By
Ed Kilgore,
political columnist for Intelligencer since 2015
Abdul El-Sayed takes selfie with Hasan Piker.
With the The August 4 primaries in Michigan and Wisconsin fast approaching, the next week is going to be very exciting for an awful lot of political observers. And both states are offering lots of material for the next chapter in the saga of the Great Democratic Civil War of 2026. Self-designated combatants in the much-discussed progressive-centrist struggle for the soul of the party, along with conflict-addicted pundits and Republicans eager to proclaim a communist takeover of the forces opposing Donald Trump, are watching closely to see what happens in the Michigan Senate primary between Abdul El-Sayed and Haley Stevens, as well as in the multi-candidate Wisconsin gubernatorial primary. Whatever happens, you can expect massive overreactions, particularly if the wind blows in one direction across both midwestern states. The fallout is certainly intensified by the stakes: Democratic prospects of flipping the Senate depend heavily on holding the Michigan seat, while Wisconsin is the hyper-polarized state where Democrats were hoping to win a trifecta this year.
