n Wisconsin, the contested Democratic gubernatorial primary “drew about 20 percent more voters than [the] contested Republican primary for U.S. Senate, even though the GOP race was more compe ive and generated far more television advertising,” according to state political expert Craig Gilbert. Especially striking, Gilbert noted, was the fact that the “ultramobilized blue” bastion of Dane County” — including the University of Wisconsin college town of Madison — “produced 40 percent more votes than ever before in a Democratic primary for governor or Senate.”
Meanwhile, in Minnesota, more Democrats than Republicans turned out in every crucial race: governor (+82 percent for Dems); First District (+12 percent for Dems); and Eighth District (+38 percent for Dems).
If those trends keep up, the party could very well reverse its 2016 losses in a region that’s become a bellwether of sorts for how the country as a whole is responding to the rise of Trump.