Primaries today: Updates from Wisconsin, Vermont, Minnesota, Connecticut
Primaries today: Updates from Wisconsin, Vermont, Minnesota, Connecticut The Washington Post
Voters in four states — Wisconsin, Minnesota, Vermont and Connecticut — are choosing their nominees for November as the primary season enters the final stretch and the matchups for the U.S. Senate are nearly set.
In Wisconsin, Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes (D) is heavily favored to win the Senate nomination and face Sen. Ron Johnson (R) in one of the most competitive races in the country. In Vermont, the retirement of Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D), who was first elected in 1974, creates a rare open seat and voters there are selecting nominees, with Rep. Peter J. Welch (D) likely to win the party nomination. Connecticut Republicans are selecting a challenger to Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D), who is favored to capture a third term.
In Minnesota’s 1st Congressional District, voters have a twofold assignment: choosing a successor to congressman Jim Hagedorn, who died in February of kidney cancer, and selecting nominees for the November general election. The top candidates are former state representative Brad Finstad (R) and Jeff Ettinger (D), the former CEO of Hormel Foods.
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Dispatch from Wisconsin: Voter blames Democrats for high gas prices
LAKE MILLS, Wis. — Mike Radke voted in Tuesday’s Republican primary for governor, and he’s coming back in November no matter what.
Radke, 57, voted for construction executive Tim Michels. But if one of Michels’s Republican opponents wins Tuesday, he’ll gladly support him or her against Gov. Tony Evers (D).
“There’s no doubt. I’ll be the first one in line,” Radke said after casting his ballot at city hall in Lake Mills, a quaint town between Madison and Milwaukee.
Michels, the co-owner of construction firm Michels Corp., faces former lieutenant governor Rebecca Kleefisch and state Rep. Tim Ramthun in the primary.
“I was in construction work for 20 years and I know his background,” Radke said of Michels. “I know the business background. They can say what they want about him, I just feel he’s more my type of guy, you know? Get up every morning, go to work, work hard, go home.”
Radke last year started a business delivering waffle mix to restaurants and motels but said he had to shut it down when gas prices rose. He blames Evers and President Biden.
“Our gas prices weren’t these same prices two years ago, a year and a half ago,” he said. “We were set, wonderfully. I don’t think Tony Evers has done anything for us.”
Radke, a supporter of former president Donald Trump, said he was outraged by the FBI search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida on Monday.
“I think it’s a vulgar display of power,” he said. “Think about this. He’s the 45th president. It’s never happened. Ever.”
