Wisconsin held primary elections on Tuesday, August 11, 2026, setting up November general-election matchups in three US House districts and advancing a Democratic gubernatorial contest that both sources describe as a proxy battle between the party's progressive and establishment wings.
Wisconsin primaries set November matchups in congressional districts as Democratic gubernatorial contest draws national attention
Wisconsin held primary elections on Tuesday, August 11, 2026, setting up November general-election matchups in three US House districts and advancing a Democratic gubernatorial contest that both sources describe as a proxy battle between the party's progressive and establishment wings.
In Wisconsin's 1st Congressional District, Democrat Mitchell Berman, a nurse, defeated two other Democratic candidates to win his party's nomination, according to CBS News, which projects he will face incumbent Republican Representative Bryan Steil in November. Steil, first elected in 2018, succeeded former House Speaker Paul Ryan, who had represented the southeastern Wisconsin district from 1999 to 2019. CBS News reports that Steil holds a $6.1 million cash-on-hand advantage over Berman, and the University of Virginia's Center for Politics rates the race as likely Republican. A Democrat has not represented the district in more than 30 years, though the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee lists it among 46 districts it considers competitive this cycle.
In Wisconsin's 3rd Congressional District, Democrat Rebecca Cooke defeated progressive Emily Berge to win the Democratic nomination, setting up a rematch with Republican incumbent Representative Derrick Van Orden, CBS News projects. Cooke lost to Van Orden in 2024 by less than three percentage points. CBS News reports Cooke has raised approximately $8.6 million compared with Van Orden's $7.5 million, though Van Orden holds nearly $3 million more cash on hand. The University of Virginia's Center for Politics rates the race as a toss-up, and the DCCC considers the seat a top target as Democrats seek to regain the House majority. Van Orden first flipped the western Wisconsin district from Democratic to Republican in 2022.
In Wisconsin's 7th Congressional District, Michael Alfonso — son-in-law of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy — won the Republican primary, CBS News projects. The Democratic primary in that race remained unsettled as of the CBS News report. The district, which spans northwestern and central Wisconsin, is currently held by Republican Representative Tom Tiffany, who is running for governor. The seat was held by Democrats for decades before Duffy won it in 2010; Duffy resigned from Congress in 2019. President Trump endorsed Alfonso in January, calling him 'a young STAR,' according to CBS News. The Cook Political Report rates the seat as solid Republican.
The Democratic contest for governor emerged as the most closely watched race in the state. Both sources describe it as a contest between the party's progressive wing and its more moderate establishment. The two main candidates are State Representative Francesca Hong, described by Al Jazeera as a lawmaker, former restaurant worker, and democratic socialist, and David Crowley, the Milwaukee County executive, who entered the race as the establishment favourite after receiving the endorsement of outgoing Governor Tony Evers, according to Al Jazeera.
According to Al Jazeera, Hong's campaign has focused on issues including free childcare, cancelling student debt, and abolishing ICE. She has faced scrutiny over past social media posts supporting Democratic Socialists of America positions such as abolishing the US Senate and defunding police, though she has since distanced herself from parts of the national DSA platform and pledged not to cut police budgets. Hong has described Israel's actions in Gaza as genocide and called for repealing a Wisconsin law barring state agencies from contracting with companies that boycott Israel, according to Al Jazeera. She has been endorsed by Minnesota Representative Ilhan Omar.
Crowley, according to Al Jazeera, initially dropped out of the gubernatorial race before re-entering in mid-July. He has pushed back on the 'establishment' label, calling the term a 'slur,' and has said he intends to focus on undecided voters. If elected, Crowley would be Wisconsin's first Black governor; if Hong were elected, she would be Wisconsin's first woman governor and first Asian American governor, according to Al Jazeera.
The Wisconsin gubernatorial primary is being watched in the context of a broader intra-party debate, according to Al Jazeera, following progressive Abdul El-Sayed's narrow defeat of establishment-backed Representative Haley Stevens in Michigan's Democratic Senate primary the previous week. Al Jazeera notes that Trump won both Michigan and Wisconsin in 2024 after Biden carried them in 2020, raising questions about whether more progressive candidates can succeed in competitive states. The Republican likely to face the Democratic nominee is Representative Tom Tiffany, who Al Jazeera describes as a Trump ally.
- The outcome of the Wisconsin Democratic gubernatorial primary between Francesca Hong and David Crowley is not established by either source.
- The outcome of the Democratic primary in Wisconsin's 7th Congressional District is not established by either source.
- Final vote tallies or margins for any of the primary races are not provided by either source.
- Neither source reports whether Berman, Cooke, or Alfonso have commented on their primary results.
- Neither source establishes what share of the vote candidates received in the 1st or 3rd District Democratic primaries.
- The full results of primaries for the Wisconsin State Assembly and State Senate seats are not covered by either source.
- Neither source reports responses from Van Orden or Steil to their general-election matchups being set.
- CBS News — original — by Caitlin Yilek
- Al Jazeera English — by Al Jazeera Staff