November runoff over New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s former chief of staff, Saikat Chakrabarti. Chan will face state Sen. Scott Wiener, another Democrat, who was the top vote-getter.
In the day’s most high-profile contests, the California gubernatorial and Los Angeles mayoral primaries, the Democratic establishment looks likely to get its preferred results. With almost 60 percent reported in the slow-counting state, former health secretary Xavier Becerra was well ahead of progressive billionaire Tom Steyer. Steyer also trailed Republican Steve Hilton for the other slot in the general election, likely giving Becerra the blue vs. red matchup he wants. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass also topped her progressive challenger, city council member Nithya Raman, and appears on track for a November runoff with reality TV star Spencer Pratt, who was in second place with about 65 percent of votes counted in the jungle primary. Pratt is a registered Republican running as an independent.
Progressives can nonetheless take heart from Adam Hamawy’s victory in New Jersey’s safely Democratic 12th District. Hamawy distanced himself from the pack in the 13-way race, beating his nearest competitor by 13 percentage points. Hamawy has been criticized for appearing as a defense witness in the 1995 trial of Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, the Islamic militant who inspired the 1993 bombing of New York’s World Trade Center. But he was endorsed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), AOC and a host of other progressive figures and groups. Republicans will surely elevate his profile in the fall as they make their case that Democrats are too radical to be trusted with power.
Leftist candidates also did well in two California congressional races. Progressive Randy Villegas leads state Sen. Jasmeet Bains (D) for the chance to face Rep. David Valadao (R) in the swing 22nd District, and Sacramento City council member Mai Vang is running a strong second in her challenge to longtime 7th District incumbent Doris Matsui (D). If Vang holds on, she will face Matsui in a one-on-one contest in November and could win.
The continued success of progressive upstarts leaves the Democratic establishment constantly on guard. Incumbents and challengers alike know they have to be left wing enough to avoid being swamped by a strong progressive. Meanwhile, every win by one of these candidates strengthens the upstart left, further encouraging others. The far left may not yet be at the gates, but it is gaining support by the day.
Together, these trends show that even the strongest orthodoxies can be beaten by well-designed campaigns. That should give even the most downcast hope for our democracy’s future. Even now, in the heart of partisan rancor and big money, it seems the people really do rule.
The post Trump lost one, Democrats dodged some: Tuesday had lessons for everyone appeared first on Washington Post.
