What Went Down In Elections In Minnesota, Wisconsin, Vermont And Connecticut

The Republican primary for Wisconsin governor has been interesting for a lot of reasons, but here’s a nugget (a similarity, though, not a difference!) that intrigued me — even though both Republican candidates are very hardline on abortion rights, both Kleefisch and Michels recently signaled that they’d be open to supporting paid family leave if they’re elected governor. Paid leave is typically an issue that Democrats push, not Republicans, but this is likely an effort to appeal to voters who may have been turned off by the party’s stance on abortion. They’re not the only Republicans to make this argument recently either. In the wake of the Dobbs decision, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem said that states need to better support new parents so they have the time and resources to care for their families. So maybe this is another area where traditional party policy stances could be scrambled a bit going forward. (Although to be clear I don’t think Democrats are going to stop supporting paid family leave!)

Oof. There’s still a lot of vote left to be counted in the governor’s primary, but it certainly seems as if the Trump-endorsed candidate could easily win in Wisconsin. What are some of the biggest differences between Kleefisch and Michels?

We’re up to 32 percent of the expected vote counted in the GOP primary for Wisconsin governor, and Michels leads Kleefisch by about 3 percentage points. However, Michels’s lead is a lot stronger than that margin suggests. Kleefisch is barely beating him in the Milwaukee area, places that you would expect to be favorable to former Gov. Scott Walker’s hand-picked candidate. So it’s not obvious where else in the state Kleefisch can pick up ground.